Small Group Tuition or 1 to 1 Tuition. Which Offers the Best Results?
Feb 12, 2025Group Teaching or 1to 1? That is the Question…..
Many parents think that 1 to 1 tuition is preferable to small group tuition. Are they right?
It is an understandable assumption that 1 to 1 is much better than group tuition, but the research does not back that up.
The Education Endowment Foundation has compiled research on the impact of “Small Group Tuition”. Small group tuition is defined as a tutor or teacher working with two to five pupils together in a group. This arrangement enables the teaching to focus exclusively on a small number of learners.
Their findings are summarised below:
Small group tuition has an average impact of four months additional progress over the course of a year. Furthermore, when staff are well trained to deliver small group support, the impact is even greater.
Very importantly they found that the quality of the teaching was considered more important than the group size.
Other benefits of group tuition include:
- Cost Effective: Group tuition is usually more affordable than 1 to 1 tuition, as 1 to 1 tutors charge higher rates to make up for only having 1 student at a time.
- Standard of delivery: It should only be experienced teachers who offer group tuition, so the effectiveness of delivery should be far greater.
- Quality of resources: With more students per group, assuming that the sessions are correctly priced, the teacher should be able to afford time to properly prepare for every session with high quality lesson resources, homework materials and other support.
- Diverse Perspectives: Small group tuition exposes your child to different points of view allowing them to see different ways of solving problems and completing questions. They will be able to choose which methods and techniques work best for them.
- Motivation: Having your child learn in a small group can strengthen their motivation as they see that they are not alone in their pursuit of high exam grades
So small group tuition (between 2-5 students) offers an excellent way of boosting your child’s progress and exam results.
If you are looking for tuition for your child, ensure that you look for quality of teaching above 1 to 1 and consider all of the unexpected benefits. Don’t forget that small group tuition is most likely to be effective if it is targeted at pupils’ specific needs, so it is important that students are in a group with similar needs and target grades.
Jo Scholten
Director and Teacher of Cambridge Quality Tuition
