How much to charge for private tuition?

mandragora_2

Presumably, you're thinking that the hours of work that you will charge for are the 'face to face' hours you'll spend on the work.

I'm a secondary English teacher, with experience at GCSE, A level and undergraduate level, and have been a full time teacher for 30 years. I also tutor PGCE trainees. I can tell you now that if I had someone turn up on the doorstep asking me to teach them an English lit A level from scratch, it'd take me at least as long to prep and assess the lessons as it would to teach them - easily. In fact I think I'd go so far as to say that for every hour of lesson-time, you need to reckon on two hours of reading, thinking and planning in order to be able to do a decent job of it - which is why we all sigh with relief any time we get to teach the same thing two years in a row (quite rare nowadays thanks to Mr Gove). Even if you go with the more conservative estimate of a lesson taking an hour to prep and then an hour of face to face time, you've immediately reduced the amount you're charging to £15 an hour.

Have you ever tried to get a painter in to slap some paint on a wall for £15 an hour? My hairdresser gets about £1 a minute if I actually think of the 'scissors in his hand' time he spends on cutting my hair. I really don't think that £30 an hour is extortionate to buy two-hours' worth of work, from an experienced graduate who is going to give an intensively personalised, professional service to your child. Of course, you're not an English teacher, and this work may take you significantly longer than you anticipate and it may not be as straightforward for you as your friend has assumed.

I don't mean to sound hostile to you, and I'm sure you are only trying to help, and have the best of intentions, but I really don't think you should underestimate the scale and value of the job you're being asked to do.

How much would you expect to pay a solicitor, mechanic or accountant for two hours' work?

laurahester

I charge £20/hour for GCSE science and £30/hour for A'Level chemistry and could easily tutor someone different everynight if I wanted to. Im based in Bedfordshire.
I also only tutor students who take the same exam board as I teach as I found the amount of extra work it took to prepare the session for a different exam board just didnt make it worth my while. I also didnt charge a friend who asked me to help her son as I felt it would change the dynamics of our friendship, especially if he didnt improve as much as she had hoped/expected.

poet123

pollypenny wrote: »

How well do you know her set texts, any course texts, even if there is coursework?

How well do you know the exam board and its assessment structure?

I would advise your friend to use an experienced tutor, unless her daughter wants some specific help in understanding a text that you already know very well.

I agree with all the above, I wouldn't employ a tutor who was not currently teaching the course involved. There are too many nuances to take account of.

You could always offer to help her with general aspects but not specifics.