It was indeed an amusing enconter when i was teaching a Form 1 class today. I am not going to touch the story in details but just to share with you something which is now a trend. A trend where people blindly believe that tuition teachers are more believable just because students pay.
When i was a student, I also joined some tuition classes and i did believe that tuition teachers can teach better. Another reason is probably because tuition teachers would explain everything in chinese and we understood clearly what teachers wanted to convey.
But, school teachers have language limitation. Take me for instance, i am not allowed to use chinese when i teach English. However, i sometimes do some translation in chinese to make sure that chinese students can understand. But chances of using English-Chinese are low.
Back to the story, a few cute sutdents of mine kept saying "No teacher, my tuition teacher said it is like this". They doubted my words and they looked unbelievable. From them, i could sense that they would rather choose to believe what tuition teacher has told. Interestingly, i told them that i am also a tuition teacher and a school teacher, i know the latest syllabus better. Lol... From their eyes, i could sense that they changed their perception.
School teachers are trained teachers, graduated from faculty of ecucational studies in University. They know the pedagogy and also the psychology, they know so many other skills in teaching that non school teacher's tuition teacher doesnt know. But it depends!
A teacher must not only know how to teach the subject matter, but also, a teacher's job is to influence, bring joys, lower students' anxiety level, give encouragements and etc. On the other hand, a teacher has to be a role model for students, influence students to think positively, and teach students how to live.
In short, now to me, tuition teachers or school teachers are similar. Both can be good facilitators if they really LOVE TEACHING:-)
