From classroom to grindstone

The teachers' view...

CAROLE MENON

Teaches French in St Finian's Community College, Swords, Co Dublin and in the Ballinteer Institute, Dublin

"My students generally fall into one of two groups. There are the ones who have fallen a bit behind in class and are struggling with certain aspects of the course. Then there are the students who are quite good and aiming very high. They sometimes feel that their class in school isn't moving quickly enough and that they need the extra push for the A.

"Some students know they are in trouble early on and decide they need help throughout the year. It depends. The cost of a grind also depends. I believe a one-to-one grind could cost €60 or €70 in some areas of south Dublin. When I taught one-to one grinds I charged €45, which I think is fairly standard.

I have been giving grinds for the past 12 years, both to individual students and to classes in the Ballinteer Institute. For the classes, I have groups that are nearly as big as a normal class in school but the dynamics are completely different. For one thing, the students are all motivated and they want to be there. They are willing to do extra work.

"Added to that, the grind is an hour and a half long. You might have 40 minutes in school, which quickly shrinks. I get through more work with these classes.

"The most important thing about grinds is to start early. People sometimes come looking for a miracle but there's no way you can make any meaningful difference in three or four weeks. In an exam year, you should maybe take action no later than January.

"Grinds seem to be becoming just another part of a child's education. Before I would have students coming to me because they didn't want to fail, but now my core student would be the student who wants to do really well."

KEVIN BREEN

Teaches maths in the South East Learning Centre in Wexford

"I started giving grinds after coming back to Ireland after teaching abroad for a number of years. The demand in Wexford was such that I spotted a gap in the market and set up the South East Learning Centre. Now I teach maths grinds to groups of four or five students and we provide tuition across most subjects to students at all levels.

"When a parent calls up, the first thing I ask is whether a student is reluctant to come to grinds. The interesting thing is that in about 60 per cent of cases the parent will say that the request for grinds has come from the student. The classes work out at about €25 an hour.

"While the majority of our students are secondary school students, people started coming to us a while back looking for grinds at primary level. I never would have dreamed of such a thing until it started happening.

"People who can afford grinds are sending their children as early as possible.

"In my opinion, a combination of large classes and poor teaching is fuelling the demand.I certainly see the phenomenon of Mr X calling and saying their child needs grinds because their teacher is terrible, then later I'd get a call from Mrs Y and the same teacher's name will come up. It's certainly not the case in every instance but it happens a lot.

"I don't understand the controversy over grinds. The controversy should be over what the students are not getting in schools. If I was giving a rubbish service I'd be shut down."