In an article in The Irish Times, it was revealed that more and more parents of primary school children as looking to invest in grinds to make up for loss learning time as a result of the pandemic and lockdowns.
One business offering their services is School is Easy, a Canadian franchise that has set up in Ireland. Roy and Maria Lalor are the master franchisees in Ireland and were quoted in the article about their services:
I’m a retired teacher who worked in further education for 30 years,” says Roy Lalor.
“I worked in a PLC in Finglas because it was where I could do the greatest good and now, using this business, I can help learners. We can provide interventions for people with literacy or numeracy problems or a child going to first year who doesn’t understand maths and may not be able to communicate their needs in a large class.
“There are children who can’t manage in the one-size-fits-all [Irish] education system and, for a lot of them, an early intervention can make a big difference. Some of the children we work with are those who have been excluded from school and need tutoring straight away. And we can support families who are home-schooling their children but may not have the skills in areas like maths.”
As a result of lockdowns and home-schooling, the onus was on parents and teachers to ensure that childrne did not fall behind, but this was a huge burden on parents and School is Easy is now seeing a demand for their services:
"People want their children to not fall behind,” Lalor says. “We are alive to the idea they could be doing too much, but nobody thinks twice if a child is good at sports and is being encouraged at it. We match the tutor to the child and find someone who can suit their needs. Schools made heroic efforts but some parents or guardians just weren’t comfortable or able to act as educators.”