Almost half of Spanish families pay for children to receive private lessons

ALMOST half of the families in Spain paid for private classes for their children between 2019 and 2020 according to a study by the Esade Center for Economic Policy.

The survey says that 47% of families spent 1.7 billion euros on classes with languages, especially English, as the top priority.

The main outlay came from households where children attend public schools, representing two thirds of the expenditure.

The report also noted that spending on private language lessons would rise in parallel with household income.

The wealthiest families that pay for private tuition would have an average cost of €606 per young person, compared to €235 for children in the state education system.

The authors of the report said: “A greater emphasis on private classes to extend, refine and enrich languages ​​and the arts is indicative that parents need to increase their children’s learning opportunities.”

“It could be seen as a comment on the quality and quantity of classes within the school curriculum in both languages ​​and arts,” adds Esade Center.

It suggests that the way to reverse the upward trend towards private schooling is to increase trust in public schools and their teachers.

The study believes that if the trend does not change, public funding of state institutions may be affected.

He is also concerned that demand for private tuition is being driven by a “highly competitive examination system” with high failure rates and increasingly recovering young people.