Your Tutoring Career

If you are a private tutor, we know how stimulating and rewarding this job can be so whether you provide private tuition on a part time or full time basis, we would like to offer you a few tips to help you organise your tutoring career. Whilst the demand for private tuition varies per subject and level during the course of the academic year, perhaps it's a good idea to plan ahead and think if you are willing to provide tuition only during the academic course or also during the summer holidays.(there is an increased demand for private tuition within this period now) Demand increases for private tuition with the run up for June exams and many tutees/parents seek intense revision lessons during the Christmas and Easter period too.

Another aspect to bear in mind is at what times you will be available to provide lessons. If you are offering tuition for Primary school children (KS1 and KS2) or Secondary (KS3, GCSE,IGCSE) then most students are of school age which means that you will have to offer tuition after 4.00pm on weekdays. If you are offering lessons for A-Levels, Degree Level, or vocational qualifications: arts and crafts or languages, you will find that these students are much more flexible so you can tutor throughout the day and at the weekends too. When you have decided what levels and age groups to tutor, it is advisable to invest in books, stationary and national curriculum resources. It is also essential that you have up to date textbooks.

Other factors to consider are:

Travel. Are you able to travel to your tutees and within what area/distance are you prepared to travel? Many tutors offer home tuition and also travel to their tutees, the more flexible options you can offer, the better.
Travel fees. Would you include travel fees within your hourly rate or charge per mile? We have found that most tutors charge a fee per mile. eg. 40p per mile to cover petrol costs, but the decision is yours.
Hourly rates. We suggest that you research your area for the local going rate, fees for tutors based in London and the South East are considerably higher than the rest of the country. Another factor to consider is how much tutoring experience you have and what qualifications you posses if any. Currently there are no specified minimum qualifications needed to become a private tutor but tutors with many years of experience and with high qualifications are often able to charge higher rates.
Payment options. There are many payment options too but we recommend you request payment at the beginning of each lesson and to avoid receiving payment through PayPal or similar. If receiving payment in cash don't forget to provide a receipt (with a copy for yourself) so that you can declare your tax earnings as a self employed person.
Advertising. Word of mouth is a free way of advertising, other methods of advertising usually involve a fee/commission (traditional agencies) but we welcome you to register with First Tutors, it is a totally free service for tutors and we have a system which allows you to build up 5 star feedback on your profile for other online users to read.