Parents enrol their children in tuition for various reasons. The 2 most common ones are: My child is weak in subject X so I want him to do better; my child is good in subject Y but I want him to do even better (i.e. I want a guaranteed distinction for him).
Scratching below the surface
However, parents often do not look beyond the surface to find out exactly why their child is not doing well. (We shall leave out the 2nd reason of obtaining a distinction for the purpose of this post.) This investigative step is critical as it is the key to solving the problem of poor grades in the child.
Could it be due to a lack of understanding? Unfortunately, such an explanation is still vague so it would be beneficial to go deeper as to why there is a lack of understanding. Perhaps, the child simply needs more time to digest the sheer volume of subject matter. Or perhaps, the teacher’s teaching style is incompatible with the child’s learning style. In such cases, tuition can indeed help. The student is given additional time to question and work on his subject during tuition. Or by adopting a more personal and interactive style of teaching, the tutor can bring the subject matter across to the student.
Underlying issues
Could poor grades be caused by motivational issues ranging from peers (e.g. bullying), teacher(s), family or/and BGR? I once encountered 2 parents who were not able to handle their teenage son. Apparently, the boy was rebelling against the domination of his parents, especially the mother. Refusing to study was his way of fighting back. Yet, they did not realise that the solution was to communicate more with their son to come to a mutual understanding. Instead, their “solution” was to send him for more intensive tuition classes, hoping that their son can be “forced” into a good student getting good grades. I felt both for the parents and their child. I could only advise them of my thoughts. Ultimately, they themselves will have to decide on what to do next.
Special educational needs
There are also students with genuine special educational needs (SEN). We have seen in our centre students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and dyslexia. Though our tutors are not trained to manage SEN students, we do not turn anyone away and will try out best to help. We had a case in which the ASD student was only motivated to learn about topics he was interested in. Hence, whenever possible, real life references and examples were introduced into the lesson to fire up the interests of all the students in the class.
Nevertheless, there are instances in which it becomes impossible to offer further guidance to a SEN student due to the nature of his disorder. To further complicate matters, some SEN students are also hampered by motivational issues such as low self-esteem. We had a dyslexic student who agonised over coming for tuition every lesson because he perceived himself as academically weaker than his classmates and could not bear to be “the only ignorant student in class”. In short, SEN students present a grey area in the effectiveness of tuition.
A caring parent probes
Summing up, it often pays for the parent to probe into the challenges the child is facing in learning. Talk to his teachers. They are there to help. If there are extenuating circumstances outside of the subject matter affecting the child’s learning, tackle them first. Work with a counsellor if necessary. It is more effective than simply jumping on the tuition bandwagon whenever the child’s grades go south.
In iMatter Learning Centre, we believe in teaching and learning from the heart. Both tutor and student must put in effort for a favourable outcome. Every learner matters to us here so we engage only passionate and patient teachers who can relate to their students. In addition, our classes are intentionally made small to maximise group learning in the student and effective teaching from the tutor.