Exam pressure – 55% of parents would employ a tutor to help their children prepare for exams

As GCSE and A Level exam prep starts an online voucher code website looked at what pressure children are now under and how far are their parents willing to go to help their children succeed. They found over half of parents would employ a tutor at costs which can run up hundreds of pounds to help their children do better in their exams.

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Thousands of students in the UK will be heading into their GCSE and A Level exams soon. With this in mind, an online voucher code company looked into what pressure children and young people feel to pass their exams and how parents are willing to help them.

To find out what stress kids are under, www.myvouchercodes.co.uk surveyed over 500 parents whose children were prepping for to take their GCSEs or A Levels this summer. Initially parents were asked whether they were helping their children study. The majority, 90%, answered that they were. They then asked whether they have employed a tutor or were planning on employing one to prepare their child for their GCSE or A Level exams. 55% said they were or would.

Main reasons

My Voucher Codes then asked those who were employing a tutor (or planning on doing so) why. The responses included:

  • To help improve grades after receiving their mock exams results.
  • To help with specific topics their child struggled with.
  • To ensure their child did revise.
  • To boost studies outside of school.
  • To fill in the gaps in knowledge that they worry teachers are missing.

Feeling the pressure

The majority of parents (55%) admitted to putting some pressure on their children to do well in their exams, but many don’t want to push their children too hard as they feel stress from other outside sources such as schools and their peers is enough already for their children to handle. Many parents believe pressure to get high marks in their children’s exams comes from schools, with 36% of parents surveyed feeling that there is a lot of pressure from schools for students to exceed expectations, with many parents believing that this is because schools are focused more on league tables than student potential.

Reward

Parents were split when it came to whether children should be rewarded for just sitting their exams. 10% believed positive encouragement works and that as their children had worked hard they should be rewarded. In addition 90% of parents were planning on rewarding their children for passing their exams, these would be:

  • Meal out – 50%
  • New technology such as phone, tablet, computer or games console – 22%
  • Money (value dependant on results gained) – 12%
  • Clothing – 8%
  • Other – 8%

Speaking about the study, Chris Reilly, General Manager of MyVoucherCodes said:

“The summer months can be a stressful time for the younger generation, those sitting their GCESs and A Levels are under an enormous amount of pressure, and from our results it seems a lot of this pressure comes from schools. It’s interesting to see that many parents would employ a tutor to help their children study and prepare for their exams, because they believe that their children need more help than the schools can offer.“

He added:

“When it comes to rewarding children, most parents believe that their children do deserve some kind of reward, a meal out is the most popular choice. Exams can be stressful for the whole family, so time out to get together for a much needed treat meal out will help everyone, rewarding a job well done.“

My Voucher Codes is the leading voucher, coupon and discount deals website in the UK.