Criteria for Serious Tuition

 

Criteria for evaluation of tuition offers (source: Sekten-Info Essen e. V., a German association for information on sects).

  • Goals and Methods

Check the goals and methods which are applied in your tuition institute. Make sure that the teaching goals presented by the institute are realistic. It is particularly striking if the institute promises high chances for success on behalf of a new, unique method.

  • Your Impression of the Tuition Institute

Have a close look at the tuition institute. Does anything in the institute or in the use of language by the staff feel unusual? Do you encounter totally unknown terms which do not seem to fit in? Are terms used that belong to the area of philosophy of life or do religious themes appear in the vocabulary? Or are there clauses in the contract which appear to be dubious? For instance, an obligation to participate in seminars that have almost nothing to do with learning would be an alarm signal. A generally valid rule is: In a tuition institute, the only activity which should take place has to do with learning or with the pupils.

  • Tuition

How does tuition take place? Inform yourself exactly about the contents and methods of tuition. Pay attention to how the groups are put together and whether materials are used that match the actual class material. Pay attention to the subjects for which the tuition is offered. If questions of ethics or philosophy of life are being discussed, it may be a hint that, in addition to the tuition, other contents are to be transmitted.

  • Teaching Staff

What is the ideological and philosophical background of the teaching staff? Is it guaranteed that specialised staff who teach pupils are provably not members of a sect? Also note whether the tuition school guarantees that its staff has no previous convictions.

  • Good Reputation

Trust is always created when the school has a good reputation in its neighbourhood. Listen to what other parents have to say about the tuition school, what their experience is and if they recommend the tuition.