Choosing an Eleven Plus Tutor

Today I would like to talk about Firewalls. There are as many different firewalls as there are Eleven Plus papers. With firewalls we need to be able to compromise between ease of use and security. Without a firewall your connection to the internet becomes a source of concern.

The firewall defines what information is allowed onto your computer. If you define a small area then you reduce the area you need to protect from the Internet.

So you can set your firewall up to refuse anything that you have not already selected.

The other way is to allow everything and then block the services you do not want.

So the first method is rather restrictive and the second gives far more freedom but does allow gaps where your computer can be attacked.

So some teachers working towards the Eleven Plus will want to teach only what they think will come up on the perceived syllabus. Other teachers will want to maintain a broad curriculum that allows them to prepare their children in a much freer manner. Most teachers will be somewhere between the two extremes.

All this is to suggest that when parents interview prospective Eleven Plus tutors they need to pose the question: “How do you configure your firewall.”

If you want narrow but effective tuition you choose Option A. Option B gives far wider latitude to your child’s preparation.

Your choice of the tutor will be as much about you as about your child’s preferences. Anyway if anything goes wrong you can always blame the firewall.