Becoming a private tutor- all questions here

AngelOfTheNorth

This thread has been really interesting and useful. It's been great to hear from people who've shared their experience.

I have another 'can I be a tutor?' question I'm afraid! I know the answer is pretty much always 'yes, you can try' but I'm talking about whether it would be realistically worth my while trying, and was hoping to get some feedback.

I'd like to do a bit of tutoring part time, fit it in around family commitments. Would just be looking to do a few hours a week, doesn't need to be any more than that. At the moment I'm a solicitor, but won't be doing that indefinitely. I have strong academics- Oxford degree in History and Politics with A*s at GCSE and As at A level, then I also did the graduate diploma in law and Legal Practice Course.

Unfortunately, I don't have any teaching experience, though I like kids and get on well with them. So I certainly wouldn't expect to charge the same as an experienced, qualified teacher. I would of course get a CAB check, nothing to hide, but would doing a Pettls course go some way towards combating any issues with lack of practical experience? If I say so myself, my subject knowledge is excellent, and I have a passion for history, politics, law and literature. I'd be happy to do GCSE, A level and 11+ too if this were possible. I live in Manchester so would have access to the affluent Trafford and north Cheshire areas.

So do people think someone with my qualifications but comparative lack of experience would stand a chance? And if not, would you recommend volunteering in a school or Pttls, or both?

cheekychipmunk

AngelOfTheNorth wrote: »

This thread has been really interesting and useful. It's been great to hear from people who've shared their experience.

I have another 'can I be a tutor?' question I'm afraid! I know the answer is pretty much always 'yes, you can try' but I'm talking about whether it would be realistically worth my while trying, and was hoping to get some feedback.

I'd like to do a bit of tutoring part time, fit it in around family commitments. Would just be looking to do a few hours a week, doesn't need to be any more than that. At the moment I'm a solicitor, but won't be doing that indefinitely. I have strong academics- Oxford degree in History and Politics with A*s at GCSE and As at A level, then I also did the graduate diploma in law and Legal Practice Course.

Unfortunately, I don't have any teaching experience, though I like kids and get on well with them. So I certainly wouldn't expect to charge the same as an experienced, qualified teacher. I would of course get a CAB check, nothing to hide, but would doing a Pettls course go some way towards combating any issues with lack of practical experience? If I say so myself, my subject knowledge is excellent, and I have a passion for history, politics, law and literature. I'd be happy to do GCSE, A level and 11+ too if this were possible. I live in Manchester so would have access to the affluent Trafford and north Cheshire areas.

So do people think someone with my qualifications but comparative lack of experience would stand a chance? And if not, would you recommend volunteering in a school or Pttls, or both?

I would give it a go. I don't have any formal teaching qualifications, but tutoring one to one is very different from classroom teaching. As long as you can assess the ability of your student and are able to break down your subjects in order to make them easier to understand, then you should be a great tutor. You also need to be able to establish a good rapport with your students, as often they come to you with confidence levels at an all time low. I see my job partly to give them the information they need, but also to provide encouragement and instill confidence in their abilities. If you think you can do this, then just do it!

And as I've said before, don't undersell yourself because you don't have a teaching qualification. You have a good degree. Look at what other people in your area are charging and pitch yourself at the lower end of the scale. If you get good results after your first year, consider upping the fees then. But don't go with crazy low prices - it often puts people off!

AngelOfTheNorth

Thanks for the helpful advice!

therivierakid

AngeloftheNorth, I've got to echo everything that cheekychipmunk said. I had practically no experience when I started 3 and a bit years ago. I'm now up to 88 students in total and over 1400 lessons. As well as the ability to explain your subject clearly in simple terms, you also need bags of patience and plenty of empathy. You'll learn a lot from your first few months of tutoring - I did. Knowing when to just say " did you have a good weekend?" or "did you see the football last night?" can make a massive difference to your relationship with kids and can get them working so much harder.

Don't worry about not being qualified or doing PTLLS... just coming from a different angle and giving a child one-to-one help with their work makes a world of difference to their learning. Just try and think of different ways to explain the same topic and think up fun and interesting analogies: I compare proving a trig identity to crossing a rickety old bridge over a ravine!

Go for it... and good luck.

LindaLou72

Hi everyone, I'm glad I found this thread. It's a treasure trove of information.

I am a qualified English teacher with a number of years' experience in schools teaching ages 11-19. I took time out to raise my child, now need to work part-time, and have been looking for a job for 4 years. Best I've done has been a string of temporary contracts with one school, and some supply until that dried up due to the use of cover supervisors. I never considered tutoring before because I have never worked for myself, have zero experience with tutoring, and would not know how to change what I'm doing with one-to-one lessons versus what I do in the classroom. There's more to this subject than explaining something in a way a child will understand.

I really need money now though and no job seems to be forthcoming. I would be happy to work with young people one to one but I would need to develop some confidence with what I would need to be doing first. Can anyone tell me where I can find out? Would I be going over and over exam papers? Reading books and doing activities with the child? Helping them with homework? Getting them to write things? How is that tutor hour spent when you are tutoring English? Do I bring a variety of materials I have prepared and find out what the child needs to be working on? How would this work if I were tutoring on Skype?

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

LaDiva_2

Sorry if this question has been exhausted to death however I don't know who else to ask without sounding like a plum.

If someone has a 'lower' degree e.g. 2:2, would they still be able to tutor or is the demand only for those with higher qualifications?

Mrs_Money

LaDiva wrote: »

Sorry if this question has been exhausted to death however I don't know who else to ask without sounding like a plum.

If someone has a 'lower' degree e.g. 2:2, would they still be able to tutor or is the demand only for those with higher qualifications?

No-one has ever asked me what class of degree I achieved (well, only on job application forms) so I can't see it mattering one little bit.
However, whether you have a teaching qualification is probably more relevant.
Demand (and whether parents will worry about a teaching qualification) depends on your subject in my experience. e.g. if you have a maths degree and can familiarise yourself with the GCSE and A level curriculum, then I can't see that you'd have a problem - some other subjects may not be so in demand.

Mrs_Money

LindaLou72 wrote: »

Hi everyone, I'm glad I found this thread. It's a treasure trove of information.

I am a qualified English teacher with a number of years' experience in schools teaching ages 11-19. I took time out to raise my child, now need to work part-time, and have been looking for a job for 4 years. Best I've done has been a string of temporary contracts with one school, and some supply until that dried up due to the use of cover supervisors. I never considered tutoring before because I have never worked for myself, have zero experience with tutoring, and would not know how to change what I'm doing with one-to-one lessons versus what I do in the classroom. There's more to this subject than explaining something in a way a child will understand.

I really need money now though and no job seems to be forthcoming. I would be happy to work with young people one to one but I would need to develop some confidence with what I would need to be doing first. Can anyone tell me where I can find out? Would I be going over and over exam papers? Reading books and doing activities with the child? Helping them with homework? Getting them to write things? How is that tutor hour spent when you are tutoring English? Do I bring a variety of materials I have prepared and find out what the child needs to be working on? How would this work if I were tutoring on Skype?

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

I found it useful to think about what my students (in school) had found difficult. Otherwise it's probably dependent on whether the student is Key stage 3 or 4 or above. Problems in Key Stage 3 are usually more literacy based (perhaps a student may be lagging behind due to absence, illness or a learning difficulty). When a student is in Years 9, 10 and 11 they are gearing up to GCSE exams and may already have had predicted grades which need to be improved upon - so you may well be doing a bit of "teaching to the test" - or a lot of it! AS and A level will be similar, especially if January exams have shown up a student's weaknesses.
Helping with homework is a bit of a waste of parents' money in my opinion, but it can be a "jumping off" point when you need to know what level a student is working at - something that always took me several sessions to establish!
I suppose you will need to know about the exam boards students are using , texts they are studying and get yourself some past papers so you know a bit more. To begin I've often got the student to do 10 minutes free writing about anything they like (but if they write about what they find hard in their English studies that may be useful). That can be enlightening as regards what level a student is working at.
I'm a bit out of touch with English now at GCSE - they seem to keep "tweaking" it slightly and I've been teaching in FE for a while (Learning Support) so only get to hear students' versions of things!
Sorry don't know anything about Skype - don't use it yet - suppose I should think about it though.

LaDiva_2

Mrs_Money wrote: »

No-one has ever asked me what class of degree I achieved (well, only on job application forms) so I can't see it mattering one little bit.
However, whether you have a teaching qualification is probably more relevant.
Demand (and whether parents will worry about a teaching qualification) depends on your subject in my experience. e.g. if you have a maths degree and can familiarise yourself with the GCSE and A level curriculum, then I can't see that you'd have a problem - some other subjects may not be so in demand.

Thank you for the response. I currently teach in the life long sector, however I know this is miles apart from High school education. I have mentored at a High School before and deliver motivational speeches to young people so my experience is limited. Will research it more.

cheekychipmunk

LindaLou72 wrote: »

Hi everyone, I'm glad I found this thread. It's a treasure trove of information.

I am a qualified English teacher with a number of years' experience in schools teaching ages 11-19. I took time out to raise my child, now need to work part-time, and have been looking for a job for 4 years. Best I've done has been a string of temporary contracts with one school, and some supply until that dried up due to the use of cover supervisors. I never considered tutoring before because I have never worked for myself, have zero experience with tutoring, and would not know how to change what I'm doing with one-to-one lessons versus what I do in the classroom. There's more to this subject than explaining something in a way a child will understand.

I really need money now though and no job seems to be forthcoming. I would be happy to work with young people one to one but I would need to develop some confidence with what I would need to be doing first. Can anyone tell me where I can find out? Would I be going over and over exam papers? Reading books and doing activities with the child? Helping them with homework? Getting them to write things? How is that tutor hour spent when you are tutoring English? Do I bring a variety of materials I have prepared and find out what the child needs to be working on? How would this work if I were tutoring on Skype?

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

Hi. The previous reply covered pretty much everything I would say, but one thing I would add is that if you need money now, then this time of year will be difficult. Many students will already have tutors or/and are well into the exam period. And in my experience, summer holidays are quiet. You may pick up the odd student over the summer holidays, but most are reluctant to do any extra 'work' during the long holidays! Try advertising in September and you will probably have more luck!

Good luck!