Should I Send My Child For Private Home Tuition or Tuition Centres?

This is a common question often faced by Singaporean parents. The dilemma exists because Singaporean parents are often wondering if the child will benefit more from Private Home Tuition or enrolling in a Tuition Centre.

At MindFlex Home Tuition, we are a firm believer in the benefits of engaging a Private Home Tutor instead of enrolling your child in a tuition centre. Here are 8 strong reasons why private home tuition lessons might be a better option for your child!

1. Individual Teaching

One of the main benefits of engaging private home tuition would be that lessons are often conducted in a 1-to-1 setting, hence your child will have the tutor’s undivided and full attention for the duration of the lesson. As the tutor is assigned to your child only, the tutor will be able to utilize his or her maximum effort to assess your child’s weak areas and know exactly what is needed to help your child improve in the subject.

In comparison to a group tuition setting, whereby the tutor often has to cater to classes of 2-12 students, your child might not be assessed properly and the tutor might not be able to point out what areas your child is weak in. Tuition Centres also often following a fixed pace to cater to a larger group, hence if your child is a slow learner, or does not fully grasp certain concepts, he or she may be left behind with doubts and unclear concepts whilst the rest of the tuition class moves on. This may turn out to be counter-productive in terms of engaging tuition services in the first place.

2. Customized Material

Another main benefit of having Private Tuition is that the tutor which you picked will often be able to customize materials based on your child’s weak areas after assessing your child. The materials will be crafted and customized according to what your child needs and according to their weaker areas. This will help your child to improve in these areas quickly and effectively!

As compared to group tuition, the materials are crafted according to the centre’s curriculum. Your child might not be able to benefit from the materials as they tend to be more general and broad-based. These materials provided may not be specific to what your child needs to improve on their weaker areas, and hence may not benefit your child overall in terms of improvement for his or her weak points, or the subject as a whole.

3. Learn At Your Own Pace from Private Home Tuition

Private Home Tuition always offers students the opportunity to learn at their own pace. This applies for both fast learners and slow learners. Students who are fast learners, will be able to learn ahead of the syllabus, and also revise topics which were previously taught. This allows them to score the Distinctions comfortably which they are aiming for. As for slower learners, the customized pace of private home lessons allows the student to be able to catch up with lessons at a more comfortable pace and at the same time, clarify doubts on concepts and topics which were previously taught.

In the case of group tuition centre lessons, the classes often follow the curriculum set by the centre, allowing little flexibility in catching up on previous topics for slower learners. As for students who are ahead of the class, they may find it boring if the pace of the lessons is too slow. Hence, learning at your own pace is a great benefit which private home tuition is able to offer over tuition centre based lessons.

4. Flexible Scheduling with Private Home Tuition

If your child has a tight schedule at school, private home tuition will definitely be a better choice for you! As know, Singapore children have a very hectic schedule, often juggling between School, multiple Co-Curricular Activities and Enrichment Classes at the same time.

Private Home Tuition allows both parents and students to have more control over scheduling as you will be able to arrange with the tutor directly on when you would like lessons to be. If you face the need to rearrange a lesson, you can contact your tutor directly and arrange for a replacement lesson to make up for it easily!

Compared to tuition centres, you will need to follow their schedule and attend the time slot which is assigned to you. This might not be as beneficial for your child as your child might need to rush off for lessons right after school and thus, they might not be able to focus or give their full attention during lessons. Make-up lessons may also be needed to replace the lessons which your child have missed. By doing so, you will need to rearrange the schedule again and it can be quite troublesome for you, the parent.

5. Choice of Tutor

If you feel that the tutor is not the right fit for your child, private home tuition gives you the flexibility to change the tutor whenever you feel it is necessary. In a tuition centre, a tutor is often assigned to a specific class and time slot. In the case whereby your child is uncomfortable with the assigned tutor or does not understand his or her teaching style, it is often tough to make changes as you’ll have to consider a new time-slot, or a new tuition centre entirely. This is often a hassle as tuition centres have deposit clauses involved, which will mean that you’ll have to attend lessons till the end of a 3-month term. Switching to a new slot may also not be the best option as the schedules may not match.

In this aspect, hiring a home tutor gives you more flexibility. If you feel that the current tutor you hired is not building rapport well with your child, or if there is a mismatch in learning or teaching styles, you can always change the tutor as private tutors usually operate on a freelance basis and without any commitment period or clauses as compared to tuition centres. Also, you can choose the right tutor of your child based on recommendations from tuition agencies, friends or family.

Here at MindFlex Home Tuition, we provide our clients with a wide array of accurate tutor profiles to choose from, as well as our personal recommendations based on previous feedback by other parents. We also ensure that clients are able to request a switch of tutor at any point of time if they are uncomfortable with the teaching style, or if they feel the lessons are not as effective as they should be. Contact us and we will be more than happy to share with you the different types of tutors we have available!

6. Learning Environment with Private Home Lessons

Learning Environment is a key aspect when it comes to effective learning. As for Tuition Centres, the tutors there have to deal with classroom management while teaching and this might take up some time during lessons as some of the time are spent trying to gather all the student’s attention. Morever, tuition centre might not be as beneficial as your child might get distracted by other students and your child might not be able to focus during lessons due to this reason. If your child is one who is easily distracted, the group learning environment created by the tuition centre may be unsuitable for your child to focus and learn effectively.

Private Home Tuition however often takes place in a 1-to-1 setting, hence the tutor will be able to get your child’s attention right away compared to group tuition whereby the tutor has to still proceed with lessons even when 1 or 2 students are distracted. This will create a more conducive learning environment for your child to be able to learn and absorb the theories and concepts effectively during lessons.

7. Greater Parent Involvement

Another great aspect of private tuition is that parents are often more involved in the child’s education process. As private tutors are often hired through direct communication with the parents, there is already a basis for communication established, and parents are able to better keep track of their child’s progress, hence being more involved. This is highly beneficial as you will be able to take more responsibility of your child’s learning, and at the same time ensure that effective learning is taking place.

This is unlike a tuition centre whereby often parents have minimal or zero contact with the assigned tutor from the centre, but are rather in communication with the centre’s non-teaching administrative staff. As such, they may not know exactly what is going on during the lessons, and also may not be able to keep track with their child’s progress accurately.

8. Budget

Last but not least, the budget! Hiring a private tutor gives you the flexibility of not only choosing your desired tutor, but also hiring one which fits within the rate that you’re looking at! More often that not, private tutors are open to discussing rates and working the lessons, duration and frequency required around your budget. On the flip-side, the rates at tuition centres are often fixed and there is no room for negotiation.

Here at MindFlex Home Tuition, we provide a wide range of tutors, from different qualifications and experience to be able to fit our clientele’s budget! You can request a tutor with us through the form above, it is absolutely free!

In Conclusion, Private Home Tuition or Tuition Centres?

Having mentioned the points above, it all comes down to what you personally feel is more suitable for your child. Private Home Tuition does indeed give you a lot more flexibility as compared to Tuition Centres. However that being said, there are several well-established tuition centres in Singapore with their own effective curriculum and materials, but these remain a handful. Nevertheless, the personal attention that a 1-to-1 private tutor is able to offer your child is an irreplacable benefit that a tuition centre conducting group classes will be unable to replicate.

If you would like to engage a Private Home Tuition, do feel free to contact us and we will be more than willing to provide you with our list of tutors based on your requirements with no obligations involved.