Along with state exams, the rush for private tutoring returns. According to data from the Le Tue Lezioni Observatory, in the months preceding high school graduation, families end up spending hundreds of euros to support their sons and daughters in preparing for the final exam. Strong demand for specific subjects is making the sector increasingly competitive, leading to a saturation of private tutors’ calendars and a peak in requests for tutors just before the summer.
Preparing for state exams: how much families spend on repetitions
Doing the math, the Observatory estimated an average investment of three hours of lessons per week for three months, with a rate that fluctuates around 15 euros per hour for subjects considered more complex. The result is an average overall expense of around 540 euros per student. For less popular subjects, where the average cost drops to around 13 euros per hour, the expense still remains significant: around 468 euros.
The subjects where the demands are greatest
Of all the disciplines, mathematics is confirmed as the subject with the most requests throughout the year. Next are Greek and Latin, which in June recorded an increase in requests of 83% compared to the previous month. For final year students this coincides with a double objective: obtaining admission to the state exam and preparing for the official tests.
Immediately afterwards we find:
- physics, +40%;
- Italian, +38%.
However, the idea that repetitions serve only to recover bad grades is now outdated. According to the survey:
- 61% of students seek help to fill gaps accumulated during the year;
- 47% report problems related to the study method.
The growing role of performance anxiety
But perhaps the most interesting data concerns the emotional component. According to the tutors interviewed:
- in 40% of cases, strong performance anxiety emerges from the first meeting;
- 9 out of 10 tutors frequently experience emotions such as anxiety, insecurity and fear of judgement;
- more than one tutor in three now considers the management of the psychological aspect to be a central part of their work, while around half say that in the last five years there has been an increase in students seeking support especially to manage stress and pressure, rather than for real insufficiencies.
It is no longer just about teaching repetitions, but about situations in which the private teacher also becomes a motivator, sometimes almost an emotional coach.
The most expensive cities, the North surpasses the South
According to national surveys, the average hourly cost for repetitions is not the same throughout Italy but:
- it stands at around 15 euros in the North;
- it drops to 14 euros in the Central regions;
- it reaches 13 euros in the South and in the Islands.
At a city level, Milan is the most expensive city, with an average of 18 euros per hour. Rome follows, with 17 euros. At the other extreme we find southern cities such as Foggia and Bari, where a private lesson costs on average 12 euros.
These fluctuations are not random, but reflect consolidated economic dynamics. The variation in prices is in fact influenced by various structural factors: from the different cost of living and average family incomes, to the urban density of cities and the real availability of qualified teachers in the area.
