Private vs small group tutoring: which is right for your child?
Most families start their search assuming one-to-one tutoring is the gold standard, and small group is the budget compromise. It is a fair assumption. But it is worth examining before you commit hundreds of dollars a term. Here is an honest look at how the two compare today: what private tutoring does well, where the open market can leave families exposed, and how a well-resourced small group programme now closes most of the gap that used to make private the obvious choice.
What private tutoring does well
A private tutor gives a student undivided attention. The session moves entirely at their pace. It can focus on the exact topic that is troubling them, and flex week to week around an upcoming assessment.
For a student catching up on a single concept, preparing for a one-off task, or one who finds any group setting genuinely difficult, that individual focus can be the right call. If your child’s needs are highly specific and short-term, private tutoring can suit them well.
Where the private market can leave families exposed
The harder question is about the market itself, rather than any individual tutor. Private tutoring in Australia is largely unregulated, so the family carries the risk.
- No standard requirement to verify a tutor’s qualifications or working-with-children check
- No oversight of what is taught, and no quality control on materials
- Lessons are usually built from whatever resources a tutor happens to have
- Rarely a backup if a tutor falls ill, gets busy, or moves on
- Typically $90 or more an hour for the arrangement
None of this means private tutors are bad at their job. Many are excellent. The point is simply that the family carries the risk, with limited ability to check quality before you have paid for it.
How small group tutoring has changed
The version of small group tutoring many parents picture, a tutor at a whiteboard talking to a quiet room, is not how a well-designed programme works anymore. Here is what a strong small group programme now offers, using ours as the example.
- Genuinely small classes. A cap of 12 students means the tutor knows each child’s name, gaps and goals. Students work through their own individual workbooks and get feedback directly on their own work, in the session.
- Quality-controlled materials. Every resource is curriculum-mapped and written by an in-house education team, rather than depending on what one tutor happens to bring.
- The value of peers. Learning alongside other students working toward the same goal adds motivation, accountability and exposure to different ways of solving a problem.
- Oversight and continuity. Tutors are vetted and supported, progress is tracked, and the programme does not collapse if one person is away.
Support beyond the lesson, included
A weekly private session is, by definition, a weekly private session. Our programme wraps far more around it: online homework help on weekday evenings, up to roughly 28 additional hours of tutor support across a term, plus a holiday programme between terms and a discount on study guides. With private tutoring, every extra hour is one you pay for.
Side by side
| Private tutoring | Small group (Dymocks) | |
|---|---|---|
| Attention | Fully 1:1 | Max 12, individual workbooks |
| Flexibility week to week | High | Structured, curriculum-led |
| Materials | Tutor dependent | Education team, curriculum-mapped |
| Quality oversight | Not guaranteed | Vetted tutors, tracked progress |
| Support beyond lessons | Usually none | ~28 hrs/term homework help, holiday programme |
| Continuity if tutor unavailable | Rare | Built in |
| Typical cost | $90+/hr | From ~$39/hr |
So, which is right?
If your child needs intensive, short-term help on something very specific, or genuinely cannot work in a group, one-to-one still makes sense, and it is worth seeking out a tutor whose credentials you can verify.
For most students, though, the calculation has shifted. A well-resourced small group programme now delivers the personal attention, materials and wraparound support that used to be the reason to pay for private. It does so with more consistency, more accountability, and at a fraction of the cost.
For transparency, here is our own internal data. Across Dymocks benchmarks, 97% of students improve in their subject, with an average improvement of around 32%. Among our HSC students, 63% achieve an ATAR of 96 or above. These are our figures, not an independent audit, but they reflect what the model is built to do.