According to a survey, more than a quarter school-going-children in England receive private tuitions. There are many benefits to private tutoring – from providing well researched study material to tutors committed to teaching and helping in exam preparation.
As take up of private tuition increases, one of the dilemma parents and students face is deciding between group and one-on-one tuitions. While the reason why a student may require private tuitions may vary, whether the parents lack the time or the knowledge to help with a particular subject or the student may be struggling at school and needs that extra help, making a right choice can help a student maximize the benefits from private tuitions.
Let us look at some of these differential factors and key considerations in deciding between group or one to one tutoring.
Accessibility
Group tuitions binds students to follow a set schedule and going to a particular location. The combined study focuses on tutoring smaller number of students and not the whole classroom allows for a greater personalization.
One-to-one tuitions can be scheduled around a student’s availability and may save travelling time. Students receive full attention from their tutors allowing them to monitor progress accurately. If a lesson is missed, one just picks from where they left.
Affordability
While the cost of tuition may vary subject to subject, the group tuition will generally cost lower than one-to-one.
However, the benefits and value for money from group or one-to-one tuition is derived from other factors than cost alone e.g., whether a student enjoys peer learning or is shy to ask questions in a group.
Effectiveness
Group tuition promotes social interaction, healthy competition, and peer learning. It motivates students to work harder and faster to keep up with rest of the group. Shy students can also benefit from questions asked by their peers in a group setting.
One-to-one tuitions provide greater customization and adaptability. It allows tutors to focus on weaker areas of students ensuring greater understanding of the subject. The pace of the lessons can also be tailored per the requirement of the student without consideration for others unlike in group setting.
Environment
Group tuitions allows a tutor to use a wide variety of leaning tools and aids at their settings. It is easy to have everything set up at one place where it can be used for different age groups without the need of carrying it for every lesson. However, for one-to-one tuition, carrying all these aids for different lessons would prove difficult.
Group tuitions promote an interactive environment for learning while one-to-one offers focused attention and customized, tailored tutoring. However, some students may not learn effectively in a group setting, while one-to-one tuition may make them rely on their tutors than thinking independently. Similarly, students who work slower can lag behind in group tuitions, while students in one-to-one tuitions may not be encouraged to work faster.
Flexibility
Group tuitions generally follow a fixed schedule. It is also generally difficult for a new student to join a group in between. Missing a lesson may lead to falling behind, though this can be managed by support of the institute as they may provide assistance to cover the missed lesson.
One-to-one tuitions can be started at any time and can be set up around one’s availability. The pace and the frequency of the lessons can be matched to a student’s need.
Interaction
The group tuition setting allows a student to interact not only with their tutors but also with their fellow students. Students can seek assistance not only from their tutor but also from their peers promoting social interaction. Exposure to different ways of thinking and arguments of fellow students promotes critical thinking.
One-to-one tuitions, on the other hand, allows tutors to better understand the gap areas of a student and create personalized lesson plan. The students receive immediate feedback enhancing their understanding of lessons. Undivided attention of the tutor could also boost the student’s self-confidence.
Personalization
Though group tuitions promote interactive learning, collaboration with other students, flexibility on course content or adapting to individual student’s learning pace is limited. However, there are more opportunities for listening and speaking enhancing the quality of learning experience.
Customized lessons, focused learning or undivided attention, there can be no doubt that one-to-one tuitions provides a greater degree of personalization than group. Supplementing student’s education with support from one-to-one tuition leads to improved understanding of subject instead of just getting answers. One-to-one tutoring also allows parents to clearly observe and track the academic progress of the student.
Final Word
Sr. Faculty at Champs Learning said it rightly: Group tuitions or one-to-one, whichever you decide, one should receive a nurturing learning environment and personalized support for students.
In the end, both group tuitions and one-to-one have their own benefits, the most important factor in deciding between group or one-to-one tuition is a student’s learning preference.
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