private tutoring - hourly rate?

[kitkatsforbreakfast]

Does anyone here use a private tutor? Or is a tutor?

I'm thinking about doing some private tutoring. I am a qualified primary teacher, so would offer maths and literacy tutoring. But I don't know how much to charge. Some websites suggest around £15 ph, but I know some people are paying £35-40 ++ ph. I don't want to be greedy and price myself out of the market, but nor do I want to work for well below market rate.

I have a few leads on people who want tutoring already, and they've asked me to name their price.

I used to tutor but the deal was that the mother looked after my children while I taught her ds. I then charged £10 ph, but it was a different situation, and amongst friends.

Any ideas?

[isgrassgreener]

Well I pay someone £30 an hour, but she is a trained dyslexic teacher (thats why we see her) but lots of non dyslexic children see her for general teaching as well.

I know some teachers in my dc primary school do tutoring and they charge between £20- £25 an hour.

I do live in London though.

[kitkatsforbreakfast]

Thanks. I'm not sure how my sil charges £40 ph when she's not a teacher. She teaches upper primary age children. She is in posh bit of London though... We are in Bristol.

[isgrassgreener]

Well I used to pay £45 for 1/3 of an hour but it was to a specialist tutor which was very small and very hard to get into, most of the children came from private school as well.

It was very good tutoring and worth it at the time, but I would not expect to pay that for general tutoring.

[deaddei]

We pay £40 for 11plus.
Not for much longer!

[primarymum]

I only tutor my next door neighbours so charge £15 per hour, which is way under the standard rate. The governemnt pays 1;1 tutors £25 per hour, so this seems a reasonable starting point!

[Tinuviel]

I seem to remember a bit in my union magazine a good few years ago stating that you should charge the 'going rate' for a teacher, which was about £23 at the time, and that it was important not to charge less as it devalues the profession!

I would charge what I would get for supply work.

[vvvodka]

twenty five quid an hour for one on one tuition in your own home. more if you have to travel to their house.

15 quid an hour if teaching a group of kids. or maybe thats 15 per hour and a half.

dont ask for any less, as it certainly devalues the profession. and whilst it may seem easy money at first, it soon stops being that way, once you really have to spend ages before hand making sure y ou have the appropriate resources, and the childcare organised.

[RatherBeOnThePiste]

Have used two - one £18 an hour, one £32 for hour and a quarter. Both are teachers. SW London.

[InThisSequinBraYesYouOlaJordan]

I charge £20/hour or £15 each for two who are tutored together. But, these are people that I know, ie some of them I have taught in the past and have a relationship with and one is the child of a good friend who I would happily tutor for free but she insists...

I think if I were offering my services to strangers (oo-er) I would probably say £25.

[annaje]

Thats very expensive - we have DS's teacher from last year and she only charges £10 for the hour - and he loves her coming round. I did offer her more because a friend pays £20, but she wouldn't take it. We are in Kent.

[ShellingPeas]

£28 an hour for tutor with specialist qualifications for dyslexia and other SEN. On East Sussex/Kent border.

[Sharpyharpy]

£15 an hour - super teacher, lots of extra qualifications and 2 dogs and blackberry bushes all inc

[SorciereAnna]

I used to earn £18 an hour gross tutoring French and Spanish in 1991. In the provinces. I expect rates have gone up a bit since then!

[EvilTwins]

I do 1:1 tutoring in the secondary school I used to teach in - government initiative to raise standards of students who are D grade and should be C in core subjects. I get £25 per hour.

[clam]

My mother tutors for the 11+, has just put up her fees to £27 and has a long waiting list of people desperate to start.

[Badbadbunny]

£40 per hour actual teaching time, but that is with materials provided, i.e. photocopied worksheets, and includes the marking of homework set after each lesson, so, probably more like £20 per hour of actual work, assuming 1 hour of prep/marking and 1 hour of teaching. So depends on what the tutor provides and what extra time they spend in the background.

[LornaMumsnet]

Hi everyone,

We're just sweeping this thread into tutoring, OP please do get in touch if this is a problem.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Hi, sorry to jump in this thread but I can't find the tutoring section and this came up in a Google search. I've been asked to do some tutoring (I'm a qualified FE tutor but currently on an extended maternity leave) and I don't know where to start, or even how much to charge. Would £20 an hour be a good starting point for GCSE tutoring (English and maths, non SEN but low level learner)?

[steppemum]

I am a qualified primary school teacher in swindon.
I tutor.
I charge £20 per hour for general tutoring and £25 per hour for 11+ prep.

It does vary a lot, but that seems to be a reasonable balance.

You can charge more for targeted secondary subject specific work.

I do it for £15 per hour if 2 or more students.
Students come to my house, I would charge more if I went to them.

[steppemum]

fees are much much higher in London and in intensive 11+ areas (we are on the edge of an area)

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Thanks steppe, that's helpful. This is yr 11, 2nd year GCSEs but lower ability. I think I'll suggest £20 an hour and go from there.

[ellesbellesxxx]

I am not too far from you and charge in the region of £25-30

[NoBetterName]

I have been a full-time tutor for several years now and also employ other tutors within my business. I should say that I do price at the lower end of the price bracket for my subject/level etc, but would still consider £15/hr ridiculously low for tuition, especially if you are travelling.

When considering your price you need to consider not just contact time, but your actual working time. Costs may include preparation of resources/planning sessions, regular time to feedback to parents regarding progress, marking, travel time, book-keeping (you will be self-employed, so don't underestimate the time required to keep spreadsheets of income/expenditure for your tax return at the end of the year), petrol, wear and tear on the car, paper, ink, text books, CPD, enhanced DBS disclosure, advertising, other stationary, phone costs, internet use (esp. if you are tutoring online) and more.

To give you a rough estimate, I would say that only approximately 65% of my income is gross profit (so my net profit is even less). If you are charging only £15/hr, you could well end up in effect earning less than minimum wage. (I realise minimum wage is not really a "thing" if you are self-employed, but consider whether as a highly qualified professional you really want to earn less than someone stacking shelves in Tesco).

Prices in some areas of the country can seem high, but when you consider all the additional costs of running a tuition business, they are really not.

I would suggest though that even if you are an experienced classroom teacher, as an inexperienced tutor, start at the lower end of the normal price range until you get experience and recommendations and then work from there.

[steppemum]

I agree with NoBetterName.
because I tutor from home one of the thigns I did was check with my house insurance that I am covered for liability if a student had an accident at my house. That increased our house insurance premium, not by much, but enough to factor in costwise.

I like 11+ tutoring as I can ask more, and it takes much less prep, as I have a stack of suitable materials that I have collected, I know exactly what I want to do and I have a timetable I follow for the prep. It requires much less prep that a standard tutee for whom I need to tailor make work each week.

Don't be mislead by the fact they are low ability, GCSE level tutoring shoudl be more expensive, I don't think £25 is unreasonable.