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Strike stokes tutors, threatens international program

Parents turn to tutoring companies to fill gap created by school labour dispute
tutoring
Jamileth (right), a tutor at School is Easy Tutoring, works with pupil Raianne Leung  |  Richard Lam

Picket lines around British Columbia public schools have created whirlwind growth in the tutoring business.

Parents were scrambling this week to find tutors for their children, and tutoring companies were hunting for teachers in an effort to accommodate unprecedented demand. Plenty of striking teachers, who have already lost thousands of dollars in pay, were offering their services.

“It’s been crazy,” said Susan Cumberland, owner of School Is Easy Tutoring, adding that her business has increased fourfold because of the prolonged labour dispute between teachers and government that has postponed indefinitely the start of the new school year.

With a flood of new clients, Cumberland said she intended to hire 25 additional B.C.-certified teachers and had dozens of interviews lined up for several days running.

“We are getting four times more applications from teachers and four times more registrations from students than what we would normally get,” she said. “The teachers that are applying to tutor say that they would like to continue tutoring all year to make up for the loss of salary.”

Before the strike, School Is Easy Tutoring provided in-home lessons to more than 1,000 students a year, at a cost of $40 to $45 an hour, and had a database of 500 tutors. But if this week is any indication, those totals are about to mushroom.

Similarly busy was the Teachers’ Tutoring Service, a non-profit that also offers services toMetro Vancouver students in their homes. Co-ordinator Ann Thorpe said parents usually wait until after the first report card before seeking a tutor, but not this year. Some are in panic mode because no one knows how long this strike might last, she said.

The tutoring business has grown steadily for a decade or so, but its expansion has been exceptional during the past couple of years, Thorpe said. In addition to the spread of large franchises, such as Sylvan and Kumon, there’s been a boom in smaller, after-school academies.

Added to that now are numerous striking teachers who are advertising their services online. “Are you worried about your child falling behind in reading because of the prolonged teacher strike?” asks one Kijiji advertisement. “I can help!”

Parents of children under 13 are eligible for a government subsidy of $40 a day, which would generally cover tutoring costs.  But significant interest is also coming from older students, especially those in grades 11 and 12 who are worried about completing courses in time to apply for post-secondary studies, Thorpe said.

While the tutoring industry flourishes, another economic driver in education could be in trouble. Many worry that the strike is damaging the reputation of B.C. schools abroad and may prompt fee-paying international students to look elsewhere for education next year.

“It’s a very, very competitive market,” said Patti Bacchus, chairwoman of the Vancouver Board of Education, which operates one of the most successful international student programs in the K-12 sector. “Students have a lot of choices. They shop around.”

Although B.C.’s education brand is strong, damage to the province’s reputation could take a long time to repair, she added.

The government recently boasted that the number of international students attending B.C. public and private elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools had jumped to 112,800 last year from 94,000 three years earlier.

International students spend $2.3 billion on tuition, accommodations and living expenses, supporting about 25,000 jobs, the government said, noting it was on target to increase the number of international students coming to B.C. by 50% by 2016.

Without a quick end to the strike, that goal may be out of reach.