EU report: Grinds system benefits the well-off

GRIND schools and private tuition make up a vast shadow education system that copperfastens the advantages of the privileged, with up to 60% of Ireland’s better-off getting extra schooling for their children.

A report has described this system as a thriving, multibillion-euro industry that is preventing real reforms and improvements in much of the EU.

Up to 45% of students in their Leaving Cert year get private tuition, which is much higher than in Scandinavian countries where it is rare, but much less than in Greece where the figure is as high as 80%.

The cost of grinds is typically about €30 an hour depending on the location, subject, level and quality. This is roughly the same as in other countries.

Typical courses in tuition centres cost about €895 per year for one subject and block classes cost about €245 a subject, the report found.

While much of the grinds are in the shadow economy in Ireland, in France the cost is reduced because people can reclaim 50% back through tax relief.

Parents are spending a huge percentage of their income on private tuition in some countries, especially in Greece where it is equivalent to 20% of the government’s spending on primary and secondary education.

The report concluded that extra tuition does not make much difference to students, but suspects that this is because those who get it are in line to get decent results anyhow.

The EU used research work carried out by Emer Smyth in Ireland, and said that another possible reason was that tuition was for such a short period compared to the time spent in school.

Private tuition can restrict children’s leisure time in a way that is psychologically and educationally undesirable, warns the report, drawn up by the Network of Experts in Social Sciences of Education and Training.

Little of the extra teaching is because a person is remedial and needs more help. In Ireland 60% of children whose parents were in well-paid professions got grinds compared to 30% of those whose parents were in semi-skilled and unskilled jobs.

Private tuition reflect and exacerbates social inequalities, the report says.

“It is much less about pupils who are in real need of support and much more about maintaining the competitive advantages of the already successful and privileged”, it says.

Spending on tutoring in France is €2.2 billion a year and growing at an estimated 10% a year, in Germany the spend is up to €1.5bn, and it is close to €1bn in Greece.

It is much less popular in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland where schools appear to largely satisfy expectations, the report says.

“Private tutoring has reached such a scale, and has such strong implications for equity, for the work of schools, and for the lives of children and families, that it must be addressed. We need to recognise and evaluate it.

“We also need to heed the signals it sends about the nature of mainstream schooling,” said Jan Truszczyski, Director-General for Education and Culture in the European Commission, which commissioned the report.