How to Choose a Good Tuition Centre

There is no one magical quality that allows you to instantly make a good decision. However, there are definitely some qualities that are more important.

Eventually, you will need to make a holistic assessment of all these qualities and select the tutor that is appropriate for your learning style and needs.

Here are 3 important aspects to consider:

1)     Teacher Quality

2)     Class Size

3)     How lessons are conducted

Teacher Quality

How to evaluate a teacher’s qualification?
What does it mean by “a trained teacher”?
Are current teachers much better than ex-teachers?

As highlighted by Minister of Education Heng Swee Keat, much research has shown that teacher quality is the number one determinant of a student’s success – more so than any other factor.

Unfortunately, most students seek GP tuition due to dissatisfaction with their school GP teachers. Oftentimes, they believe the teacher is not very competent or does not utilise lesson time properly. Other times, they face a revolving door of relief tutors and lack consistent guidance. Hence, they turn to tuition in the hope that these tutors will somehow be better than their school teachers and help them master the secrets of the General Paper.

Since teacher quality is probably the most important factor, it’s important that one is able to evaluate the teacher’s qualifications.

Here are some pointers to help clarify what you may find in various tuition advertisements.

 What does it mean when a tuition centre says they have “trained teachers”? How does one get certified as a General Paper teacher?

In Singapore, to be called a ‘trained teacher’ means the individual has undergone the year long NIE Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) or the NIE Teaching Degree course.  This certifies that the teacher is familiar with the teaching pedagogies used in mainstream schools and the requirements of the subject’s syllabus.

Independent Schools have more freedom in accepting non-NIE teachers as full-time teachers but even then, such teachers are also required to either go to NIE or undergo a year of in-house training and probation before they are deemed fully qualified GP teachers.

So if the teachers were full-time (not relief) teachers from government schools or Independent schools, then most likely they are fully trained teachers.

How about non-NIE trained teachers?

Others consider themselves as trained teachers when they have received their teaching accreditation from overseas courses or distant learning programmes. As in all other programmes, such accreditation can be of varying quality – largely dependent on the reputation of the organization or school giving out such certificates.

Most MOE  schools generally do not recognise such certification and require these applicants to still undergo NIE training to be employed as full-time teachers.

Does that mean all non-NIE trained teachers are no good?
Not so. Yet, as seen from MOE’s stand, some discernment will be required.

How about untrained GP tutors who have never taught in schools?

Untrained GP tutors are generally defined as having no formal teaching experience. They might hail from other industries but would say their industry knowledge or life experiences are relevant to teaching General Paper.  From an education perspective, these are not professional teachers and are the most risky when engaging one as a tutor.

There are of course some good GP tutors who have no formal teacher training. Their methodology was built probably from experience, trial and error and general self-development.

You just have to hope you are not among the tuition batches during their ‘trial and error’ phase.

Are current teachers better than ex-teachers?

This is a tricky question.

Firstly, many students come to us for GP tuition because they feel their teacher is not doing a good job. Oftentimes, they complain that their teacher seems inefficient, incoherent, lazy, etc. (students can be so harsh!)

So there’s no guarantee that a centre having ‘current school teachers’ means they have good teachers.
But usually employing a current teacher or someone still involved with schools provides several advantages:

1. The teacher is aware of the latest changes with respect to the subject.
2. They would have access to restricted resources such as the examiner’s guidelines from Cambridge or up-to-date exam papers
3. They benefit from the training programmes and courses MOE requires them to undergo and are generally aware of the latest teaching methods

This is useful for General Paper due to the nature of the subject. Currently, GP is undergoing some syllabus changes. Being cued in on the shift in focus for content or marking guidelines will help greatly when offering feedback to the students.

Yet, we also personally know many competent and very good GP tutors who are ex-teachers. They left education for a variety of reasons but that does not mean they have left their teaching skills behind. Some of these ex-teachers are still very popular, up-to-date and with good track records. The best way to decide is to speak to the teacher personally.

You have to do your own research first, and decide if the teacher sounds informed. Does he or she seem aware of the latest syllabus changes?

Most of the competent ex-teachers are still involved with schools in some way so as to stay current.
The more questionable ones are those that are still using the same materials and pedagogies without updating them. Even now, parents or students feedback how their ex-tutor was using outdated exam papers or marking schemes.

As always, caveat emptor!

Bonus – Other positive qualifications:

Other selected qualifications possessed by the GP tutor tend to have a positive correlation with good teaching quality. These would include being an MOE scholar, having a good & relevant degree, or holding key positions such as Senior Teacher, Senior Education Officer or Heads of Departments with long years of teaching experience.

Usually, to achieve this, they would have undergone several rounds of vetting and interviews. So take MOE’s approval of them as an initial stamp of approval before you do your own selection.

A rough conclusion – Look for GP tutors who are:

1. Current or up-to date ex-teachers

2.  Fully trained with significant school experience

3.  With excellent  credentials and track records

How to Choose a Good Tuition Centre (Part II) | Knowledge Skills