not sure if this discussion is still about the tutor thing because it seems to be more about creativity now but on the case of tutors;
as someone who hasnt actually ever had a tutor, i think a lot of students require a mentoring figure more than a tutor. if schools could provide this, on top of their normal teaching/learning teachers, year advisors etc, itd be good. my school had a mentoring system where we saw our mentors twice a year- not very effective at all. with the current number of teachers itd be impossible to have anymore meetings simply because there isnt enough time for teachers to teach the syllabus and mentor us, but if we could train and equip new teachers to be more 'mentor-y' than 'teacher-y' i think we'd see a huge reduction in the number of students taking up tutoring.
from what ive gathered via conversations with my friends who do have tutors, they need it for the sort of discipline it enforces and resources made available more than anything else. they like the idea of having someone there who makes you study subject a say 3 times a week then having to force yourself to do it. [another plus, im told, is the bottomless pit of questions/trial/past papers tutors seem to have].
i understand the argument that some students have teachers who aren't very competent and thus need someone outside of school to help them out, but i think this is where the inschool mentor idea could be useful.
hope some of that made sense.