Very often, students and their parents consider between two options: going for group tuition and hiring a home tutor. We hope to present you with some guidelines in determining which solution fits your requirements best.
- Cost
At the top of the list for most of us is of course the very practical issue of money. Home tuition typically cost a lot more than group tuition (unless of course you hire some unqualified undergraduate who has no real experience in preparing students in schools for actual national examinations). Tutors who are current JC school teachers, especially those from top schools are of course better suited to help you ace that exam, but they also do not come cheap. If you hired this type of teachers to come to your home, you enjoy exclusivity of the teacher’s attention but incur a much higher cost. Going to a group tuition meas you have to scarifice exclusivity but there are ignificant cost savungs. As an example, to hire a current JC school teacher to go to your home for one-to-one tuition costs about $1200 to 1400 per month as opposed to $290 at the centre. Of course, the relevant question is about how much exclusivity needs to be sacrificed. That depends on the class size.
- Class Size
Some group tuition can offer very cheap rates while others can charge a lot more. Generally, there are two ways that tuition centres can offer cheap group tuition rates: have enlarged class size or hire less effective tutors. Some centres can allow class sizes to balloon up to 30 or 40 students. Most of us immediately understand that this cannot result in effective learning outcomes. The current industry standard is about 12 students per class. Any larger number threatens learning effectiveness while a smaller class translates into higher cost. Of course, some tuition centres can offer you small classes at cheap rates. Check the tutors’ qualifications and track record carefully, ask clearly before signing up. At Learners’ Lodge Education Centre, our class size is limited to 12 students.
- Level of interaction
Effective learning requires some level of interaction and discussion in class. Especially at the upper secondary or JC level, higher order thinking skills dominate the assessment objectives of the syllabuses. It is not simply about the teacher packaging information for the student to memorize. As such, a process of discussion or various ideas and viewpoints that result in deep understanding is crucial for excellent grades. Home tuition is therefore a little limited in this area. While group tuition offers a better and more conducive environment for meaningful discussion, class size matters again. Too large a class size limits each student’s opportunity to participate and hence benefit from the discussion. Our experience shows that 10 to 12 students in a class provides for optimal learning effectiveness.
- Quality of tutor
Top quality tutors are not necessarily that hard to find, they are just more expensive to hire. But what really makes a good tutor? At the minimum, the tutor must possess the relevant academic qualifications – hiring an undergraduate who attained an A grade at ‘A’ level is not the same as hiring a graduate in the subject who is also properly trained to teach that subject. However, being qualified is not sufficient. Good tutors typically also come with years of experience teaching full-time in schools and have good track record of producing A-grade students. While there is some truth that teachers from top school tend to be more experienced in stretching students’ abilities and bringing them to greater heights, it is not automatically true that a top school teacher is also a top teacher; it may well be that the students were very good to begin with. So whether you are choosing home tuition or group tuition, find out more about the tutor. If you are considering group tuition, find out how the centre selects their tutors, and keep their tutors quality high.
- Your learning style versus the tutor’s teaching style
Each of us has a preferred learning style. Some of us are auditory learners, some are visual learners and some are kinaesthetic learners. Teachers also tend teach according to their own learning styles. Home tutors more often than not have one preferred style. As such, it is not uncommon to hear that a particular teacher was very good in teaching a student but another student’s feedback about the same teacher is not that good. This is because the experience of home tutors tends to revolve around teaching one student. Group tuition invariably involves students with different learning styles. Tutors in a classroom setting tend to have gained a lot of experience catering to a variety of learning styles of the students. At our centre, we administer a free learning styles test to identify all our students’ preferred learning styles and all our tutors then prepare lessons that suit the profile of the class.
- Overall conclusion
There are many advantages to having group tuition: lower cost, more meaningful intellectual discussions, a better catering to student’s learning style etc. However, choosing the centre to attend your lessons can be a tricky decision. Every tuition centre will tell you they have the best teachers (it’s a sales thing) but you owe it to yourself to ask for more information about the tutors and program offered by the centre. Home tuition can also be good or bad, the key lies in hiring the right tutor. As the general rule, if it’s cheap, you had better wonder why. The market rate for a full-time current JC teacher is $100 to $120 per hour. The really good ones cost $150 – $180 per hour. Of course, beware of those who charge a high price just to appear good. Check out their credentials; ask for at least 5 references from ex-students. Bottom-line: very good tutors are very expensive, but your child deserves the best you can afford, but the right group tuition can help give you the best tutors at a much more affordable (we didn’t say cheap) price through cost-sharing. Choose wisely.