How To Be a Successful Tutor in Singapore and Supplement Your Salary

Singapore is a city where the daily costs of living are increasing day by day. To solve this problem, many people have turned to tutoring jobs in their free time to top up their income. Teachers, especially, are favouring tutoring jobs after teaching during the day at school.

What if you used your knowledge to earn some extra money?

Whether you are studying mathematics, playing the violin, or learning a second language, your knowledge is useful.

So put it to good use!

Schedule a session with learners who need help understanding their trigonometry homework, wish to learn a musical instrument, or would like language tutoring to help with an assignment.

Many people have knowledge that spans several subjects. For instance, a physics tutor may be able to advise O-Level and A-Level students as a maths tutor, helping with areas such as algebra, trigonometry, geometry and calculus.

The same goes for a humanities undergrad who may be able to help with comprehension as a reading tutor and also provide help for college essay writing in their spare time.

Becoming a tutor is all about creating a tailored study plan based on the strengths of your learner. From kindergarten to college level, there are always plenty of people who need your help. Learn about the benefits of getting involved in online tutoring or one-on-one tutoring at home.

Want to give private lessons?

Join the Superprof community and share your knowledge with interested and motivated students.

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Benefits of Becoming a Tutor

1. Beat Inflation by Becoming a One-to-One Tutor

We're always hearing about how the cost of living is on the rise.

As if taxes and inflation don't do enough damage to our pay slips, we still have to pay the rent, insure the car, and pay the bills.

To keep up with surging prices, there needs to be a bit of extra money coming from somewhere. Some prefer to take out loans to keep their heads above water, and others are taking on a second job.

Using your academic skills to help others allows you to gain valuable experience while adding to your income. It is also one of the most enjoyable and rewarding options for those looking to earn some more money is to offer tutoring services.

2. How Tutoring Jobs Can Give You More Financial Freedom

Having tutoring experience on your CV not only makes it stand out to potential employers, who place great value on the skills associated with it, but it can also supplement your income and relieve the everyday stress that comes with money.

Rather than trying to manage two different jobs (or a job while at university) to make ends meet, we advise students to take up in-home tutoring.

From humble humanities undergraduates to engineers, to an international student who can teach a foreign language, we all have skills that are worth sharing.

Providing supplemental instruction in the form of home tuition is a way of bridging the gaps left by the school system, which doesn't cater for individual needs. Even tutoring in a small group rather than the large classes you see in school can have a profound effect on the engagement of the learner.

This way, the course content can be adapted to each individual's learning style, so that pupils feel more confident in their own abilities as they fulfil their potential.

Of course, you won't become a millionaire overnight, but one-to-one tutoring can significantly change your level of income.

This shows how academic advising can help you manage those difficult few days in the run-up to pay day, give you the means to enjoy going out more often, or help you save up for that dream holiday.

So find the English tutor, chemistry tutor, or Spanish tutor in you today and begin your tutoring journey!

Why Students Opt for Tuition in Singapore

The tuition industry is flourishing in Singapore, with parents spending thousands of dollars on tuition per month. Research estimates the tuition industry in Singapore is valued at around SGD 1.4 billion. It is understandable: parents want the best for their child and want to provide them with quality education.

The prime factors responsible for the growth of the tuition industry in Singapore are:

Competitive Education System

The Singapore education system is very rigorous. With its emphasis on skill mastery and requiring students to be in a state of constant preparedness, students need all the help they can to score well in their exams.

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Benjamin Franklin

PSLE and Other Exam Pressure

The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and other exams like O-Levels and A-Levels play a vital role in determining a student’s academic future in Singapore. As a result, students start tuitions early to thrive in the extremely competitive atmosphere and score well.

Cultural Factors

Asian parents place a lot of stress on education, viewing it as a path to better job opportunities. Hence, a greater emphasis on tuition is placed to give students an added advantage. This cultural emphasis on academics fuels the demand for additional classes.

Additional reasons why parents and students choose tuition are:

• One-on-one personalised lessons that may not be available in regular classrooms
• Extremely flexible
• Teaching style can be customised according to the student’s needs
• Boosts the confidence of students as they receive targeted support

Want to give private lessons?

Join the Superprof community and share your knowledge with interested and motivated students.

Create an advert

How to Start a Tutoring Business in Singapore

Starting a tutoring business in Singapore is a great decision, especially if you want to share your skills and knowledge with students. A tutoring business will not only benefit students, but also open up an excellent income stream for you.

Now that you have decided to begin your tutoring journey in Singapore, let's explore how to proceed.

Begin by analysing the tuition market in Singapore. See how your peers are performing, how much they charge, and which subjects are popular, among other metrics. This will enable you to identify your target audience, their goals, and the popular types of teaching styles.

2. Define Your Niche

Start by identifying the subjects you want to teach. This could include academic tutoring, languages or specific teaching for test preparation. This is going to help you plan your teaching curriculum properly.

3. Choose How You Will Teach

You can choose to conduct tuition from your own home or travel to the house of your students. You may also offer group tuitions or one-on-one personalised tuition. Among these, there is also the option of taking classes face-to-face or online.

4. Set Your Rates

You should also decide on your rates. When you are starting, set a reasonable rate so that potential students don’t get deterred. Set a rate that is on par with your peers. You can increase your rates gradually, once you get the credentials from your students and have established yourself.

5. Market Yourself

Once you have decided on your niche and teaching style, now is the time to market yourself. You can use traditional methods, digital mediums or both to market yourself. Ideally, if you want to reach a larger audience, register at an online tuition agency like Superprof, where students are always looking for teachers.

6. Open Your Account

Registering on a tuition site like Superprof is very simple. Visit the home page, where you will be guided on how to begin tutoring on Superprof.

And just like that, you are all set to embark on your remarkable tutoring journey.

How Much Should You Charge for Private Tuition?

Before you think about sharing your knowledge and study skills in the form of academic tutoring, you should read up on what other people in the business generally charge for one hour. This will help you find your place in the market and, more importantly, know your clientele and be able to find them easily (online or through local advertisements).

Sports coaching and music lessons tend to have a higher value because they are generally extra-curricular activities (not on the school syllabus).

It's all about what people are willing to pay to find a tutor that suits their needs.

However, teaching 'rarer' subjects does not necessarily mean that more money can be earned overall. You will find that higher-paying jobs are harder to come by since they are not always essential to the student's academic success.

Keep in mind that subjects are not the only determining factor of what people are willing to pay for private tuition. Age, gender, experience and geographic location can also play a major part in average prices.

Let us look at the tuition teacher's salary in Singapore.

Tuition Teacher Salary Singapore

If you are considering tuition for your child, you need to understand the rates charged by tutors in Singapore.

There is actually no fixed rate as such. It all depends on the teacher’s qualification, the years of experience and the subject they are teaching.

In general, tutors charge $40 to $50 per hour, while professional tutors can even charge in the range of $100 - $190 per hour.

“Every child deserves a champion—an adult who will never give up on them.”

Rita Pierson (educator featured in TED Talk)

Here is a look at the types of tutors and their pricing system.

Factors Influencing Tuition Teacher Salary in Singapore

When you are deciding on your tutoring rates, it’s necessary to understand the key factors that influence the tutoring rates in Singapore.

1. Tutor’s Qualifications & Experience

Tutors with strong credentials usually command higher fees as they have the credentials to prove it.

Students and parents are often willing to pay more for tutors who are:

• ex-MOE/NIE trained
• university graduates in the subject
• highly experienced (5+ years)

Ex-MOE/NIE trained – NIE or MOE trained tutors have formal teaching experience, making them most sought after for their content delivery and exam strategies.

University graduates – University graduates are already familiar with the subject, and thus, they can explain complex concepts more confidently and provide deeper insights.

Highly experienced (5+ years) – Experienced tutors have good knowledge of the education system and can offer personalised teaching methods.

2. Level of Study

Another important factor in setting your rates is the level of study (of the tutor and the tutee).

Tutoring rates will depend on the level of study you are aiming for. Teaching JC H2 Math requires more knowledge than Primary School Math — so naturally, the rates will be higher.

Unfortunately, we don't have many facts and figures to show you. However, it seems that an hour of private maths tuition for a primary-age pupil would be less costly than an hour of A-level maths lessons.

In the first case, you just need the appropriate qualifications to provide help for a child at a primary school. In the second, you need to be qualified enough to be able to answer your students' questions. This example can be applied to all subjects (languages, teaching a musical instrument, and even art lessons).

3. Subject Rarity

Some subjects (like niche languages or higher-level sciences) fetch higher prices because fewer people teach them.

4. The Tutoring Pay Gap

The data also shows an interesting, if not unwelcome, difference in the earnings of male and female tutors in Singapore's competitive educational landscape: men charge more for the same services. Superprof's data also shows variations in rates between cities as well as a small gap in the earnings of both sexes.

All of these aspects affect the amount of money potential clients are willing to spend on private tuition. This means that they play an important role in setting your prices as a new tutor.

So, if you're a female tutor who is looking for students, be aware of this gap - but don't let it dictate what you think you should be earning.

So, although you don't need any formal qualifications, it's important to feel comfortable as an educator when you plan to become a qualified tutor or grow a tuition agency in Singapore.

Now that you're more familiar with what you should be charging once you become a private tutor, set your price, keeping in mind the local market expectations, considerations and challenges.

If you like a challenge, go for it, especially when you are exploring the tutoring business Singapore sector!

Tutor jobs can put your skills to good use whilst increasing your income, whether you plan to teach in person or do online tutoring.

Regardless of your age and experience, you're bound to find plenty of students in need of your help in their academic careers.

It is a good idea to develop a good relationship with a couple of families, and then let word of mouth do the rest!

Create your online profile for free with certain websites (Superprof.sg, for example) when starting a business in Singapore.

By creating an online presence, you will increase your visibility among the many potential clients who visit the website each day.

Find out how Tutoring Can Mean Freedom in Your Work!