Tutoring Agency
School is Easy said it saw a 48 per cent increase in tutoring hours in 2021 compared to 2020.
This article was originally published on CBC News on January 11, 2022.
As the uncertainty around in-person learning continues to grow amid rising cases of the Omicron variant, an increasing number of parents are turning to tutors for academic support.
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The many benefits of home tuition will be spelled out in a School is Easy webinar next week.
This online event, staged on Zoom, is FREE for all attendees, who will need to register in advance. It takes place on Wednesday (November 4) at 4pm (UK time).
The webinar is to be hosted by Chris Wyle, the managing director for School is Easy in Great Britain, and will be packed full of top tips, useful resources and pressing issues.
There is a special offer and giveaway, exclusive to attendees, who also get the chance to take part in a question and answer session.
Topics to be covered by the host, panellists from the School is Easy team and guests, get to the heart of the matter of why tutoring is so badly needed.
The loss of learning and reduced school hours, caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, has been the source of much debate this year.
This webinar will explain how School is Easy can help, through their style of in-home and online tutoring, with much discussion on the current educational landscape.
The Canadian-based franchisor is ramping up for U.K. and European growth with its educational concepts.
Launchlife International Inc., the Ontario franchisor that owns a portfolio of education-technology brands, has appointed Paul Lewis as Managing Director to head up the organization’s Pitman Training and School is Easy brands.
Launchlife acquired Pitman Training in late 2018, having seen the value of the established training franchise. Pitman Training was founded over 180 years ago, and has been franchising since 1992; now with over 70 training centres worldwide helping to upskill clients and improve their careers.
Paul’s new role will see him oversee the growth strategy for Pitman Training, as well as expand the School is Easy brand throughout the U.K. and Europe. School is Easy specializes in providing private tutoring to children, and is already successful throughout Canada and North America.
“I am delighted to be joining the business at this very exciting time. 2020 has been a really challenging year for all of us, but this has created the perfect storm for our group of companies,” said Paul Lewis.
“Not only is it an amazing time to become a franchisee; we are already seeing an increase in demand for our products and services. Throughout the lockdown period, people have taken the opportunity to seek out training and learn new skills to take control of their future, which is great news for Pitman Training. Similarly, as a result of recent events, the demand for private tutoring and home-schooling has increased exponentially.”
School is Easy Tutoring company founder Susan Cumberland and her daughters, Rai-Ann and Alana, were honoured to be guest speakers for Human Rights by Global Girl Power in support of United Nations at Robson Square on Dec 10th. Also present at the event was Amnesty International, as well as Harjit Sajjan (Canadian Minister of National Defence).
Thank you to Lucky Gill, the founder of Global Girl Power for this opportunity. Susan and her daughters spoke about the importance of education for girls and how lucky we are in Canada. In many parts of the world girls are denied an education. Some girls are forced into marriage or prostitution in their early teens. We must bring together communities to initiate activism, dialogue and awareness of this injustice.
Why did you decide to bring your daughters to this event?
My daughters wanted to come. They believe strongly that all girls should have equal opportunity for education. Rai-Ann, my oldest daughter was abandoned at birth because she was a girl.
How do you think kids in Canada can make real change for this issue abroad?
They need to be aware. Join rallies and events. Make themselves heard. Speak up.
Do you think this issue affects us locally as Canadians too? If so, how? How can we work to change this?
Our message was to make Canadian girls realize how very luck they are to be in Canada where girls are given equal rights for education. Education for women is crucial. It protects them from vulnerability and helps them gain financial freedom. Women must make their own money and not rely on any one else to take care of them. Pregnancy and divorce can happen. If they don’t have a career they could find themselves trapped in an abusive relationship.
What lessons did you learn from speaking and attending this event that you didn’t know before?
I learned that there are so many compassionate people who really care. It’s comforting. We see a lot of selfish acts of violence in the news. This event gave us hope. There are a lot of good people in the world.
Was there anything you wanted to say in your speech, but weren’t able to, given time or other constraints?
There is a lot of unfairness in the world and I am so grateful that there are organizations like the United Nations and Amnesty International that bring people together for the greater good.
We encourage you to read the full article written by Rebecca Eckler. It’s titled, ‘The new tutor dynasty: Tutors aren’t just for underachieving kids anymore. They’re the new normal.’
Tutoring is on the rise, and MacLeans has taken notice. We were recently interviewed for a lengthy magazine article on the trend to hire tutors in addition to regular school hours and teaching. As the owner of a tutoring franchise, Susan Cumberland was asked about the types of parents who ask for tutors, which surprisingly, is not what you’d expect. Sometimes young children who are learning to read are given tutoring hours by their parents. She has also noticed that many immigrant families who are worried about their child’s competitive edge in the school system will hire private tutors.
It’s true that as universities are getting harder to enter, the attitudes of parents towards their childrens’ education is shifting, and it’s noticeable. As a tutoring franchise, we have grown every year since we opened in 2002, which was also mentioned in the article. We also now operate out of six different cities.
But Susan was also quoted as giving this important tip to parents: the time to book a tutor is not the night before an exam! The real tutoring success stories come from consistent help with homework and learning. And that learning can be hard for parents to master, as the article pointed out when describing math problems that most grown ups don’t even understand. Plus there is the time issue – if parents are busy, it makes it harder to tutor their own child. That’s where services like those of School is Easy come in – to fill the gaps when kids just aren’t getting enough help.
But as the article points out, these days, tutoring is becoming more than extra help for struggling students. Getting ahead, and not letting any subject slip through the cracks is increasingly important to our parent communities.
Tutors themselves are also in no shortage. We are quoted in the article as having 1000 tutors on our list, and that’s because even the ones that have moved on to full time positions still want to know of opportunities to take on extra work. The thing that makes our tutors different is that we work with certified teachers, many of whom work professionally in the industry and are trained at what they do. This also makes a big difference when a child needs help with topics at school, which are based on the local provincial curriculum. Immigrant parents may not understand the topics requiring English, or they may not be aware of the sequence of learning, or the methods applied here in Canada. And for the parents that went to school in this country, well, remembering the way to calculate shapes in geometry is not exactly a skill we’ve all retained (as the article demonstrates).
Check out the full article linked to above! It delves much deeper into this subject and interviews other experts in the field you might want to hear from as well.
We were glad to have been given the opportunity to chime in on the subject, as the idea of ‘everyone getting a tutor’ is certainly becoming a cultural shift in our country, and one we are excited to be a part of. When our education system grows, so does our future!
At 6:30pm on May 5th, May Wang, the owner of our brand new School is Easy location in Mississauga, was approached by Omni News to get her thoughts on the current Ontario teacher’s strike. Here’s what she had to say:
As the owner of a tutoring centre, May would be expected to be happy that many parents are looking for tutoring for their kids due to the current strike. However, this is not the case. May hopes that students can go back to the classroom as soon as possible, as it is not right for students to suffer. The impact is especially bad for grade 12 students who are preparing to graduate and then enter into university in the fall. In the meantime, parents should consider signing their children up for tutoring so that they can get help going through the rest of the curriculum. This way they can still be prepared for the fall term despite the schooling they are missing due to the teacher strike.
In response to being asked about taking away the limit on classroom sizes:
In her interview, May was asked to comment on the implications of having no limit on the number of students in a classroom. In response to this, May says that having 60 students in a math class would be an unhealthy learning environment, for sure. It also concerns her that many of the qualified teachers working for her Mississauga School is Easy tutoring centre do not have full-time teaching positions. If classroom sizes grow, this will mean less work for many teachers, and some may even lose their jobs.