Report Overview
The annual Sutton Trust/Ipsos-Mori survey of 11-16 year olds on private tuition in 2015 showed that Londoners are twice as likely as other children to receive private tuition.
Pupils living in London are twice as likely to receive private tuition as those outside of the capital. 44% of the London pupils surveyed reported having ever received private or home tuition, compared with 22% of those attending schools outside the capital.
National trends have seen the proportion of pupils receiving private or home tuition rise by over a third in the past decade, from 18% in 2005 to 25% in 2015. In London, 34% of pupils received private or home tuition in 2005, compared with 44% this year.
The analysis also reveals how different ethnic groups are more likely to receive private tuition than others. 54% of Asian pupils reported they had received private or home tuition at some point in the last three years, more than double the 25% of pupils nationally.
Asked why they had received private or home tuition. more than half (52%) said the main reason was to prepare for a specific test or exam. A similar number (50%) said they have had private or home tuition to help them with school work in general; a proportion which has increased from 41% in 2010. Only 13% reported that their parents had paid for extra lessons because they are really interested in a particular subject.
The Trust recommends that the Government should introduce a means tested voucher system as part of the pupil premium through which lower income families could purchase additional educational support.
Methodology note
The pupil polling forms part of the Ipsos MORI Young People Omnibus Surveys. The 2015 survey for the Sutton Trust included 2,488 respondents in schools in England and Wales, with pupils filling out paper self-completion questionnaires under supervision by trained interviewers from January to May this year. Data is weighted by school year, gender, and region to match the profile of school children across England and Wales.