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Going rate for a maths tutor

24 replies

shatteredstudentmum · 27/06/2017 16:29

I'm about to lose my job as a teaching assistant and gave been asked by a colleague if I would tutor her daughter in maths from September (y5).

I'm more than happy to do it, have a maths degree and specialist maths ta training. But I can't decide how much to charge.

Does anyone here have a tutor / tutor this age? How much per hour do you pay / charge?

OP posts:
Watto1 · 27/06/2017 16:31

DS's tutor charges £25 per hour for Y5/6 or £20 for 45mins for younger ones.

Fadingmemory · 27/06/2017 16:34

I have seen from '£15 an hour' quoted locally (sizeable city, up north). I have no idea how representative this figure may be.

Watto1 · 27/06/2017 16:36

I should have said - we're in Wales.

Aliveinwanderland · 27/06/2017 16:38

I charge £25 an hour, or £30 an hour for Al-level. Qualified maths teacher in the East Midlands.

iwantavuvezela · 27/06/2017 16:41

I would say anywhere between £30 to £40 an hour.
However you could perhaps quote a slightly lesser figure and ask her for a reference/recommendations as many tutors are referred to by others, if this is something you would like to get into.
If you look at tutoring websites I am sure it will give you the going rate .... Usually around £40 to £50 through an agency.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 27/06/2017 16:42

£30 per hour ,gsce.

Rio2016GB · 27/06/2017 16:47

I pay £28 per hour and I'm in North East

KatherineMumsnet · 27/06/2017 16:57

Hi OP,

We're just going to move this over to our Tutoring topic, give us a shout at: [email protected] if you have any problems.

shatteredstudentmum · 27/06/2017 17:37

Sorry, didnt realise there was a tutoring topic Blush

Thanks everyone, looks like my original thought of £20 per hour might be a little lower than average, but asking for a reference is a good idea Smile

OP posts:
totorosfluffytummy · 27/06/2017 17:49

We pay £30 per hour for Year 8 & 9 maths

NoBetterName · 27/06/2017 21:05

Are you travelling to them, or are they travelling to you? Can make a big difference in terms of charges.

Don't forget, if you are travelling, you'll need to change your car insurance to allow for "class 1 business use" because the standard S,D,P&C policy won't cover you, so if you would be unfortunate enough to be involved in an incident, the police could prosecute for driving without valid insurance. You'll also need to factor in petrol and general wear and tear on your car in addition to travel time.

Don't forget to register with HMRC as self-employed too. Even if it won't be your only income or if you are earning well below the tax threshold you will have to submit a tax-return every January (and don't forget that if you are finishing your current job in September and unlikely to gain much further income until April, you will probably be eligible for a tax rebate anyway at the start of the next tax year.

Not sure personally that I'd factor in a lower price for primary age. It doesn't take less time to prepare or skill to teach primary than it does to teach GCSE or Alevel. If anything I'd say it takes more time to prepare because you've got to think of many more practical activities that will keep a younger one engaged, though being a TA, you'll be used to that.

To give an idea on average rates, take a look at this www.thetutorpages.com/private-tuition-fees, which gives average rates from a large number of private tutors who are not agency based. It should give you a good idea.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 27/06/2017 21:53

I used to get cheesed off with our tutor as he charged an extra £1.50 travel on top of his hourly rate - he lives 2 roads awayConfused So I would suggest you factor that in rather than charge on top.

shatteredstudentmum · 27/06/2017 22:09

Not agreed whether her house or mine yet, still sorting details. I don't drive so no problem with insurance. I definitely wouldn't be charging extra for travelling.

Will take a look at those websites / pages now.

OP posts:
NoBetterName · 27/06/2017 22:15

Dame, did he offer the opportunity for you to travel to him in order to avoid paying the £1.50 charge for travel? Of course, he could have just calculated the average of all his travel costs and then charged everyone the same rate with travel costs included, but then in all probability you'd have ended up paying more (but without the rate quoted being separated out into "tuition" and "travel"). Even if he only loved two streets away, he'd still have had to spend time travelling to you. Even if it takes 5 minutes to travel, that's 10 mins there and back, which is still over 16% of the time for the actual session to be added on.

Sorry, I know this probably comes across as really snippy, but many people really do underestimate the unseen costs for the tutor (of course, if he was charging £50+ for tuition/hr, he was probably unreasonable to charge an extra £1.50 for travel).

NoBetterName · 27/06/2017 22:16

*lived not loved - damn you predictive text!

B19M · 27/06/2017 22:27

We pay £28 per hour Maths yr9; that includes travel to our house.
It's a similar rate for music tuition.
In NW.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 27/06/2017 22:51

No ,he specifically said we couldn't go to him. When I say 2 streets away,I mean you could walk quicker than it would take you to start the car.

NoBetterName · 27/06/2017 23:03

Sounds like he should have just quoted his hourly rate £1.50 higher! He was probably just trying to make his hourly rate sound cheaper and then add on his additional costs later.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 27/06/2017 23:07

I don't know,he was a bit ...odd but he was a fantastic boost for struggling ds so actually that's the main thing. It just seemed a bit strange at the time.

CookingDinner · 28/06/2017 14:16

Probably depends where you live. Also, if you go on a tutoring website you will see that there are lots of different people advertising as Tutors - some have qualifications and teaching experience, and some don't.
Students at university sometimes offer tutoring, but charge quite low - between £15-20, because they are not qualified.

I Tutor and charge £25 because I am a qualified teacher. I also offer 11+ tutoring - I don't charge extra for that but lots of Tutors do (at least £30). I don't want to charge too much because sitting the 11+ should not be for the very rich only (the higher the cost, the more people it excludes).

CookingDinner · 28/06/2017 14:18

I don't charge extra for travelling a distance, because I would only choose pupils who live near to me (15 mins drive). Perhaps I'm lucky that there is a lot of demand for Tutors in my area though.

NoBetterName · 28/06/2017 22:14

Many University students who offer tuition also may know their subject, but often will not be familiar with the requirements of the current exam specs. They won't know the difference between what X exam board requires and what Y exam board requires and they won't be familiar with the difference in question style between the different boards.

A tutor I know summed it up very well with a quote from Suits, "you don't pay a plumber to bang pipes. You pay him to know where to bang".

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CookingDinner · 06/07/2017 16:43

Yes NoBetter - that is true, particularly if you live in a county which publicises the type of paper (samples) a child will sit. Unfortunately I live in an area where the council has made efforts to make the test 'untutorable', apparently. I should think no-one would pass it without having had some kind of tuition though! They change the test format every year. All we know is that it is a multiple choice - line in the box - format. I just make sure that pupils can answer tons of varieties of high-level questions. I use all sorts of exam papers from grammar schools, and from various 11+.

The difference between a student and an experienced teacher is that the latter should know the curriculum inside out and be able to break learning down into an order that children should progress through. If a child finds a question particularly difficult, I won't continue with it - I will know what prior piece of learning they have not grasped. I will go back to that stage of learning within that topic - get them confident with it, then step back up to the level they found difficult previously. And hey-presto! Now they get it. In short - a student may not know how to 'teach' (worth mentioning that there are also good and bad experienced teachers as well though!).

Also, a student is probably tutoring to earn some income to support their studying. Do they actually really CARE about whether your child passes? Some will of course. But someone who is tutoring because they chose to tutor as their main employment, perhaps cares more and more likely to put extra effort into tailoring their tutoring to each child's needs.

Sorry, that was long.

goeasyonthetonic · 22/07/2017 15:27

£50 an hour for A Level, £30 an hour for GCSE. For that you will get a tutor who knows the spec, actually teaches or who has taught, and may also have been an exam marker.

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