In Singapore, education is an integral part of every child’s life. As parents, we want the best for our children. We feel concerned about our children’s education because it concerns their future.
It is normal to be concerned about your child’s education. However, as we are not in school with our children, we might not know what they are learning specifically and whether they will need tuition. Here are some tips to tell if your child needs primary school tuition Singapore.
Poor Foundation
Does your child consistently fail to achieve good results in examinations? One cause could be due to lack of confidence and poor foundation. Regular school classes do not suit the needs of slower learners, they go at a pace suited to the whole class. If your child has failed to grasp the basics and the teacher has moved on, it is difficult for them to keep up with lessons as they do not understand the basics which the teacher has already completed going through.
In this case, tuition would be useful for your child where the tutor can guide your child on the basics and clarify all concepts which your child has not fully understood yet. This can help to build your child’s confidence.
Subject Associated Problems
Every subject is different and taught in a different way. Similarly, the method of answering questions and studying method is different for each subject. Your child might have different struggles related to each different subjects.
For Mathematics, common difficulties faced by students are careless mistakes such as forgetting to write units. Other mistakes include poor presentation of answers and insufficient time to complete the question.
For Science, key words are important and some students might miss including them in their answers.
For English, some children might struggle with vocabulary and grammar.
As such, different struggles need different solutions. For a student who has insufficient time to complete questions, a tutor can help by simulating a time environment and getting the student to practise. With a tutor, your child’s struggles and needs can be better understood and tackled more effectively
Different Learning Styles
Conventional classroom settings cater mainly to auditory learning and reading/writing learners. As a result, children who are kinaesthetic learners and visual learners may be at a disadvantage.
However, the teaching system at school cannot cater to the needs of every students due to the number of students in each class.
If your child is struggling in school due to having a different learning style, sending him/her for tuition can give her the opportunity to learn better. Tutors can tailor their teaching style to your child’s learning style.
Private Tuition vs Group Tuition
The local primary school education is holistic and does produce intelligent students. However, not all teachers in school are quality. Some teachers rush through topics and do not ensure that students are engaged when teaching. This leaves the task of teaching to parents at home.
However, as many parents are often busy with work or are unfamiliar with the primary school syllabus and answering style, they are often not able to help their child much.
As a result, parents might consider getting their child primary school tuition singapore. Then comes the dilemma of whether to send your child for group tuition or home tuition. Is private tuition or group tuition more effective for your child?
In order to find out which would help your child better, we will look at the differences between private tuition and home tuition.
Private Tuition
Private tuition is also known as one-to-one tuition where the full attention of the tutor is dedicated to one student.
Advantages:
- Effective in helping slow learners catch up in school
- Full dedicated attention of tutor. Especially useful for students who need complete attention and focus of the tutors to answer their doubts
- Tutor can monitor student’s progress. Tutor can identify specific issues a child is facing and tailor lessons to tackle these issues. Parents can be in touch with tutor to get feedback on child’s learning
- Class method can be tailored to your child’s learning pace and learning style for maximum efficiency
Disadvantages:
- Unable to discuss complicated problems with other students to find the solution together.
- Usually more expensive
Group Tuition:
Advantages:
- Perfect for students with better grasping abilities
- Less lonely compared to private tuition
- Group study benefits. Students can collaborate to discuss and find the solutions, encouraging problem solving skills
Disadvantages:
- Classroom environment of group tuition can cause students to lose focus and attention more easily
- Attention of tutor is spread out among all the students in the class
- Shy students may find it difficult to clarify doubts in a group tuition setting as well
- Parents unable to monitor their child’s progress
- Lessons may not necessarily be tailored to your child’s learning pace and learning style.
Whether you should opt for private tuition or group tuition for your child depends on many factor. Some of the more prominent factors include: Your child’s learning pace and style, your budget and your child’s personality. Generally, private tuition produces faster results because of the undivided attention from the tutor and the ability to customise lessons to your child, meaning no time is wasted.
How To Prepare Your Child For PSLE
In Singapore, one of the major examinations that our children will take is the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). Primary school is where your child learns the basics of every subject and where they can discover what they are interested in.
In Primary 1 and Primary 2, students are transitioning from kindergarten to regular classroom hours in school. Primary 3 & 4 is when they transition from using pencils to pens and are first introduced to the subject of science. Finally, Primary 5 and 6 is when your child starts preparing for PSLE more intensively.
The transition from Primary 4 to Primary 5 is crucial in your child’s preparation for PSLE. Primary 5 is when your child is first exposed to what they should expect in the PSLE. They will be introduces to new topics and concepts that are more challenging.
These sudden changes might put a lot of pressure on students who are not mentally prepared for this shift and will eventually struggle to keep up and lose interest in what is being taught in school.
Understanding some of the changes can help parents help their child transition.
New Concepts
In Primary 5, your child will be expected to learn more topics, new concepts which are more challenging. Across all subjects, they will be tested new questions that test their understanding and application of what they have learned.
Be Understanding
Your child’s grades might drop during the start of Primary 5. This is because it takes some time for your child to adapt to the new concepts, topics and types of questions that they are tested on.
Try to be understanding as they are still adapting to the new changes they are facing. In addition, refrain from adding more pressure to their plate by avoiding comparison to other students. Every child learns at a different pace.
Encourage
Constantly encourage your child to work hard and persevere through their examinations in Primary 5. Parent’s encouragement toward a child can help them to build their confidence and reduce the pressure that is on them. This will help them cope with the pressure during the PSLE exam as well. Help your child understand that he/she is not alone in their learning journey.
Provide Assistance
As the curriculum is always evolving, you might find it difficult to provide assistance to your child as you did when they were in lower primary. The questions that upper primary students do are of higher level and have specific methods to answer.
You might want to consider getting primary school tuition Singapore for your child if you find that they are struggling to adapt and you are unable to help.
