School's in even during holidays

Thousands of children will start their school holidays in the classroom this week as part of a growing trend of parents seeking extra tutoring to help their children through the state education system.

Private tuition centres have ballooned in numbers and are catering for pre-schoolers to school-leavers with after-school and holiday programmes.

Parents are paying as much as $7000 a year for each child, on top of school donations, exam fees and costs for extra-curricular activities.

In less than 15 years one business, Kip McGrath Education Centres, has grown to 97 centres nationwide, with more than 15,000 students attending.

It is a trend that worries some, who say the pressure is too much for kids "who need to just be children". It has also been labelled a reflection of a state school system that is not up to scratch.

But Louise Rainger, field development consultant for the Kumon education centres, said it was a "natural shift" for parents wanting a tailored education.

Kumon, based on a Japanese method, opened in New Zealand in 1995 and today has 36 centres catering to 2700 children. Students attend twice a week, paying $90 per subject per month.

Ms Rainger said much of the growth had been in the past five years.

At NumberWorks, which has specialised in maths tuition since 1984, more than 4000 students attend one of 19 centres for an hour, once a week, paying $35 an hour.

Managing director Maurice Smith said that since schools began some children had done well and others not so well. "There's a whole lot in the middle who are keen to do just that little bit better."

Diane O'Sullivan, president of the Parent Teacher Association, said it stemmed from pressure to have "the perfect child and be the perfect parents".

"It's a bit of a worry because children are not being allowed to be children."

David Wardell, managing director of Kip McGrath Education Centres, said the industry took the problem off parents' shoulders.

"Parents are now appreciating the need for their children to have good skills at a younger age."

Kip McGrath tutors children for one hour and 20 minutes once a week at a cost of $37 a session. Over the holidays the company runs "very well attended" day programmes, at a further cost to parents.

All the companies said schools and teachers did an excellent job and their service was supplementary.

The growth is a global phenomenon. In Australia one in five children is estimated to have some tutoring. Researchers in Britain say more than a quarter of state school pupils receive private lessons, and in major Canadian cities the number of tutoring businesses grew between 200 and 500 per cent during the 1990s.

Last year a study of 15-year-olds in 41 OECD countries found New Zealand secondary school students were better than average at reading, mathematics and science.

Kiwi boys did significantly better at maths than Kiwi girls.