Extra Tuition Research Articles

Impact of Penang South Reclamation Project on Fisherman Socio-economic Case Study: Southwest Penang

The Penang South Reclamation, proposed in 2015, aims to fund the Penang Transport Master Plan, which aims to improve public transport and access roads; however, it remains in the approval stage. Penang 2030 aims to improve traffic and public transport through the Penang Transport Master Plan but faces challenges like noise and air pollution. Aquaculture Industrial Zones and artificial reefs support housing. The study aims to evaluate the Penang South Reclamation project's impact on fishermen, particularly those in Southwest Penang, by assessing income, quality of living, and family education and well-being, focusing on house ownership. The survey reveals that most fishermen in the study area are sole income earners, with household incomes under RM2,500, making them vulnerable to economic changes and food inflation. Fishermen heavily depend on fishing for family survival, with 90% staying within a 5-kilometer radius from their source of income. Despite good infrastructure, they live in densely populated areas. The Social Impact Assessment report reveals that fishermen are the least educated, highlighting the need for improved education opportunities for future generations. They agree on adequate education but struggle with extra tuition fees and tertiary education.

UNEARTHING VULNERABILITY PROFILE OF THE ‘GIRL CHILD’ IN SELECTED SINGLE-SEX SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF LUSAKA, ZAMBIA

The purpose of this study was to explore the vulnerability profile of the ‘girl child’ in selected single sex secondary schools of Lusaka district of Zambia. The study applied a qualitative approach with a Hermeneutics Phenomenological research design. The sample comprised of 38 participants who included 8 vulnerable girls in each school and 4 guidance teachers. Interviews were used to collect data from the guidance teachers while focused group discussions were used to collect data from the pupils. The study established that the vulnerable profile included lack of proper dietary habits and good nutrition. Under household responsibilities, girls were overworked at home and performed many chores which made them to underperform in schools. Meanwhile, economic vulnerability included lack school materials like bookracks, desks, and brooms, lack of money for school upkeep, lack of proper school uniforms, shoes, socks, jerseys, necktie, and no lunch money. The parents of the girl children could not afford school extra tuition, school related books and materials. Lastly was the emotional vulnerability which included various emotional abuses which the learners underwent in the community and school indirectly and directly. The study concludes that secondary school girls were vulnerable differently in the secondary schools and these should be looked at with critical analysis for learners to excel in schools. The study recommends that teachers and parents should work together to ensure that they support their children for them to perform better in the Zambian education system.

John Robinson, Mr Nicholls and the Brontës

Much is known about the people who were close to the Brontës, but John Robinson, a young boy who lived one mile from Haworth, in Stanbury, is given only a sentence or two in several major biographies. When he was thirteen, John became a pupil-teacher at the school in Haworth, a role for which he required extra tuition. He received this on Saturday mornings from the Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls. During his lessons, John witnessed first-hand Mr Nicholls' distress over his unrequited love for Charlotte Brontë—a situation John never forgot and was able to vividly recall later in life. Two newspaper articles featuring John's reminiscences add much to our knowledge about the private suffering of Mr Nicholls as well as John's closeness to his teacher. When Mr Nicholls married Charlotte, John was one of the few people invited to attend the ceremony. By the time he was eighteen, following the progress he had made in his studies, John was about to embark on a promising career when he received some very personal gifts from Patrick Brontë. In this paper, I hope to retrieve John from obscurity by examining the nature of his unique, close relationship with Mr Nicholls while revealing the esteemed place he held within the Brontë family.

‘We can catch each other’

The idea of ‘fixing’ issues that children may have, is never as simple as doing extra tuition, or having ‘intervention’ groups. It's about knowing and understanding, and it involves everyone in the school community pulling together, says Sue Allingham.

Success and Failure of School Students: Parental Expectations and Teachers’ Perceptions

The article presents the results of RANEPA Center for Lifelong Learning Economics’ Monitoring of Efficiency of School Education concerning teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of student achievement. The study involved analysis of official statistics and data from sociological surveys of parents, teachers, and school administrators across different types of communities structured by the level of socioeconomic development.
 The fact that student achievement is largely contingent on teacher expertise is beyond dispute. It turns out, however, that teachers also attribute poor student performance to low parental involvement, socioeconomic disadvantage, health issues, and irresponsible student behavior. According to teachers, the proportion of students unable to cope with the curriculum increases consistently from grade to grade, peaking in Grades 8 and 9. Better student performance in Grades 10–11 (high school) may be explained by withdrawal of some students after completing the middle school level.
 Most parents perceive their children’s academic performance to be above average. At the same time, along with teachers, parents report a decline in student achievement in middle school. Families attribute this downswing in performance to various factors, including lack of subject-specific abilities, challenging curricula, and decline in student engagement. Only 9.3% of parents consider teaching quality to be a factor of low student performance. Lower average family income is associated with higher frequency of reporting low child performance at school. The influence of family income on student achievement may be explained, in particular, by differences in the opportunity to buy extra tuition, including private tutoring.

Deconstructing supplementary education: from the pedagogy of the supplement to the unsettling of the mainstream

Globally, the purpose of education is becoming increasingly narrowly defined. In this context, this article proposes that supplementary schooling offers a resource for re-thinking the epistemologies and processes of schooling. Drawing on Derrida’s notion of “the supplement”, the nature and status of this under-researched and marginal sector is interrogated from a historical perspective. Our primary focus is on educational settings established by adults from Black and minority ethnic communities in urban environments in England, which are typically focused on (and societally marked by their attention to) “language”, “culture”, “heritage”, “identity” and, sometimes, “extra tuition”. Drawing on exploratory meetings held with key players and conferences, as well as some informal observations in schools, alongside a review of international literature, we highlight the role of theory in posing “better” questions about this disparate, yet vital, sector. Specifically, we discuss how the supplementary status of these schools is produced from the outset, rather than added later, such that the designation “supplementary” fails to specify its precise relationship with formal, mainstream schooling. “Supplementary” emerges as fundamentally ambiguous, and – within dominant discourse – as working to suppress sociocultural features of the “mainstream”, thereby highlighting the normative and exclusionary character of that mainstream. Two key issues emerge from this analysis: first, that the few commonalities across supplementary schooling provision may arise precisely because of its binary relationship with mainstream schooling; and, second, this analysis not only decentres the “settled” status of mainstream schooling, but also opens up for inquiry the diverse forms and functions of the mainstream.

Case study: Using extra tuition

Using extra tuition is an effective way of supporting Pupil Premium and other students at risk of falling behind. David Rowan-Robinson explains how his school has implemented this approach

Which Grammatical Errors Do First-Year University Students Make and Do Those Errors Matter? A Focusing Inquiry

Students in Health Sciences First Year (a gateway to health professional programmes) at the University of Otago sit an English diagnostic test before they begin their first semester. This test determines which students will need extra English tuition. We initiated a focusing inquiry with the 2014-2015 data from these tests to form relevant learning outcomes for students and to discover information that might be relevant to secondary schools throughout New Zealand. Our focusing inquiry revealed that many of our first-year students could benefit from further grammatical and test-taking tuition—not only because of linguistic and test-taking deficits, but also because the data demonstrate a relationship between successful placement in health professional programmes and grammatical competency. That is, our data show that students who make an error in any of the grammatical categories that we tested are less likely to get an offer of place in the Health Sciences professional programmes at the end of their first year.

Perceptions of Teachers on the Role Played by Supplementary Tuition on Mathematics for Students Doing Ordinary Level, A Case Study of Hwange District

Mathematics has been viewed as the most difficult subject in the secondary school particularly by children in developing countries (Skemp 2008). And yet in spite of it being perceived as a difficult subject, mathematics is a fundamental part of human thought and logic and integral at attempts to understanding the world and ourselves. Evidence shows that students in many countries fail mathematics (Lynons 2010). Literature has a plethora of reasons for high failure rate of mathematics. For example, Polya (2011) states that shortage of well-trained teachers, inadequacy of teaching facilities, poor quality textbooks, large classes, poorly motivated teachers, poorly coordinated supervisory activities, incessant transfers of teachers and heads, automatic promotion of pupils, the negative role of public examinations, and inequality of educational opportunities, all hamper the smooth acquisition of mathematics knowledge. As a result of this situation, there has been a sudden deluge of supplementary tuition or extra-tuition. The practice of offering extra tuition has both social and economic implications on those involved. Parents pay the regular school fees and are then asked or volunteer to part with more money in the form of tuition for extra-lessons. This study sought to investigate teachers’ perceptions on the role played by supplementary-tuition or extra-lessons on the performance of pupils at ordinary level in secondary schools in Hwange District in Zimbabwe. The population comprised of 450 secondary school teachers in the district. Random sampling was used to arrive at a sample of 100 respondents who comprised of 58 females and 42 males. The study adopted the descriptive survey design and the questionnaire was the major instrument for collecting data. The main findings indicated that teachers felt that supplementary tuition in mathematics improved the results of those pupils who received it. The study also revealed that teachers felt that time allocated for mathematics was inadequate. The recommendations are that time allocated to mathematics should be increased right from the primary school to the secondary school level. Another recommendation was that properly qualified teachers to teach mathematics should be deployed in all the schools to avoid supplementary-tuition. Keywords: Supplementary tuition, Ordinary level, Student, Mathematics, Teachers, Tuition, Extra-tuition

Teaching Children with Learning Disabilities in the Mainstream Classes: The Challenges

The research was aimed at establishing the challenges that are being faced by mainstream class teachers in the teaching of children with learning disabilities in the Johannesburg South District schools. One hundred and seven educators were selected to respond to the questionnaire which was in the form of a Likert scale. The results indicated that indeed there are challenges that are being faced by the mainstream class teachers. These challenges among others include the lack of skills bases on the part of the teachers, class sizes, shortage of relevant instructional materials, and lack of support services as well as the unavailability of enough time for extra tuition. The study was carried out through the quantitative research design. Data were presented through the use of graphs and tables for easy reading and interpretation. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p711

To what extent does Hong Kong primary school students’ Chinese reading comprehension benefit from after-school private tuition?

The reading attainment of the 3,875 primary 4 Hong Kong primary school students participating in the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study ranked first among 49 countries and regions surveyed worldwide. Analysis of the association between (a) participating students’ reading attainment and (b) responses to questionnaires completed by the students and their parents revealed that classroom teaching, the school curriculum, the reader’s social and economic background and support from home had all helped shape reading performance. It is not unusual for school students in many Asian countries to receive after-school tuition in various areas of the curriculum to boost performance in impending examinations. The study reported here focussed (1) on the Chinese language reading attainment of students who had attended private tutoring classes after school in this subject against the scores of fellow students who had not and (2) asking whether such after-school tutoring had been of any notable benefit to their reading. Although a majority of the parents questioned said they paid for extra tuition for their children after school, analyses of the data found there was a statistically significant difference between the scores of students who received extra tuition and those who did not, the score of the latter group being superior. It is suggested that the Hong Kong education authorities reassure parents about the quality of teaching in primary schools and publicly pronounce on the potential value of after-school private tutoring.

Professional Politics

The article does not mention that reading and writing are by necessity associated with vision, especially binocular vision, and will not be possible when these important functions are impaired. The retina is anatomically and historically the only part of the brain that is mobile and positioned in front of the top of the skull. We receive 80% of all information via the visual system, which uses up 50% of the brain's entire energy requirement. Vision is a motor activity consisting of pupil movement, accommodation, convergence, and fusion, all in the space of milliseconds. The idea that impairment in this area would not result in reading difficulties seems absurd. The usual tests for acuity of vision and stereo vision with the rapid diagnosis “eagle eyes” are not sufficient. What is needed is an analysis of associated heterophoria—”Winkelfehlsichtigkeit”—including the measurement of fixation disparity with polarized test images according to the measuring and correction method devised by Hasse. Deviations from the norm will then be corrected by using individually adjusted prism spectacles, more rarely with surgery to the ocular muscle. Unfortunately, owing to professional considerations, this procedure is used only by very few highly specialized optometrists and ophthalmologists. On the basis of my positive experiences with many adolescents with learning difficulties, I think that this procedure is more helpful than permanent extra tuition or psychotherapy, since reading ability and thus overall performance will usually improve only once the visual function has been improved.

Extra tuition in Southern and Eastern Africa: Coverage, growth, and linkages with pupil achievement

Abstract The phenomenon of extra tuition is witnessed in many countries and some educationalists have described it as a parallel education system. However, the incidence and impact of extra tuition have often not been studied systematically, especially in Africa. In this article cross-national data for six African education systems (Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Zambia and Zanzibar) collected by SACMEQ, the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality, have been used to assess: (a) the incidence and growth of extra tuition, (b) the characteristics of students who received extra tuition, and (c) the association between extra tuition and student achievement. The analyses presented in this paper showed that extra tuition was a widespread phenomenon in all six education systems, and that receiving extra tuition was positively associated with the socio-economic levels of students’ home backgrounds. The association between tuition and student achievement was mixed. The issues and challenges associated with tuition have been discussed and some suggestions for further research made.

Peer-assisted learning: a novel approach to clinical skills learning for medical students

This study aimed to determine whether peer-assisted learning (PAL) can enhance clinical examination skills training. Three student trainers studied small-group theory and clinical examination and provided PAL as extra tuition for 86 trainees. Trainees watched an examination video, were videotaped practising the examination and, after constructive feedback, repeated the examination. Responses to PAL were evaluated to attain an overview of trainee and trainer performance using visual analogue and Likert scale analyses. Year-group review was undertaken using questionnaires. Trainees evaluated all aspects of PAL highly, including their post-training confidence in examination skills (mean > 7.7 on a 10-cm scale), indicating that the PAL was effective. Written comments confirmed the students perceived the sessions as well structured and of high quality. Compared with trainees in the first groups, those from later groups gave all parameters similar or higher gradings. Those for interest (P = 0.03) and appropriateness (P = 0.01) were significantly higher, suggesting that trainers may improve their technique with time. Students with previous degrees gave similar or lower gradings than standard entry students, with answers about post-training confidence and recommendation to friends being statistically lower (P < 0.006). Six months later, year-group analysis showed that 90% of trainees rated PAL highly, and 86% wished to become trainers. Of the trainers' year group, 79% perceived that PAL training could improve examination skills. In the context of clinical skills training, PAL was highly evaluated across many parameters, including confidence after training. Student interest and enthusiasm supports suggestions that PAL could be a useful adjunct to clinical skills training.

Academic achievement, close up work parameters, and myopia in Singapore military conscripts

AIMTo determine the relation of refractive error to environmental factors, including close up work, in Singapore military conscripts.METHODSA cross sectional study was conducted on 429 Singapore military conscripts. Non-cycloplegic refraction...

Assessment of psychiatric teaching: examining examinations

Aims and methodThe study set out to consider whether the ‘end-of-firm’ examination in psychiatry fulfils its goals by examining the internal consistency of the end-of-firm examination and final medical board examination and the correlation between these examinations' scores and sub-scores. Students who failed their end-of-firm examination were followed to monitor their progress at final medical board examinations.ResultsOne hundred and eighty students sat end-of-firm examinations and final medical board examinations. All the components of the end-of-firm examinations and the final correlated significantly with the total mark. The psychiatric essay was less well correlated with the final mark but correlated well with total essay marks. Students who failed their end-of-firm psychiatry examination at first attempt received extra tuition and only two failed finals.Clinical implicationsEssay writing ability may not carry over into high performance in other areas tested and may be a test of other skills. Extra tuition benefited failing students whose results fell outside the pattern of prediction. Thus the end-of-firm examination may be a useful tool if acted on to prevent student failure.

Romanian Private Higher Education Viewed from a Neo‐institutionalist Perspective

Following a rapid overview of the genesis of private higher education in Romania after the Revolution of December 1989, the author proceeds to analyse the phenomenon in terms of John Meyer's neo‐institutionalist perspective. Citing, in particular, Meyer's theses regarding the isomorphism of organizations with their respective environments, she credits much of the early success of private Romanian higher education institutions in getting started to their close copying of the structure, offerings, and procedures of public higher education in addition to unsatisfied public demand for higher education. She further shows how private higher education institutions have adapted to the requirements of accreditation and state funding possibilities. She fears, however, that the continuing demographic downturn in Romania along with the creation of extra tuition fee‐paying openings at the public universities may finally doom private higher education.

Morbidity of juvenile onset inflammatory bowel disease: effects on education and employment in early adult life.

Seventy young adults (50 with Crohn's disease (CD) and 20 with ulcerative colitis (UC) (from a geographically derived cohort of patients with juvenile onset inflammatory bowel disease were interviewed and examined at a mean of 14 (range 5.2-29.5) years after diagnosis. Details of education and employment were collected as part of a structured clinical interview. Although 57% had had periods of absence from school of two months or more, their school examination pass rates were similar to those of the healthy population. The achievements of CD patients were consistently better than those of the UC group. In 15 patients, relapses of inflammatory bowel disease had adversely affected examination performance or prevented them from sitting school examinations. Extra tuition in hospital had been provided for only four patients, and three others had had privately arranged tuition at home. Fifty per cent proceeded to full time higher education. At the time of review, seven patients were full time students, one was a university research fellow, 47 were in full time and three in part time employment, one was self employed, four were housewives, and only six were involuntarily unemployed. All four unemployed CD patients attributed this to inflammatory bowel disease, but other factors were relevant in the unemployed UC patients. Few had direct evidence of rejection by employers on health grounds, though some did not declare their illness to prospective employers.

Selection of Auckland medical students over 25 years: a time for change?

The selection procedures used in Auckland have been reviewed, and the characteristics of those admitted over 25 years analysed. Students are admitted either as school-leavers, mature entrants, or through an affirmative action scheme. A further small number are admitted as part of overseas development assistance. School-leavers are invited for interview on the basis of their academic achievement. Mature students and the affirmative group must have a minimum acceptable academic standard, with the interview playing a dominant role. Two thousand four hundred and forty-eight students have been admitted. The mean age was 18.6 years, and 39.7% were women. Over one half of the students had a parent who had attended university and 13% had a medical parent. One in ten students failed to complete the course, academic failure and withdrawal being of equal importance. The high loss seen in the affirmative group was due to academic failure and has led to the introduction of extra tuition and support for these students. The emphasis on academic achievement by school-leavers has excluded many applicants with outstanding personal qualities. The academic staff has therefore decided to modify the selection procedure, the final rank order of these applicants being based on their personal attributes and life experiences.

Allan Watt Downie, 5 September 1901 - 26 January 1988

Allan Downie was bom on 5 September 1901 and brought up on Mid Street in Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire, a village on the coast where his father, William, and grandfather had been fishermen. His mother, Margaret, was the daughter of a fisherman from Fife. He and his identical twin brother, Richard, were fifth in a family of eight boys and one girl. William John, the eldest brother of the twins, continued in the fishing tradition, sailing his own steam drifter till his retirement half way through this century. Allan recalled his childhood as being relatively happy and carefree, and, not surprisingly, many of his activities were linked up with the sea, such as sailing, fishing, swimming and exploring the rocky shoreline. He continued these interests through life and went bird-watching and fishing whenever he could. He was also a sportsman, representing Aberdeen University at football, water polo and golf, and played club football until middle age, tennis when opportunity offered and golf almost up to his death. Indeed he treasured the headline in a local newspaper when he left the University ‘Noted local golfer retires’. The twins were educated first at the local elementary school and their mother recognized their ability at an early stage. The dedicated headmaster gave them extra tuition in Latin and mathematics outside school hours. He also recognized the talent of Allan and his brother, and visited their parents to urge them to send them on to Frazerburgh Academy for secondary education. They were there from 1915 to 1918 and then went on to Aberdeen University Medical School. It is recorded that the two of them took many of the prizes for their year, Allan in Physiology, Obstetrics and Operative Surgery and his brother in Anatomy and Surgery, and in 1923 they both graduated with first class honours, but it is believed that they swept up other prizes as well.