Choosing Between a Private Tutor And a Tuition Centre

Having tuition in Singapore is getting increasingly popular with students in the country, and they also feel that having tuition is an essential part of their education, especially in primary, secondary and junior college years. This is especially so with the school curriculum getting tougher with each passing year.

At present, the education system in Singapore is preparing the students to specialize in specific fields of study, and there is a lot of competition among students to be ahead of the bell curve at all times. This can be inevitably difficult for many students and they might feel helpless at times, with so much pressure from their parents and school, thinking they do not have any time to think about what they are studying at their own pace.

With the huge amount of pressure and competition they face, education has become a marathon where they have to keep pushing themselves without much rest, otherwise they will not be able to meet their parents’ and their own academic goals. This may cause them to break down at times, and it is very unhealthy as a child.

Having tuition does not alleviate a student’s stress by reducing their workload by any means, rather, it helps the student to prepare in adapting to the huge pressure of education in Singapore and to study efficiently and effectively. Zooming into the concept of tuition, there has been a tug-of-war between private tuition and tuition centres continuously, with regards to which is the better choice.

Most parents and students are usually ignorant to  the precise difference between the two types of tuition, and may not have chosen the right one for effective learning. Both private tuition and tuition centre have their own pros and cons, and we will be listing them down for analysis below, before we reach our conclusion.

1. Customized Lessons

Every student has their own unique ability in learning, with completely different learning needs. A private tutor will be able to offer personalized guidance to the student, which a tuition centre class tutor would not be able to afford the time to do so. This is one of the biggest advantages of a private tutor, as they can customize their teaching methods and style to better suit their student. A personalized teaching method is vital for the student to learn effectively, especially if the student isn’t very academically inclined.

Whereas for tuition centre classes, the tutor will use certain teaching methods and style which she or he thinks would be the most effective for everyone in the class as a collective. A tuition class will most likely have students with different learning abilities and needs, making learning ineffective for either the weaker or stronger students in the class. A way to circumvent this is to group the students according to the learning abilities together, but this would not be as good as having personalized guidance with a private one-to-one tutor.

private tutor

2. Tutor to Student Ratio

The tutor to student ratio is one of the main concerns for many parents when they decide which type of tuition they want for the child, and they would most likely lean towards choosing a private tutor if it suits their budget, which you can get your tuition agency to help negotiate with the tutor on. It is one of the main differences between private tutors and tuition centre classes.

With a smaller tutor to student ratio for private tutors, be it one-to-one or small group tuition, it allows students to be a lot more focused during lessons since the private tutor would be directly engaging them for most of the entire lesson, causing fewer distractions for the students.

In a tuition centre class with several students, there would most likely be undue distractions in the class and loss of focus by the student themselves, especially without intervention by the tutor as the tutor have to manage the entire class and continue teaching. Precious tuition time will be wasted if the tutor chose to intervene and discipline students in the class to ensure a conducive learning environment.

singapore tuition

3. Convenience

Private home tuition offers the convenience of having the tuition lesson at the comfort of the student’s own home, which can eliminate undue stress due to travelling. This is especially so for secondary school and junior college students who have a busy school schedule due to extra school classes and co-curricular activities in school. With this convenience, students would have a slightly lighter schedule due to the elimination of travelling time to the tuition venue for tuition centre lessons.

Conclusion

Private home tuition has many advantages compared to tuition centre classes, that would be beneficial to their learning needs and abilities. But it also depends on what the student feel they are comfortable with. Some students would prefer personalized lessons, whereas others may prefer attending lessons with other students in a class as they do not like the attention from one-to-one tuition. Ultimately, it should be the student who decides what’s best for them.