How do you find a good tutor?

My daughter had the most amazing English tutor who was just a student herself (but one who achieved 9s and A * at A-levels in English Lit reading the same texts as my daughter's school. The fact she wasn't a qualified teacher was absolutely immaterial to me. She was absolutely brilliant and helped my daughter achieve 9/8 in Lang/Lit (from previously predicted 4-5s). Why do tutors need to be qualified teachers?

Have you tried the parents WhatsApp group, or I know my DD wouldn’t have liked that, if you know anyone whose kids have been through GCSEs and maybe one of them or a friend had one and they could pass on a number?

If he's currently getting a 4 and his maths is reasonably strong, one possibility (although obviously it's impossible to know without seeing his work) is that he's struggling with chemical bonding. It's introduced right at the beginning of the GCSE course, and I find it's one of the topics that many students don't fully grasp first time around because you can't see it happening.
In my experience, once that foundation is secure, a lot of the rest of Chemistry starts to make much more sense because so many later topics build on those ideas.
If he's revising independently, I'd definitely recommend lots of exam questions rather than just reading notes. Looking carefully at the mark schemes and the examiner's reports can be incredibly helpful because they show not only the correct answers, but also the mistakes students commonly make.
If you do decide to look for a tutor, I'd try to find someone with experience of teaching your son's exam board, and don't be afraid to ask about their experience, teaching style and how they help students who are stuck. A good tutor should be happy to have that conversation before you commit.

QTS is a valuable indicator of teacher training, but it doesn’t automatically determine tutoring quality. Great tutors come from a range of backgrounds - experienced teachers, subject specialists, examiners, graduates, and professional tutors. Uni students often offer the best rates as they have less experience tutoring and are going from their recent experience doing the qualifications themselves. The most important factors are subject knowledge, ability to explain clearly, experience supporting students, and feedback from families. Reviews and proven impact often give the best insight into how effective a tutor is, so you are bets to look in a place/directory where you can read tutors track history of reviews.

My son had two tutors for maths the first was a qt who couldn’t have been less interested. Then second was a 21 yr old uni student who was amazing and did maths and physics. He got my son from averaging a 4 in maths in yr 10 to an 8 in gcse. I found him on my tutor and loads of my friends used him as well. It’s really luck of draw but don’t dismiss uni students.

Hi - we've used sherpa for GCSE maths tuition with good results - you can select a qualified teacher and the tutor we used was also an examiner on their site you can see - 43% are teachers and 16% are examiners - sherpa-online.com

Hi @Deneke - I tutor exactly this. Sat these papers myself recently (A* A-Level Bio & Chem, 9s across GCSE Maths and the sciences), so I know where the marks slip. References whenever useful - message me anytime.

Tutorperch have filter by Qualified Teacher (as well as the standard filters and DBS) and they actually declare how they check the documents and its not self declared like some websites allow (I was really quite shocked when I was looking that some are like that!).
They seem to have replaced First Tutors (imported the reviews and transferred the tutors over etc...) who used to be the go-to for commission free platform for 20 years before they closed. These smaller directories in general are great because they seem to have the same tutors but don't have increased prices or fees to pay to cover ad budgets.
Not used an agency matching service before but if you don't want to chose a tutor then i've heard good things about Keystone in London but I'd want to choose someone not have one selected for me.

Totally agree with you! My route in to tutoring wasn’t traditional either but my results, my word of mouth recommendations and my 2 year waiting list speak for themselves! QTS is no guarantee of an excellent tutor.

Word of mouth

Many schools would not usually allow teachers to tutor pupils from their own school, as it would be a conflict of interest if your child's teacher is giving them extra paid tuition .

That is not to say that some may be okay with it as in ithinkhesamerdog's case, it could be worth asking.

Have you asked the school? Two of our tutors are teachers at my children's school, which means they know the curriculum well and also can access test marks etc and even chat to the relevant subject teacher find out what to focus on

The other teacher used to teach at the school and is now a full time tutor and tutors a decent percentage of the children at the school (she does small group tuition)

It really helps to have a tutor who knows the exact syllabus and order of teaching at the school

Some advice -
Use a website with lots of filters to narrow it down - you want a website that checks for Qualified Teacher qualifications and DBS - some allow tutors to self declare!
Message lots of tutors
First message to a tutor should 4-6 sentences covering level, exam board, specific goal, your child's current attainment, and your timeline
Three things to verify with them: Subject expertise, level and board currency, and safeguarding verification (DBS, PVG, or AccessNI)
Organise a Trial session - before committing; most tutors offer it free or half-price
Strong fit signals - Asks diagnostic questions, proposes a structure, and explains the why behind methods
Red flags - Pushy on package deals, vague about specs, no structured first session, or no safeguarding check
Don't over-optimise - A 90% match starting next week beats a 100% match in three months

I've got plenty more advice if you need it, just drop me a DM I'm a HOD/HOY experienced, teacher, tutor, examiner, academic materials author so seen lots of angles to this!

Here's an article on this if you'd like to read more , there's a few different guides on there https://tutorperch.com/guides/how-to-choose-a-tutor

You are often paying between 15-52% more for the same tutors on these platforms than you can find on commission free tutoring directories. The commission free platform also has all the trust signals checking ID, validating safeguarding and even go one step further than Tutorful - checking teaching qualifications - on Tutorful you can just self declare! That's the 'Finders Fee Tutor Platform' model where you find a tutor and pay them directly!
My Tutor -40% commission plus VAT = 52%
Tutorful 35% 'service fee'
Tutorhunt 32% commission
Sherpa 28% commission

I ask around locally, usually on local Facebook sites or I ask other mum's, my daughter and I then meet them for a trial run to see how they get on. My daughter prefers face to face but it might be easier to find someone who does online tutoring. She has a maths and science tutor and is looking at 8/9's for her results, the tutoring really helps with her confidence as she likes being a step ahead and then going over things again in school.

Agree that TutorHunt is good. That allows you to filter to see if they have QTS.
I wouldn’t pay to have someone who isn’t a teacher, and who hasn’t taught the exam board that my child is studying. A teacher will have taught hundreds of students so will be aware of the common pitfalls and misconceptions, and have strategies in place to mitigate these. More so than someone who is highly qualified in that subject area, but never taught a class.

I’d look for an online tutor if DS prefers online. It gives you more chance of getting your preferred tutor.

Titanium Tutors allow you to filter by online/face to face and exam board. Most tutors will have an enhanced DBS on the update service that you can check when they send you a photo of their DBS certificate. Go with an agency like TutorHunt or tutorstoyourhome if money is no concern, because they are strict on compliance checks and often have reviews.

Agree that word of mouth is best and after that, Facebook groups. There are several Facebook groups that match tutors with tutees - there might be one specifically for Chemistry tuition.

Yes, Facebook groups are good. Although one post will result in your being swamped with replies. So hone EXACTLY what you want.

E.g.Only individuals with the following should apply.
Experienced teacher of AQA Chemistry (give course code).
QTS
Examiner
In person - York.
No agencies.

You'll STILL get spammed but a little less.

Ask other parents (or get your child to ask others in his group)

google for local tutors in person. Most ex teachers that do it have a website.

local Facebook group and ask for recommendations.

Tutorhunt website allows you to filter by degree qualified and qualified teacher. I’ve mostly chosen qualified teachers and it has worked well. I also looked at reviews.

Don't dismiss those who are not qualified teachers. I have a PhD, I have been tutoring various exam boards for my A level subject (I am a subject specialist), and although I am not an examiner, I have an in depth knowledge of the specifications and mark schemes for the specifications I cover. I also only tutor A level. I would not be comfortable tutoring GCSE age children. With my A level tutees, I approach teaching in the same way I would teach undergraduates. But I do not have a teaching qualification. Classroom teaching is irrelevant for 1:1 tutoring of A level students.

Exactly the reason you would be best with an examiner. It's like the inside info. It's the reason my tutees do well. I show them how to pass, not just teaching them the subject.

I completely agree. There should be a function to filter by QTS. Such as shame there isn't.
I did some tutoring when I was a university student and now look back on it with embarrassment. I don't think the families who paid me got a good deal at all. I was cheapish and had great subject knowledge but had no clue about the syllabus or how to teach properly and yet a tutoring company took me on and gave me GCSE students to tutor with no training on how to do it, or on what the syllabus contained (this was pre-internet so I couldn't look it up).
Now I'm fully qualified with years of teaching in schools, plus some exam board marking. There is no way I'd pay an unqualified person to tutor my own children.

Do you want in person or online? If online is OK, try searching LinkedIn. You can look for qualified teachers and examiners that way. I get a LOT of work through LinkedIn because I'm an examiner.