Highlights
- Kuldip Kaur has been teaching in Australia for around 10 years.
- She talks about the differences in formats and teaching methods used in Australia and India.
- She states how the lockdown has fueled tutor demand across Australia.
Kuldip Kaur is passionate about making migrant parents understand the Australian education system. As a tutor, she provides English and Maths tuition sessions to the children from grade prep to year ten and believes that “there is no one way of learning for all students in one class.”
“Australian education system encourages students to find their own problem-solving strategies,” she says.
In an interview with SBS Punjabi, she addresses the differences in formats and teaching methods between India and Australia.
“Literacy and numeracy are the fundamental basis here. All other subjects are based on these two core subjects,” she explains.
Ms Kaur, who has around 15 years of collective teaching experience in Australia and India, is helping many children with outside school learning. She says the transition to a new country and school may pose additional barriers for migrant families.
Kuldip kaur with her students. Source: Supplied by Ms kaur
“Newcomer children may have spent a portion of their education in another country, and school teaches it the different way here,” she says.
Her suggestion to migrant parents is to follow the local criteria, preparation tools and benchmarks.
According to Ms Kaur, parents play an essential role to help children gel up in the Australian school system.
“It is often just a matter of understanding school behaviour norms. Learning here is very meaningful and practical” she says.
Migrants deeply value education
Talking about the importance of education for people of South Asian descent, Ms Kaur says, “migrants seek opportunities unavailable in their home country and try to give more than their 100% for a better life.”
In its , OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) found students from China, India, and the Philippines had a higher academic proficiency rate than Australian-born students.
According to a review of migrant education, Australians from some migrant backgrounds have better results in academic performance. Source: Getty
Prolonged school closures increased the tutor demand
Ms Kaur says that the demand for private tuition has increased during the pandemic.
“Home-based learning added to parent’s worries, and online private tutoring has also been in high demand.
“Government is also employing thousands of tutors to help students catch up after lockdown,” she says.
Listen to the audio interview with Kuldip Kaur by clicking on 'Speaker' in the photo above.
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