Canadian Tutoring Industry Analysis Essay

The reason for education is an incontestable topic. According to article 40 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedom, everyone has a right to free education and as of 1871, education for children between the ages of 6-16 became compulsory in Canada. Having practiced playing school during their childhood, schools for children are a symbol of growing up; and for the parents, are viewed as a rite of passage and entry to the child’s future career (Diskin, 2010). However, most believe that the greatest achievements of life are their educational titles. Thus grades became the measure of a child’s success or failure in his young life. Consequently, efforts to help students obtain better grade in various educational institutions and levels emerged and tutoring business services were born. Over the past decade, the tutoring industry has undergone a massive growth an increased in popularity. It was even described as flourishing according to CTV’s Ken Shaw (The growing business of tutoring students, 2002). Tutoring classes no longer concern just academic subjects but now includes sports and dance lessons. In 2007 a report by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) sparked interest and controversy about the private tutoring sector in Canada when it announced that a third of Canadian parents (33%) have hired a tutor. This reinforced the findings of a 2005 study which determined that approximately 25% of Canadian parents hired a tutor, and the 2007 OISE/UT Biennial Survey which found that 24% of Ontario parents have used tutoring (Aurini, 2008). Furthermore, the number of formal businesses that offer fuller tutoring services has grown between 200%-500% in major Canadian cities over the past 30 years, a growth that is independent of public school enrollments or economic trends (Davies & Aurini, 2004). In Ontario for example the number of businesses grew from 250 to just under 500 locations between 1996 and 2005. While these figures are impressive, they do not capture the vast network of more casual, part-time tutors who service thousands of students on a regular basis. However, even using conservative estimates, all research suggests that we are witnessing the birth of a tutoring revolution in Canada (Aurini, 2008). With this unprecedented wave of entrepreneurial activity in what has been dubbed â€Å"the new education industry† the private tutoring industry has been saturated and has reached its maturity stage. â€Å"Just looking at the Yellow Pages, you can see that the number of listings for private tutoring companies has tripled to quadrupled over the last 15 years,† says Dr. Neil Guppy of the University of B. C. ‘s department of sociology (Johal, 1999).