A tuition assignment is a specific job — a named student, level, subject, location and time — matched to a tutor, usually through an agency that takes a cut of the early lessons. Understanding how the matching and the commission work before you accept your first one saves a good deal of frustration, because the mechanics are not always spelled out.
This article is for people considering tutoring. Parents looking for a tutor want a different page.
How assignments reach you
Most tutors find work through one or more of four routes.
Agencies. You register, provide your credentials, and receive assignment listings by message or email. When you express interest you are put forward, and the parent chooses among several candidates. Agencies typically take a commission — commonly a portion of the first weeks of lessons — after which the arrangement continues directly between tutor and family.
Listing platforms and groups. Assignments circulate on messaging groups and classifieds. Faster and less filtered; you are dealing directly with whoever posted, which cuts commission and also cuts the buffer if something goes wrong.
Word of mouth. The most reliable long-term source. Existing families refer, and referred assignments are usually better matched because someone has already vouched for how you work.
Centres. Employment rather than assignment work — a fixed schedule, a fixed rate, no commission, and no responsibility for finding students. Less flexible, more predictable.
The commission question, plainly
Agency commission is the part new tutors most often misunderstand.
The usual structure is a percentage of the first block of lessons — sometimes a set number of sessions’ worth. After that, the tutor keeps the full rate. The practical implication is that the first month of an assignment earns considerably less than the headline rate suggests, and short assignments are disproportionately affected: an assignment that ends after six weeks may have paid commission on a meaningful share of its total.
None of this is improper. It is how the matching service is funded. But it should be understood before you accept, and it is a reason to ask about the commission structure explicitly rather than assume.
What determines the rate you can ask
Four things, in roughly this order of weight:
Your credentials. Undergraduate, graduate, full-time tutor, ex-MOE or current MOE teacher — these form recognisable bands, and parents price against them.
The level. Higher levels command more. JC and A-Level rates sit above secondary, which sits above primary.
The subject. Scarcity drives this. Higher Chinese, the pure sciences and specialist subjects often price above English at the same level, because fewer tutors can teach them well.
Your track record with that level and subject. A tutor who has taught the exact syllabus repeatedly can justify more than one who has not, and can also say so credibly.
Travel is the fifth factor and the one new tutors underprice. An assignment across the island costs you an hour each way; that hour is unpaid and it should inform which assignments you accept.
What to check before accepting
- Exact location and realistic travel time, at the actual lesson time rather than off-peak.
- Frequency, duration and expected commitment — is this a term, a year, or until the exam?
- Commission structure, if via an agency: what percentage, over how many lessons.
- What the parent actually wants. “Improve his maths” and “get him from a C to a B before the prelims” are different jobs with different odds.
- The student’s current position, honestly. A parent understating how far behind a child is sets both of you up badly.
- Payment terms — when, how, and what happens for missed or cancelled lessons.
That last one causes more disputes than anything else. Agree it in the first conversation.
What makes tutors keep assignments
Retention is where the money is, since the commission is front-loaded and referrals come from families who stayed.
Consistency. Showing up, on time, prepared, every week. This is more of the job than new tutors expect.
Visible feedback to parents. A brief message after each session about what was covered and what was difficult costs two minutes and is the single most-cited reason parents keep a tutor.
Marking between sessions. The teaching happens in the room; a good deal of the learning happens in what you correct afterwards.
Honesty about the timeline. A tutor who says “this will take two terms, not six weeks” is trusted more than one who agrees to an impossible target and then misses it.
The realistic picture
Tutoring pays reasonably per hour and irregularly overall. Assignments end — students graduate, families move, priorities change — and there is unpaid time in travel, preparation and marking that the hourly rate does not cover.
For a student or someone tutoring alongside other work, it is flexible and reasonably paid. Built into something full-time, it requires either a steady referral base or a centre arrangement, and most people who do it long-term move toward one of those.
The first lesson decides most of what follows
Assignments that end early usually end because the first session set the wrong expectations, not because the teaching was poor.
Establish what the actual problem is before teaching anything. Parents describe the symptom — “weak in maths”. Asking to see a marked paper and sorting where the marks went takes fifteen minutes and changes what you do for the next three months. It also demonstrates competence more convincingly than any credential.
Agree what success looks like, out loud. Something specific enough to check in twelve weeks. Left vague, a parent’s expectation drifts toward a grade jump you never claimed, and the arrangement ends in disappointment neither side named.
Set the homework pattern immediately. What you will set, when it is due, and that you will mark it. Introduced later, it reads as an escalation; introduced first, it is simply how this works.
Say how you will communicate. Two lines after each session about what was covered and what was hard costs almost nothing and prevents most of the misunderstandings that end assignments.
Be clear about what you cannot do. If the student’s difficulty is attention, motivation or a foundational gap two years deep, saying so early builds trust. Discovering it in month three looks like failure.
Practicalities worth settling at the start
The disputes that end assignments badly are nearly always about arrangements that were never agreed.
Cancellation, both ways. How much notice, and what happens if the student cancels an hour before. This causes more friction than any other single issue and it costs nothing to settle in advance.
Payment timing and method — per lesson, monthly, in advance or arrears.
Whether marking between sessions is included in the rate or charged separately. Whichever you choose, decide it before you start doing it.
Rate reviews. Whether the rate changes in an examination year, or after a set period. Raising it mid-arrangement without having flagged the possibility is where goodwill is lost.
Travel and location changes. A rate quoted for one address does not automatically transfer to another.
Holidays and examination periods — whether lessons pause, intensify, or continue unchanged.
None of this is difficult, and all of it is much harder to raise once the arrangement is running.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a degree to tutor in Singapore? Not formally for private tuition, though credentials strongly affect the rate you can command and which assignments you are put forward for. Centres usually have their own requirements.
How much commission do agencies take? It varies by agency and is typically a share of the first block of lessons. Ask for the specific structure before accepting, and confirm how many sessions it applies to.
Should I use an agency or find students myself? Agencies are useful when starting — they solve the finding problem, which is the hard part. As referrals build, the case for commission weakens.
What subjects are easiest to get assignments in? Ones with fewer capable tutors relative to demand — Higher Chinese and the pure sciences are commonly cited. English at primary level has the most competition.
How do I set my rate as a new tutor? Look at what assignments at your credential band and level are advertising, price near that, and raise it once you have a track record with a specific level and syllabus.
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