Many parents and students view private lessons as a must, especially when crucial exams like the Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) are approaching. We are all aware of the vital role such examinations play in the lives of students in advancing their education. It is understandable that many parents prioritise their children’s education. After all, with more qualifications come greater career opportunities.
As a secondary teacher of Maltese and German, I experience the demand for private lessons first-hand. I recall one particular parent telling me that her son would not choose German as a foreign language at school unless I personally guaranteed that I would give him private lessons.
This fixation on private lessons, even for high-achieving children, has always intrigued me since State and Church schools in Malta offer free education for all. I could never quite understand why parents and students felt the need for private tuition. I often asked students why they attended private lessons, but I must say I was never quite satisfied with their replies.
My interest in this issue grew deeper with time, so I decided to investigate it for my master’s dissertation. My aim was to explore the reasons why students preparing for the SEC examination in Maltese attended private tuition when they had access to free education.
As my goal was to explore the possible reasons for attending private tuition, I applied the qualitative approach for the study, using mainly semi-structured interviews. Despite its limitation of involving a small number of participants, the qualitative approach was the best one as it enabled a deeper understanding of the situation.
I wanted to analyse the perceptions of students who received private tuition and that of their parents, along with the perceptions of their private tutor. As part of my data analysis, I divided the interview questions into four general themes which emerged from the participants’ responses.
The themes were: the supply and demand of private tuition, private tuition versus school, benefits and drawbacks of private tuition, and reasons for attending private tuition. For each theme, the responses from the students, parents and the private tutor were presented and discussed, and the responses from each group were then compared and contrasted.
Research findings from my study show that the higher the parents’ education level and the better the socio-economic background of the family, the greater the probability there is of the children receiving private tuition.
Private tutors offer better teaching methods and resources than do their teachers at school
The number of children in the family also affects the demand for private tuition since families with fewer children tend to be more willing to send their children to private tuition.
The student’s level of schooling also affects the demand for private tuition, as certain years are considered more important than others.
It is also evident that parents’ busy work schedules and modern teaching methods make it difficult for parents to help their children with their school work, and private tuition offers another way for these parents to help their children.
Meanwhile, private tuition offers private tutors the opportunity to earn extra money and to further specialise in the subject s/he teaches.
Participants were also asked for their opinions about the criteria for an ideal class. All participants agreed that the teaching methods and resources used in class affect their learning. They also agreed that their private tutors offer better teaching methods and resources than do their teachers at school.
It was found that the students also value individual attention and feel there is a greater likelihood that this can be given in private lessons. The private tutors agreed with this point.
Homework also seems to play an important role, as the students said that more effective homework is given in private lessons, and therefore they could practise more. The parents added that the feedback regarding their children’s work was far better in private classes.
Another significant finding was that students tend to go to private lessons because of the good reputation of the tutor among students and parents, while the number of students in class was not a significant criterion for some of the participants. Moreover, the resources used in these particular schools do not seem to have the same popularity as those chosen by the private tutor.
On the whole, private tuition appears to help students improve in school through supplementary coaching and guidance.
Several reasons for attending private tuition were found, the most prominent being that private tuition serves as a review tool and guides students towards the SEC examination by providing more in-depth study skills and coaching.
The findings of this study focused on Maltese as a subject in particular State and Church schools. Future research could investigate the situation in different schools, including independent ones, for this subject and others. These findings are very similar to the findings of comparable studies in other countries.
A regular needs analysis is beneficial for school administrations in pinpointing any problems that need to be addressed in schools. This could be accomplished through anonymous feedback questionnaires provided to students, parents and teachers in order to ensure that all parties are provided the opportunity to give feedback about their challenges, difficulties and suggestions to improve the teaching and learning experience at school.
Teachers should also be trained how to adapt their teaching methods to be suitable for the varying needs of students and how to find a balance among the vast syllabus, the examination pressure and the technology advances in class. This task is not at all easy to accomplish.
A review of the present syllabi might also help with this situation in Malta so that the many education reforms that have taken place, all aimed at providing our students with a better education system, can have the intended effects. This way, teachers, parents and students may be satisfied with the current system of education without the need to seek private tuition by default.
The author’s research work was funded by the Strategic Educational Pathways Scholarship, part-financed by the European Social Fund under Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2007-13, ‘Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life’.
Vanessa Saliba is a lecturer at MCAST.