Getting the Right Home Tutor for Your Child

If your child is having problems with his or her school work, what will you do? I’m sure the first thing that comes to your mind is to find him or her a home tutor. If you are considering getting a home tutor for your child, read this article to help you in choosing one.

Reason For Getting a Home Tutor

Before you embark on a search for a home tutor for your child, ask yourself why are you engaging a home tutor in the first place?

It could be that your child is weak in certain subjects and needed additional guidance to catch up. Or that you think that your child is not performing as well as he or she should and wanted to push for better results. Whatever the reason, let’s look at some of the benefits and pitfalls of engaging a home tutor.

Benefits of getting a home tutor

The lack of school teachers in the government sector has resulted in large class sizes in the government schools, primary and secondary schools alike. The situation is made worst with the implementation of the single-session model. With one teacher handling a class of 40 students at a time, it is no surprise that the teachers may be unable to attend to the needs of each and every student in class.

As a result, the slower students are left behind to fend for themselves, and the faster students may be forced to conform to the designated syllabus and be limited in their progress. Getting a home tutor ensures that your child receive undivided attention. Home tutors will be able to customize the lessons according to your child’s level of understanding and progress and this will enable your child to clarify any doubts and unleash his or her full potential.

Home tutors also act as disciplinary figures for your child when you are not at home. To tackle the high cost of living in Singapore, many families are dual-income families, where both parents are holding full-time jobs. As a result, they are often not at home. Home tutors can help you to supervise your child’s work and update you on his or her progress, so that you can go to work with a peace of mind.

Pitfalls of getting a home tutor

In order to reap the full benefits of engaging a home tutor for your child, you must also be mindful of the potential pitfalls when getting one.

In the current home tutor market, many are tertiary students, who are teaching home tuition to earn some pocket money. While these part-time home tutors may possess the knowledge of the subjects to be taught, some may not have the passion and skills to teach, as compared to experienced full-time tutors, current or ex-teachers who are trained to teach.

This is not to say that all part-time tutors do not make good home tutors and that all full-time tutors are definitely the best. Some of these part-time tutors may be aspiring teachers in the making, while some of the so-called ‘full-time tutors’ may just be faking their credentials to get more business. This being said, it is difficult for parents to identify the good home tutors from the bad ones because at present, the home tutor market is unregulated, and there is no license to certify a home tutor as ‘qualified to teach.

Getting the right home tutor

How, then, can you ensure that you find the right home tutor for your child? Home tuition agencies can help you. All you need to do is to set the budget that you could afford for your child’s home tuition and the criteria that you are looking for in the home tutor, for example, ‘undergraduates or graduates’, ‘minimum 5 years of experience in home tuition’ or ‘NIE (National Institute of Education)-trained’. The agencies will source for the best candidates for you to select from. The agency fee will then be deducted from the home tutor’s first month’s pay, with no addition financial burden on your part. However, do remember to check the home tutor’s credentials, like their certificates and qualifications, during the first lesson and to monitor your child’s progress, just to make sure that you are getting what you are paying for!

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