HOME TUITION & GROUP TUITION IN SINGAPORE

Today, tuition in Singapore is an necessity. 80% of our local student population today have some form of tuition. Almost 95% of our foreign students in Singapore have either group tuition or home tuition.

 

Does Tuition Really Helps my child ?

From our experience through interactions with parents and getting student feedbacks about tutors, many parents are satisfied with the results of tuition. More than 80% of these parents observed an improvement in their children school work and exam results, usually within a time frame of 3-6 months.

Getting a  home private tutor/ tuition teacher has the following advantages:

• A home tutor can impart knowledge that may not be taught in sufficient details in school.
• A home tutor can go through materials that your children is too embarrassed to ask in school.
• A home tutor can customise his teaching to specific weak areas of every individual student which a school teacher is unable to do
• A home tutor can share smart exam tips, topics to focus on and techniques on how to remember certain formulas.

Tuition Centre- Group Tuition or Home Tuition?

As a parent, after you make up your mind that it is time to get tutoring help for your beloved child, the next question to ask is whether to go for tuition centre- group tuition or home tuition.

The main advantage of home tuition is one-to-one attention. With one-to-one home tutor to student ratio, the tutor will be better able to focus on the specific weakness of your child and the difficulties the child meets with in school. Home tuition also offers less travelling time for the parent and student as the venue for home tuition are typically at the student's residential home. Schedules changes are also more flexible. However, the fees for home tuition typically costs more than tuition centre classes.

Tuition centre teaching is in between home tuition and school classroom teaching. Tuition classes typically have 4-20 students per tutor. Depending on the tuition school, some tuition centres may provide a customised set of materials and have their own teaching techniques. These special materials and teaching techniques are the main attraction point for good tuition centres. Conducting lessons in a group, tuition centres may also encourage students to practise their socialisation skills by interacting more with other students. However, parent and student may find it a hassle as it takes time travelling to the tuition centre.

 

What Category of Home Tutors are there in Singapore nowadays?

There are mainly these four categories of tutors in Singapore

• Polytechnic/JC/Undergraduate student Tutor: These are students still pursuing their education and are best able to relate to the academic stress and conditions your child is faced now since these tutors probably just went through what your child is undergoing. Polytechnic/JC/Undergraduate student Tutor are most cost effective due to their lower charging rates

 

• Worknig Adults, Freelance Part-time Tutor: Part-time tutors are holding full-time jobs, often in different disciplines and fields. Some of them can even be bankers,doctors or lawyers who enjoys teaching out of passion. These Worknig Adults, Freelance Part-time Tutor are usually available for teaching tuition on weekday evenings and weekends. Generally, Worknig Adults, Freelance Part-time Tutor tutors may already finish their education and many of them are university or Poly graduates. Worknig Adults, Freelance Part-time Tutor are generally more mature in age( between 25 to 45 years old), and will be able to share real-life working experience with the child. Typically part-time tutors only teaches only1-2 students.

 

• Full-Time Home Tutors: Full-time tutors teaches tuition as the main job, thus full-time tutors watch the time closely, as they may need to move off to another teaching assignments. Experienced full-time tutors often have the ability to quickly identify the weak area faced by most children and are very familiar with the syllabus as they teaches the same subject and topic often multiple times to different students.

 

• Ex-Teacher/Current Teacher: Teachers who give tuition are the most valued after tutors, commanding the highest rates. As they are intimately familiar with the changing trends of education in Singapore, some good current teachers may even be able to spot potential questions that are highly likely to come out in this year examinations. Both ex-teachers and current teachers have underwent rigorous NIE training, and thus possess good teaching and communication skills. Ex and current school teachers who are willing to give tuition outside their demanding school schedule are highly in demand. Typically, it may take quite some time to get a school teacher to be a tutor.(usually about 1 week) Furthermore, the rates ($100/per hour for JC lecturers) may not be in the affordable budget range of parents.

The right type of tutor for your child really depends on your tuition needs and budget you are able to afford.

How to Find A Good Home Tutor/ Tuition teacher ?

Word of mouth recommendation. Ask around your colleagues or friends who may have good experience with a particular tutor.

Seeking the help of tuition agencies is another way to find a good tutor. Typically, a tuition agency gets its commission of geting a home tutor from the tutor's first month tuition fees, hence engaging tuition agencies help to seek a home tutor comes at virtually no cost to the parents at all.

A good tuition agency will listen to your child education requirements needs, advice you on the tuition rates, the number of sessions and length of session to go for, depending on the number of subjects to be tutored upon. As a general rule of thumb, a 2 hrs weekly session is necessary if your child requires tutoring in one subject. Any increase in subjects will probably requiries a tutoring schedule of 2 times a week or even more depending on your child needs.

Each tuition agency typically have its own list of tutors. The agency will then contact prospective tutors in its list to see whether if any are interested in taking up your tutoring assignment. It can take up to a few hours or even a few weeks for these tuition agency to get back to you, depending on the exclusiveness of your requirements. Eg , A primary 4 student maths home tutor is much easier to find compared to finding ex-teacher who is able to teach Sec 3 Chemistry home tuition.

A good tuition agency will also do the necessary background check on the educational certifications of the tutors. After the first session, the tuition agency will also do a call-up to both the parent and tutor to ensure that everything is alright and everyone is satisified with the tutoring arrangement.

What to Observe during the First Lesson?

After getting recommendations from either your friends or a tuition agency, your next task is to observe the first lesson between your child and the tutor. These are the few key points to observe (from a non-intrusive manner):

• Any communication barriers between the child and tutor?
• Is the tutor is able to explain the topics effectively, in a way your child is able to comprehend?
• Is the tutor on time and gives your child the undivided attention during the tuition session? Frequent checks on mobile phone is a good indicated of a distracted tutor.

Tuition Goal Setting

It is important for goal to be established between the tutor and child. This is the only way to ensure that you are getting your return of investment in your child education. A good goal usually follows the SMART characteristic.

(S)pecific: Who is involved, what to achieve? (to get A2 in Maths).

(M)easureable: What is meant by improvement? How to measure grades improvement? (using certain critical examinations as a check).

(A)ttainable: Identify goals that are attainable, through good planning.

(R)ealistic: Set goals that are realistic which the child is willing and able to achieve. Do not expect your child to As when he or she is currently failing the subject. (Improve 2 grades from a D to a C).

(T)imely: Set a time frame to achieve the goal. (3 months time).

Some tutors and child sets a 1-2 grade improvement goals within a 6 months period.

Follow On Monitoring

Investment in stocks requires constant monitoring. Similarly, investment in your child education also requires constant monitoring. Do not expect miracles to happen overnight. Your child who may be able to achieve his 'A's right after the first tuition session. Give the tutor and child 1-2 months before expecting to see any significant results.