(LinkedIn Article) Putting Students First: Tailoring Tuition for Meaningful Learning
Editor's note: This thought leadership LinkedIn article is created with the Tuition center/tutor clientele in mind. It showcases the client's knowledge about the industry, track record and experience, while touching on a popular topic within the industry.
Let’s face it, the Singapore private education industry is a massive one - 8.7 billion SGD in expenditure in 2022, to be exact. That means parents in Singapore are willing to shell out large amounts just to make sure their children have extra lessons after school.
Most parents think that it's worth it, too. From making sure their children can 'keep up' with others, to forcing every last drop of potential in their child to get that 'A' grade, to treating the tutor as an overglorified babysitter when the child has nothing to do during the holidays, parents often treat tuition as the panacea for a child's development through school.
As tutors, we often accept this and see our jobs as duties to the child's parents. It's our job to make sure their child scores well. We need to debrief them on their child's progress. They pay our salary, so it naturally follows that we have to please them, if not they will likely not engage our services further.
But have we lost sight about who we really serve when tutoring?
The Tutee's Experience
An endless barrage of test papers and corrections, an hour and a half of non-stop nagging, and consistently poor parental feedback from tutors week after week - this process is likely what characterised tuition for most Singaporean children, and what continues to define the tuition experience for most.
I've been tutoring English and the humanities part-time since I was still an undergraduate, and I've seen my fair share of students across all age groups. Looking back at all of them, I've come to see a couple of common traits:
- None of them actually want to be there - at least, not at the start. One of the key observations I've made is that most students do not initially have a personal desire to attend tuition classes. The need for tuition has always been identified first by their parents, rather than an innate desire to have after-school classes on their own. The only times they will want tuition is when they're panicking because they think they cannot catch up, and this lack of intrinsic motivation can hinder the learning process.
- Students often don't understand what they don't understand, and remain unreceptive when tutors don't change their teaching methods. They may struggle silently, feeling lost or overwhelmed, without the ability to articulate their difficulties. To make matters worse, when they do articulate these difficulties they're often misinterpreted as show of defiance or incompetence. A scene from Jack Neo's I Not Stupid Too sums this up - if your students don't understand Chinese, then buying Chinese dictionaries for them to help their learning does not work.
- Students do want to learn, they do want to score well and do themselves proud - they just don't know how to do so on their own yet, and they're looking at people and tutors around them to figure out what they can do.
As tutors, it's actually really easy to forget that every child is different. We often set standardised syllabus documents, expect to teach things in the same order and give the same tests in the name of simplicity and standardisation. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself, as it provides structure and consistency in ensuring that essential concepts are covered and progress can be measured effectively.
However, it becomes problematic when these standardised approaches overshadow the individual needs, learning styles, and unique circumstances of each student. I argue that as tutors, there's a real need for us to put ourselves in our tutee's shoes, measure progress on their own terms, and tailor the way we teach to fit their interests and needs.
Education, especially business education will only give you tools. What you do with these tools is all that matters. Life and business isn’t paint by numbers. You have to think for yourself. You have to invent yourself. You have an inferred fiduciary mandate to yourself, and that means, it’s your responsibility to learn people skills, and language skills, in order to increase your chances of success. - Gene Simmons
After all, you're not going to be tutoring them forever - your job as a tutor is to teach them how to learn on their own, what works and what doesn't.
Learning with Students - Challenges and Opportunities
However, as much as research emphasises the importance of tailored education, it's often hard to tailor the way we teach to each student, especially when we do not seem to have anything in common with them.
After all, there's no way all of us play Fortnite, use Tiktok, or watch Mr. Beast.
However, it's precisely these things that open up several strategies we can use to overcome this challenge and create a more personalised learning experience. To immediately dismiss students' interests as not being remotely related to their area of study is too reductive for my liking. Instead, we can try, just try, to learn more about what the student likes, so that we can alter material to reflect their interests, or use their interests to teach things. By taking the time to understand the student's hobbies, preferences, and areas of interest, tutors can incorporate relevant examples, topics, or activities into the lessons.
A common example of this is how I use games to teach my students. In fact, games have increasingly been
I’ve been doing this for over 7 years, and suddenly teaching also doesn’t feel too drab any longer. An ‘O’ level student of mine even started questioning Mobile Legend’s map design, stating that it wasn’t geologically possible for the 3 lanes to be surrounded by fault lines and not experience any earthquakes. I still remember how proud I was, as it shows they’ve understood the concept. The point is, learning about what your student likes allows you to open many more doors for conversations - therefore opening more doors for engaged learning and contextual understanding.
Taking some class time out to understand their interests, dreams and passions can also help to make tutoring a much more engaged process for students. Students sometimes are looking for someone to talk to, and even through talking you can impart relevant knowledge. Engaging in conversations beyond academia can provide valuable insights into the student's aspirations, challenges, and perspectives. These conversations can also serve as opportunities to share relevant knowledge, provide guidance, or offer advice that goes beyond the textbook material.
By demonstrating a holistic understanding and concern for the student's overall well-being, tutors can build trust and motivation.
Lastly, while us tutors are often caught up with parents' expectations, looming exams and a compulsion to stick to the syllabus, don't do that all the time. Don't be too rigid with materials - spend time going through their homework, debriefing their school tests, helping out with soft skills, varying the types of assignments all can form part of tuition time as well. By addressing these specific issues, tutors can provide targeted support and help students bridge any gaps in their understanding in more ways than one. Furthermore, incorporating a variety of assignment types, such as projects, presentations, or discussions, allows students to showcase their strengths and interests while developing essential soft skills like critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving.
I do this quite a bit by using school homework as a launching pad. As long as this is done within limits, you can also use homework to teach students something new every time they enter your class. School wants an essay plan in a specific format? Show your students how to plan things differently a la drawings. School gives a test paper? Time it and impart lessons on time management. While it is important to have a structured curriculum, tutors should also be flexible and responsive to the specific needs and challenges of each student.
Most importantly, keep asking your student for feedback. Of course, this cannot be without boundaries (you can't have your student just refusing tuition outright), but perhaps you'll find that your student can give you deeper insight into how to improve your classes more than any Linkedin post can. I've started reading some books, watching some YouTube channels, and even played some new games - and that has opened many, many other opportunities for learning and teaching new skills for my students. I’ve gotten students into Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, and even aquascaping, and they’ve gotten me into light coding, blogging, and narrative-writing, and I’ve used these to feed learning opportunities back into my classes.
Final Thoughts
The Singapore private education industry is driven by both parents' willingness to invest in their children's education through tuition, and tutors' willingness to impart knowledge to their young students. But, let's never ever forget that the main stakeholder we're responsible for are the students, not the parents.
While it's natural for tutors to prioritise meeting parents' expectations, it's important not to lose sight of the students themselves. The tutee's experience is often characterised by a lack of intrinsic motivation, difficulty articulating their learning challenges, and a desire to learn and succeed.
As tutors, it's crucial to recognize the individuality of each student and tailor our teaching methods to their needs and interests. And perhaps, just maybe, tuition can become something that's enjoyable and really focuses on learning, rather than just another stepping stone to getting that 'A'.