In 2021, a proposal was put forward in the UK government’s Skills for Jobs White Paper which outlined various measures that aimed to improve education and training for British people after the age of 16. One such measure included within the White Paper was a proposal to make mathematics a compulsory subject for students until age 18 – a topic that has recently come to the forefront of conversation across the nation.

In a bid to improve the mathematical literacy of the population, Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has encouraged a proposal that would see students in England continuing to study maths in some capacity, either through A-levels or similar vocational qualifications.

In doing so, Sunak and many others argue we will be able to improve the economy but also provide individuals with opportunities to better navigate quantitative challenges in their personal and professional lives. However, alongside the benefits there are also many counter arguments to this proposal to be considered.

At the time of writing, a definitive date has not been given for when a decision will be made on whether this policy comes into play and the topic is still widely debated. While we wait with baited breath to hear more on the next steps, we are looking at the matter and both sides of the argument in more depth and getting to the bottom of what the decision really means for students.

So, what are the positives of making mathematics a compulsory subject for students until age 18?

Improved mathematical literacy and greater job prospects

Many have argued that making mathematics a compulsory subject for students until age 18 will improve individuals’ mathematical literacy and could increase their future job prospects and earning potential, particularly in industries such as finance, engineering and technology. 

Increased competitivity 

By improving the mathematical skills of the population, many suggest this policy also has the potential to enhance the UK’s international competitiveness in a variety of fields. 

Improvements to the economy

As a knock-on effect of increasing job prospects for more of the population and driving international competitiveness, the policy could improve our economy with people able to achieve higher-earning roles and better manage personal and professional finances.

What is the counter argument for making mathematics a compulsory subject for students until age 18?

Shortage of qualified mathematics teachers

The main argument from people within education is that there are simply not enough qualified mathematics teachers in England to support a policy where mathematics is compulsory until age 18. A lack of staff could lead to inadequate education and subsequently have a negative impact on students’ understanding and enjoyment of maths.

Cost to implement the policy

While it is expected that implementing this policy would improve the economy, many have questioned what it would in turn cost the economy to put this into action. Take, for example, the additional staff needed at schools across the nation, changes to curriculums and additional exams and invigilators. These big changes may have a positive impact on the economy in the long term (though that is not guaranteed) and the cost to roll the policy out nationwide would certainly have a measurable impact on the economy in the short-term.

Limitations across other fields

Members of the Performing Arts community have raised concerns that making mathematics a compulsory subject for students until age 18 could potentially limit opportunities for students to pursue creative subjects, including the arts. 

Similarly, teachers of other core subjects such as English, Science and Modern Foreign Languages have argued that students require a more balanced approach that includes a variety of subjects, including mathematics and the arts, to ensure students receive a well-rounded education.

If implemented, students would need to prioritise their time and resources towards mandatory mathematics classes resulting in an imbalance across other subject fields.

Not suitable for all students

At Hampstead and Frognal Tutors, we are acutely aware that every student has a different way of learning and different skills. While there are a number of ‘pros’ to making mathematics compulsory for students until age 18, there is also the potential for it to have a negative impact on students who find mathematics more challenging as they may feel isolated and disengage with the subject altogether. 

It has been debated that some students thrive in other subjects and are equipped to manage real life scenarios with the mathematical skills acquired pre-age 16.

The impact on A-Levels

A few have also asked questions about whether mandatory mathematics would include a qualification that would play a role in UCAS applications for those looking to go onto higher education and whether studying another topic would have a negative impact on a student’s ability to study for and excel in their A-Level subjects.

If mathematics becomes a compulsory subject for students until age 18, what does that mean for my child?

While there are positives to the policy coming into action and skills young people can carry forward with them in life, it seems there are still a number of logistical hurdles to be overcome before the nation gets on board and this can move ahead, especially with regards to the shortage of qualified mathematics teachers. 

However, should the policy come into effect (or if your child simply needs a helping hand with mathematics until age 16) there are a number of mathematics resources available that can support students’ education outside of school, such as tutoring. 

At Hampstead and Frognal Tutors, we have a roster of experienced mathematics tutors who are specialists in their field and are passionately dedicated to supporting children’s learning. 

All of our tutors are highly qualified and experienced educators, who are attentive to the needs and aspirations of those they teach and have faultless academic records. 

At Hampstead and Frognal Tutors, we know that every student is unique and carefully craft the tuition we provide to bring out the best in every pupil. We stay abreast of changes to the curriculum, so we will be staying close to any changes that follow the implementation of Sunak’s proposed policy.

Many of our mathematics tutors have taught at leading independent schools while others hold first class degrees from Oxford or Cambridge but all are provided with in-house training and resources to ensure they are equipped to drive students’ academic growth through exciting and stimulating tuition. 

During the first session, our mathematics tutors will make an initial assessment of your child’s academic attainment and devise an individual Learning Growth Action Plan tailored to their needs and academic learning goals. We also offer both in-person and online tutoring so our tutors can adapt to your child’s needs and be flexible to suit your family’s schedule and support with mathematics (whether mandatory or not) can go uninterrupted.

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Useful resources:

• Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth White Paper (January 2021) 

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At Hampstead and Frognal Tutors our experienced and specialist tutors are passionately dedicated to supporting children’s learning. We know every child is different so our tutors will identify the learning styles that best suit your child’s individual needs and devise a tailor-made programme of tuition to best support their academic growth whether in lessons, completing coursework or sitting their exams.

Online tutoring has become increasingly popular in recent years (even before the pandemic), and for good reason. The format of online tutoring is not dissimilar to in-person tutoring, only sessions take place virtually using a computer, laptop or smart phone. 

There are numerous benefits to online tutoring that can make a significant difference in your child’s academic performance and overall success. In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at some of the benefits of online tutoring and why it is a great option for parents looking to support and enhance their child’s education.

The Benefits:

1. Access to Qualified Tutors

While the benefits of face-to-face tuition are indisputable, online tutoring provides access to a wide range of qualified tutors from all over the world so you can find the best tutor for your child’s needs, regardless of your location. Our online tutors are all excellent communicators with a passion for their subject. Used to teaching via screen, they combine knowledge and enthusiasm with technological skill.

Our online tutors cover all exam boards, including OCR, AQA and Edexcel but also have experience preparing students for essential entrance examinations.

Whether you are looking for a GCSE Physics tutor, an A Level English tutor, someone to support with the BMAT exam or someone to prepare your child for the 11 Plus, do not underestimate the power of virtual learning.

2. Bespoke Learning and Focused Attention

In a traditional classroom environment, teachers must often divide their attention among many students and cater to a wide range of learning styles rather than what is best suited to your child’s individual needs. A significant benefit of online tutoring is that children receive 1-1 attention and a bespoke learning plan that is optimised to reflect their specific learning style. This can help your child to better understand a course or lesson material and improve their academic performance.

Additionally, online tutoring allows you to choose from a larger pool of tutors, which means that you can find a tutor who specialises in the specific area that your child needs help with. This can be particularly beneficial if your child is struggling with a specific subject, such as maths or science.

3. Convenient for Existing Family Schedules

Many parents find online tuition less intrusive and disruptive to family life and children often feel more relaxed when they are taught over the internet. With online tutoring, you can easily schedule sessions to fit your family’s schedule and transportation needs, which can be particularly helpful if your children are involved in any extracurricular activities that make it challenging to get to and from sessions.

4. Flexibility While on the Move 

One of the most significant advantages of online tutoring is its flexibility. Online tutoring allows your child to receive high-quality education from the comfort of your own home or while on the move. This can be particularly useful if you’re a family who travels frequently for work or leisure as it means that you don’t have to worry about any of the logistical issues that may impact an in-person tutoring session. 

If you are likely to be starting or continuing online tutoring while travelling, then ensure where you’re staying has a strong WiFi connection to avoid any disruption to lessons. If your WiFi connections may vary then we’d recommend purchasing a dongle to enhance your signal or investing in a phone plan with plenty of data so you can hotspot as needed.

5. Interactive and Engaging Technology

While online tutoring is very similar in its approach to in-person tutoring, it involves far more than just Zoom calls. At Hampstead and Frognal Tutors, our specialised tutors have access to a vast array of software to enhance lessons so your child will still be able to interact with their tutor like they can in a classroom, with the added benefits of new educational technology. 

Examples include:

• Virtual whiteboards are invaluable to our online maths tutors, who write out equations and formulas for their students just as they would in real life.
• Screen sharing technology means pupils can follow lessons with ease
• Interactive software such as Cahoot or Google Classroom means there is never a dull moment. Students feel like they are in a real classroom while enjoying the comfort of their own home.

6. Improved Performance and Confidence

If your child is struggling in school, it can be easy for them to become discouraged and lose confidence in their abilities. However, with the help of an online tutor, your child can gain the knowledge and skills they need to succeed, which can help to build their confidence and self-esteem.

Supported by our in-house training and resources, our online tutors adapt their teaching to the individual learning style of each child to help restore your child’s confidence, boost their intellectual curiosity and excel academic growth through exciting and stimulating tuition. 

7. Cost-Effective

A final benefit of online tutoring is that it is often more cost-effective than in-person tutoring. With online tutoring, you don’t have to worry about the cost of transportation to and from in-person tutoring sessions nor any other expenses associated with it. Additionally, online tutoring often allows you to choose from a range of pricing options, which means that you can find a tutor that fits within your budget.

Getting Started With Online Tutoring

If you’re looking to get started with online tutoring or simply have questions about the process, you can contact us for a free telephone consultation to understand the tuition requirement in detail. Once you have instructed us, we reach out to our dedicated team of tutors and assign the best online tutor or consultant to match your child’s needs.

During the first online tutoring session your child’s dedicated tutor will make an initial assessment of your child’s academic attainment to devise an individual Learning Growth Action Plan with clear Academic Learning Goals.

As your child commences online tutoring, you will be able to review their tutoring schedule and book lessons through our online platform with a shared calendar that can be viewed by both parent and tutor. Tutors will provide feedback at the end of each session and regular written reports to ensure parents are clear on how their child is progressing. The platform will also house a unique library of resources including revision notes, key learning points from lessons and exam papers for ease.

Overall, online tutoring is an excellent option for parents looking to support their child’s education and help them fulfil their academic potential. With its flexibility, convenience, access to specialist tutors and bespoke learning plans, online tutoring can make a significant difference in your child’s academic success. If you’re looking for a way to support your child’s education, consider online tutoring as a great option to help them achieve their goals and advance their learning.

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Useful Resources

• Ultra Speed WiFi Dongle to support remote online learning

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The online tutoring boom

Online tuition has seen a recent boom due to it being an incredibly effective learning solution for students of all ages. Students can learn online from highly experienced, specialist subject tutors wherever they are in the world. Online tutoring is a cost-effective, safe and convenient way for students to learn a vast variety of subjects and courses at every level. Online tutors offer lessons and courses that span a variety of options, including fulltime home schooling, exam preparation and extra learning outside of school and university support. An experienced, professional tutor can deliver even better lessons online with the benefits of modern technology. Enhancements in technology and the internet over the last few years have enabled high-quality one-to-one teaching for pupils at an affordable price. Through the online tutoring experience students also gain the added bonus of learning new and useful computer skills that can be utilised in their academic work.

Convenience:

The location of the tutor and the student are no longer limitations for tutorial sessions. Online tutoring makes it much easier for students to have access to the best, most proficient, subject experts all over the world and not just in the local area. Students who live in rural and remote areas now have access to fantastic online tutors to support their learning and confidence. With no travel, geography or time zone restrictions, finding the right tutor is much easier with online tuition. Learning online means that lessons can easily fit around a student’s current schedule and commitments.

Online Tutoring: Which age groups benefit most

Online tuition has proven to work well for students from the age of seven years old and up. For younger students there are state-of-the-art programs and resources in a range of subjects to support their online learning. For secondary students and adult learners, the lessons are much the same as the traditional one-to-one in person tutorials without the travel and the limitations of time and location. Pupils now have access to much more specialist tutors from further away. The older students can fit their tutorials in to their other commitments and see their tutor online when it fits in best for them, which could even be during a free period at school. Online tuition offers more flexibility and makes it easier to reschedule lessons as without any travel involved there are fewer scheduling obstacles and more time. With essays, coursework, exam papers and any other content shared or used during the online sessions, working online makes it easier to save work and recordings.

Online Tutoring Software and Technology:

This powerful learning experience is support by advanced online tutoring software and technology. There are many online platforms to make the tutoring sessions work well for both the pupil and tutor. From Google Docs to shared Skype screens, there is a plethora of online learning resources available. Bramble, Tutor Cruncher and BitPaper are some of the best online platforms out there with interactive whiteboards and the ability to record the sessions. 

Through modern technologies, including live video software and online whiteboards, the student can see and speak to their tutor and show them their work in real time. Online whiteboards provide a virtual classroom and an intuitive system allowing the tutor and pupil to build a great rapport, work well together and achieve their potential. Both the tutor and the pupil can write, draw, annotate and type on the shared whiteboard. Past papers, essays, worksheets and documents can also be shared through these teaching platforms.

To learn more about useful tools and technology for tutoring we would recommend our page on the best tools for tutoring maths online. Our Top 10 software tools for tutoring and learning maths online can also be applied to tutoring other subjects too such as English, Science, History and many others.

Being an Online Tutor

Without geography and travel restrictions, online tutors have access to a much wider range of students all over the world. With a broader selection of pupils and access to international students, online tutoring is a lucrative market for tutors. With the added bonus of being able to work from home, online tutoring offers tutors more flexible working hours.

New and progressive technology means tutoring sessions are even better online. The video recording device in the online classroom is one of the many useful tools online tutors can share with their students to support them better with their learning. 

The post Online Tutoring Guide appeared first on Hampstead and Frognal Tutors.

Here is a selection of the top ten pieces software for maths tutors out there at the moment.

1) WizIQ

Features:

WizIQ is a cloud-based education platform specifically targeted at tutors and is equipped with a high definition virtualclassroom, an online whiteboard and real time messaging. It also lets tutors create multimedia tests and keep track of their students’performance with course related analytics. It’s particularly popular with GCSE and A Level students, who can access the content created by their tutor via an app.

Price:

Prices start from $20/month and are billed annually.

Restrictions:

Available to use in all countries.

2)WebEx

Features:

WebEx is a Cisco product designed for meetings and conferences. It has functions which let tutors draw, type, share their desktop screens and add in files, as well as having an online whiteboard. Tutors can also record meetings, which is invaluable if a student is stuck on a topic and wants to replay a lesson. Because Webex is not specifically targeted at tutors, it doesn’t have a graph function and tutors must invite students to each lesson, which can be arduous. On the whole, however, this is a reliable and easy to use teaching tool.

Price:

Starter pack (maximum three people per meeting) –free, Premium 8 –£15/month, Premium 25 –£30/month, Premium 100 – £49/month

Restrictions:

Webex is unavailable in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.

3)  Zoom

Features:

Zoom is a remote conferencing service and has a host of features including video calls, voice calls, screensharing and webinars. Users have praised it for its reliability and its excellent video connection –calls rarely drop out. Like WebEx, it is not specifically designed for tutors, but the quality of the video connection means it well worth using.

Price:

There are a number of price tiers but the “basic”package –which allows users unlimited 1-to-1 meetings and 40 minute group meetings — are free.

Basic –free, Pro — $14.99/month, Business — $19.99/month, Enterprise — $17.99/month

Restrictions:

Zoom cannot be used in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and (temporarily) in the United Arab Emirates.

4) Bitpaper

Features:

Bitpaper is a collaborative whiteboard created by tutors for tutors. It is browser based which means users don’t have to install the program on their computer, saving much needed space. Its interface is plain and simple, so is often more appropriate for older students – perhaps those doing their GCSEs or A Levels –  than those studying for the 11+ or the 13+. Bitpaper allows tutors to creates unlimited whiteboards and each one has unlimited space.  Online maths tutor software whiteboards are essential when it comes to teaching maths, and with this software tutors are free to draw graphs and shapes, and can write out equations and arithmetic with ease.

Price:

Free

Restrictions:

Available to use in all countries.

5) Scribblar

Features:

Scribblar resembles Bitpaper in that it is a virtual whiteboard. It also offers chat and audio, so tutors don’t have to use two pieces of software at once. A number of prestigious teaching establishments, such as the University of Cambridge and Harvard University use it, but it is also suitable for younger students. Unlike Bitpaper, however, it is not free.

Price:

Starter – $14/month, Standard – $24/month,  Premium – $39/month, Pro – $69/month

Restrictions:

Available to use in all countries.

6) MyTutoring

Features:

MyTutoring is an online tutoring solution platform. It comes with an interactive whiteboard, audio and video communication, instant messaging and a document and screen sharing feature. Unlike a lot of online maths tutor software, it lets tutors choose colours and design a logo, so it is more attractive and fun for young students. Whether someone is teaching one student or multiple students at a time, MyTutoring is a great place to do it. However, compared to much of the software on offer, it costs a lot per month to use.

Price:

$29/month for private tutors.

Restrictions:

Available to use in all countries.

7)  Skype

Features:

Whether you need to carry out a video meeting or an audio call, Skype can be relied upon to do the job. Although it does not have the bells and whistles of the other software, many students will know how to use it and will probably already have it downloaded on their laptop. What’s more, it’s reliable and the video quality is typically good. When it comes to maths tuition, Skype is best used in conjunction with a program like Bitpaper or Scribblar, as many tutors will want to write as they teach.

Price:

Free

Restrictions:

Skype cannot be used in Bangladesh, The United Arab Emirate, Morocco, Saudi Arabia or China.

8) Tutor Trove

Features:

When it comes to online maths tuition, Tutor Trove is a hidden gem. The software comes with an automatic graphing function –users simply type in an equation and a graph is plotted – a virtual whiteboard, drawing tools, voice chat and instant messaging. It also automatically saves work and, like MyTutoring, lets tutors customise their platform. The only snag is that Tutor Trove does not have a video chat function. However, this can be remedied by using it in conjunction with a program like Skype.

Price:

Free 30 day trial. After that tutors pay per lesson.

Restrictions:

Available to use in all countries.

9) TalentLMS

Features:

Talent LMS is a cloud-based learning management system aimed at private tutors and school teachers. One fantastic feature is that the program lets tutors build elearning courses from scratch – that means they can craft powerpoint presentations, videos and notes for all their students. A simple analytics function also lets tutors keep on top of how their pupils are progressing and an automatic marking feature is available if desired. Finally, there is an integrated video conference function, so tutors can interact with their pupils face-to-face using the same software.

Price:

Up to 5 users and 10 courses is free. After that prices begin from $29/month, billed annually.

Restrictions:

Available to use in all countries.

10) Wacom Tablet

This final suggestion isn’t a piece of online maths tutor software, but it is still a great tool for tutors to use. Wacom tablets are often used by illustrators but are also very handy for maths tutors, who often need to draw shapes or quickly write down mathematical symbols. The tablet comes with a battery-free pen (and replaceable plastic nibs) and has excellent sensitivity, so writing is guaranteed to be crystal clear. Although it is no use on its own, it helps tutors make the most of interactive whiteboards like Bitpaper and Scribblar.

Price:

Starts from around £70.

Restrictions:

Available to use in all countries.

Product	Virtual classroom	Online whiteboard	Video call	Instant messaging	Voice call	Graph function	Screen share

For more information and opinions on online tutoring, take a look at these two useful articles:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36461191

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/0/10-ways-online-maths-tutors-better-in-person-help/

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