Do NIE-trained teachers make good tutors?
Getting NIE-trained teachers to teach in tuition centers or as private tutors seemed to be the latest trend amongst parents. But do NIE-trained teachers really make good tutors?
The tuition arena is at present still a free market – there is no licensing requirement to act as a barrier of entry for unqualified tutors. Thus, a NIE qualification is the next best thing parents and tuition centers can turn to for quality assurance.
NIE or National Institute of Education 
is a place for aspiring teachers to learn the necessary teaching skills before they are allowed to teach as full-time teachers in government schools. To get a NIE certification, one needs to go through one to four years of classroom training at the institute, where he or she is exposed to general topics like student psychology and digital teaching techniques and specialized topics like how best to teach the subjects that they will be teaching in school. The Initial Teacher Preparation Program also requires trainee teachers to clock certain hours of mentored practical teaching in government schools, also known as practicum, before they are fully certified to teach. A NIE-trained teacher is then bonded to teach full time at government schools for at least three years before they are allowed to leave their employment to work as private teachers.
Many parents and tuition centers think that NIE-trained teachers are the best candidates for tutor positions as they are trained to teach and they know the Ministry of Education or MOE’s requirements for the subjects to be taught. This is true to a certain extent, but we need to also consider the other side of the coin.
Current teachers are supposedly the most up-to-date with the MOE curriculum, thus they may seem to be the best tutor choice. Â However, parents often failed to realize that these current teachers hold full-time jobs that are very demanding. Aside from teaching during the usual school hours, teachers had to spend significant amount of time on marking papers, preparing teaching materials, conducting remedial classes, looking after student welfare and doing administrative work. As a result, current teachers may be unable to commit to tuition assignments as much as full-time tutors, especially when nearing examination period. Thus, parents who want to reap the benefits of getting current teachers to tutor their kids also have to bear the risk of them backing out at the eleventh hour due to their heavy workloads.
Engaging ex-teachers as private tutors may be a good alternative, since these ex-teachers have the experience for and training to teach professionally and are more likely to commit. However, these teachers might not be as up-to-date with current MOE’s requirements, which make them less attractive compared to current school teachers. Some ex-teachers may have left the teaching force for so long that they may have lost their touch and are only as good as untrained experienced private tutors.
On the other hand, getting experienced private tutors to do the job may serve the same purpose, as these home tutors can bank on their tutoring experiences to develop an effective teaching method. Furthermore, MOE and schools are being increasingly transparent in their syllabus and requirements, and these are easily accessible on the Internet. The only concern is whether the parents are able to identify and engage the right tutors, which is possible with the help of tuition agencies.
Thus, while NIE-trained teachers are more qualified to teach, they do not necessarily make better tutors, and parents should always take this into consideration when engaging them as one.
Leave a Reply
