UK Based Online Tutoring Service Aims To Level The Playing Field

KENSINGTON, U.K. - March 27, 2017 - PRLog -- No matter how much top universities are said to encourage entrants from the state sector, the reality remains - students from the best independent schools consistently have a far greater chance of entering the best universities.

The next reality is that graduates from the best universities are dominant in all walks of life, they are present in the boardrooms of the biggest multinational companies, in government cabinet rooms, top private hospitals, anywhere that their early financial and educational advantages give them a headstart on the career ladder.

Regardless of the effort most governments around the world put into public education they simply can't compete with the top private schools, especially when it comes to one on one tutoring and university entrance preparation.

The founders of Spires Online Tutoring were accepted into Oxford University after attending private schools, at the time they were completely unaware of the unfair advantage that their superior high school education had played in the selection process.

"We attended one of the best universities in the world and we were oblivious to just how lucky we had been. Only at Oxford did we begin to appreciate the unfair advantage that going to a top private school had given us in getting into a top university."

At school, they were drilled, tutored and trained to get those top university places. They were coached over and above the curriculum. If they were struggling with any element of their studies - great tutors were available, around the clock one-on-one - to fix that problem.

During their time at Oxford the founders became increasingly concerned about the social inequality they were observing around them, and decided to do something about it after graduation. They asked themselves:

"What could we offer to maximise the chance of any student getting into a university worthy of their intelligence, ability and potential regardless of their background?"

The problems they were seeing had two main causes, expense and distance.

Only families in the top fifth of the income range can afford to send their children to private high schools, and even face to face private tutoring can be prohibitively expensive for the remainder. For families who live outside the big cities there are usually very few private tutors in their area, the talent pool is either very small or nonexistent.

The obvious solution was online tutoring, so after graduating Spires was born. The service matches tutors from top universities such as Oxford and Cambridge with students from all over the world via a custom built online platform.

"We created Spires to provide the same one-on-one tutoring experience that gave us the edge in our final exams. Our aim is to make that experience affordable to as many parents as possible and level the playing field in those pre university examination years."

Using an online platform reduces costs dramatically as the tutors don't have to travel to and from lessons, a very significant time saving. It also eliminates the distance problem as students and tutors can hook up from anywhere in the world. As an added bonus the Spires platform operates 24/7 so time differences are not a factor either.

Borrowing heavily from other types of online services such as ride-sharing Uber their system uses an algorithm to match students to available tutors. Also those receiving tuition at Spires rate their tutors on a five-star scale which enables the company managers to quickly identify and review lessons which receive a low rating.

The company was founded in May 2015 and already has over 1,000 tutors available for matching. Student growth is also fast with over 10,000 students already using the platform after less than two years of operation.

About Spires
Based in London, Spires is an online marketplace for tuition, academic help, educational support and mentoring. It connects you to thousands of tutors worldwide, in any subject and at any level, via an auction system.

You tell Spires what you need and our network of professional tutors can bid their hourly rate to help you complete your task. Once you have agreed terms, all work is then conducted through the fully integrated classroom and collaborative whiteboard. In short, Spires is the world's most high-tech, yet simple, way to learn and brings tutoring into the 21st century. Try it, it is the smarter way to learn.

You can find out more at their website https://spires.co/