Should you choose a tuition centre or a private tutor for your child?

With a variety of education options available in Melbourne, sometimes it is hard for parents to choose what is right for their child’s development. The three most common options are:

• Maths help classes offered by schools (free of charge)
• Private tuition centres
• Private in home tuition

School Based Tuition:
As a teacher, I often ran these types of classes for students. There was normally one day per week during a lunchtime or after school. In theory, these classes are the perfect budget friendly option. Students will come with their questions; teachers help them and they gain knowledge and understanding. In reality, these sessions were rarely successful for a number of reasons:

1. Students are not interested in giving up their lunchtimes. If the after school session was scheduled for a day when the student had other commitments afterschool, they could not attend. Likewise if they have a bus to catch.
2. The intensity just isn’t there. Students come with questions, the questions are answered, then the student leaves. It is lead by the student a little too much it seems.

Private Tuition Centres:
Private tuition centres develop a curriculum for each year level which intends to marry nicely with the Victorian Curriculum. They run classes based on this curriculum. This is problematic for the following reasons:

1. Your child may need assistance with a particular topic or concept which is not currently being taught in the tuition centres.
2. Often, the teachers in these centres are under qualified.
3. Your child struggles to maintain focus in a class environment.
4. There remains the issue of transporting you child to and from the session.

Private in home tuition:
Private in-home tuition is by far the best choice you can make for your struggling student. Not only do students bring along their questions and concerns, tutors can then build on their misconceptions through a variety of targeted activities, reaching the desired deep level of understanding. Students are likely to develop a positive professional relationship with their tutor, resulting in increased engagement, confidence and enjoyment. The only downside to this option is that it is more expensive.

Private Tutoring Case Study
I started tutoring a local boy pretty recently for year 9 maths. His mother did her research before deciding to choose a private tutor for her son. A local tuition centre was an option at the time, but her gut told her that it wasn’t a good choice. He is struggling in his classes at school, why would putting him into another class environment be likely to help?

And she is right. This boy is a very capable maths student. He works with me well and his grades have increased significantly. He doesn’t really get along with his maths teacher and is not engaged in class. He therefore spends a lot of time chatting to friends, rather than focussing on his work. In a tuition centre, this child would be placed once again into that classroom environment. The teacher would work through some curriculum which may or may not be of interest or benefit to him, and he would likely disengage once more.

Through private tuition, I can directly target his interests, strengths and weaknesses. We develop his skills in a variety of ways and conceptualize his knowledge through mind mapping strategies and mixed problem solving. Rather than feeling like a failure when he makes mistakes, we use his mistakes as an opportunity to further his development.

Recently, he had a test result come back much lower than expected. After a quick analysis of the test, I was able to see that there were just two concepts, from the entire unit of work, that he was struggling with. The poor grade was a result of the test being so heavily focused on these concepts. In communicating this alone, his confidence began to rise. Then, after consolidating his understanding of these concepts in just one session, he was excited and confident for the upcoming end of year exam.

A private tutor really can be the difference your child needs for their confidence, understanding, results and enjoyment at school.