3 REASONS WHY TUITION IS STILL RELEVANT
From our formative years, the idea of tuition and the presence of tuition centers have gradually become more prevalent and integrated into our local lifestyles. Before the 90s, tuition was a foreign concept to the general population. Tutors are more commonly known amongst the affluent for the specialised attention given to their children. From the 90s, tuition became the very embodiment of the local competitive spirit – “Kiasuism”. Kiasuism is a living and breathing trait in every Singaporean parent and is a stereotype frequently featured in local classics like I’m Not Stupid.
Today, this same spirit is contributing to the booming tuition industry; growing from a mere $650million in 2004 to more than $1 Billion in 2016. Now, we need to ask ourselves the hard questions. Is it worth to fork out the extra money for O level or A level tuition in Singapore? With the reduced focus on exams by the Ministry of Education, should parents still send their children for tuition in Singapore?
Here are 3 reasons why we think tuition is still relevant.
1. Tuition provides a diverse repertoire of teachers
to select from.
Tuition is an excellent platform that brings teachers from all walks of life and training backgrounds together. You need not be a MOE certified teacher to teach. While you have mainstream school teachers leaving the service to become tutors, you also have varsity students tutoring part-time or white-collar workers making the mid-career switch. Despite the differences in their backgrounds, it does not mean that they are not good tutors. Some of these unconventional tutors can teach better than experienced school teachers. Their personal experiences enhance the student’s learning experience by providing a different perspective on the topics taught. By considering different perspectives, students receive a more holistic view and gain confidence in managing the variety of questions they might encounter from each topic.
2. Leading tuition centers are the forefront of
their subject specialties.
The landscape of tuition has evolved in response to changes in the market. More tuition agencies have developed their unique learning materials and teaching methodologies to equip students in identifying the learning gaps, improve their depth in understanding the topic and better management of their examinations. At the Annexe Project, we do not just offer O level and A level math tuition in Singapore. We specialize in developing students’ reasoning, communication and thinking skills on top of their comprehension of the mathematics content. This has started way before schools started integrating learning workshops into their curriculum.
Being comparatively smaller in size than school classrooms, tuition centers have the flexibility of constantly implementing the latest materials and teaching styles. With this competitive advantage that tuition centers have over schools, students reap huge benefits compared to their peers who solely rely on the mainstream school system in the form of learning techniques, thinking skills and gleaning from different perspectives.
3. Tuition centers dedicate more resources to each student’s learning experience.
To meet the needs of the multitude, school classes are conducted in large numbers. Teachers need to conduct their lessons at a fixed pace and schedule regardless of each student’s learning abilities. They have to finish the curriculum within a certain time-frame to make it for the examinations and have limited resources to tailor the class to every individual’s learning pace unless they open up additional classes outside of school hours. Students are also too inundated with co-curricular activities after school to have the time to seek one-on-one help with their school teacher. Hence, tuition centers bridge the gap with a teacher dedicated to a class of one to small groups capped at a fixed number for maximum effectiveness. The small class ratio can help to tailor their teaching curriculum to the student’s needs. At the Annexe Project, our class capacity is normally around 4-8 pax for our O level math tuition classes and 8-12 pax for A level tuition classes. Both classes are capped at maximum capacity of 18 pax.
Tuition centers are more of an investment than an expense. Finding the right tuition center for your child matters. For more advice, please contact us.