I'm a "super-tutor" to the London elite

[heatherheather22]

AMA

Sorry but you don’t sound super elite to me. Not for London. When I was looking for someone to kick DS up the bum for Latin I found quite a few tutors quoting over £120 an hour. We got a very nice oxford grad with over 5 years teaching experience.

Are you a qualified teacher?

do you really get the results to merit that title?

I have a good track record of helping students achieve their goals and my clients generally give good feedback, so I'd say so, yes.

Could you get an average student from a normal comp who is currently predicted just passing grades up to A*s?

That depends on a lot of factors - how long I work with them, how many hours a week, and how willing they are to work hard.

Sorry but you don’t sound super elite to me. Not for London. When I was looking for someone to kick DS up the bum for Latin I found quite a few tutors quoting over £120 an hour.

Oh I'm by no means SUPER elite. There are plenty of tutors who charge an awful lot more than me. There are a handful of tutors in London who charge over £200/hour.

Are you a qualified teacher?

Nope.

3 years teaching experience isnt long (still in 20s..?) I know a fair number of oxbridge teavhers who have taught grammar school kids etc. We so should set ourselves up as super tutors. Not being in london might exclude thenlonond elite.... ;) I do wonder about 11+ tutoring but I kind of ideologically disagree with it!

Oh I'm by no means SUPER elite. There are plenty of tutors who charge an awful lot more than me. There are a handful of tutors in London who charge over £200/hour

That's a super-duper tutor

How might you get into this role? I have a doctorate but not in a school-taught subject, is this useful?

There are plenty of agencies in London, I would recommend reaching out to them. Normally they discuss with you informally what you could teach and how much work they could find you, then you have a formal interview to be accepted. The vast majority of work is in "core" academic subjects eg. English, Maths, languages, sciences.

Three years of experience makes you 'super'? That's quite sad

Wow, you’re cheap! We were paying 50 quid an hour 30 years ago for a tutor.

What is the most needy parent request?

The same parent who worried that her 12yo didn't want to read classics asked me to come to their house at 7.30 am on the morning of the kid's French oral exam to have a French-language "breakfast meeting".

Sorry, didn’t mean to call you cheap, but I’m sure you know what I meant.

Three years of experience makes you 'super'?

Eh, it's what the Daily Mail likes to call us when writing "look how the 1% live" articles :p

I'll be honest, do you not think that a lot of the results of super tutors are the consequences of "stone soup" logic (i.e. the sort of parents who are privileged and motivated enough to find very expensive tutors are the same people who tend to have over-achieving kids)?

My own experience is that modern cognitive science-based learning principles are the most important thing--and most of this kind of stuff is all about practicing and going over things daily and doing constant retrieval practice, not having a once-a-week session with a super teacher.

People who value education

We all value it love, it's just that most of don't have shitloads of money to pay for it.

So you are not a teacher. You think you are a super tutor. I disagree. To be a super tutor you need to know the exam boards inside out. You need a wealth of knowledge and experience. It sounds to me like you are an accessory to rich parents. They like to have a tutor.
Do you think you would cope with teaching?

do you not think that a lot of the results of super tutors are the consequences of "stone soup" logic (i.e. the sort of parents who are privileged and motivated enough to find very expensive tutors are the same people who tend to have over-achieving kids)?

Quite possibly, but if they want to pay me I'm not going to tell them that! :p

But I have had several students who have made a really marked and sudden improvement/had "lightbulb moments" in my classes, and that was great.

I am a tutor. I have 13 years teaching experience and a masters degree. I charge 26 to 30 quid an hour.
I am also a senior examiner so know exactly what exam boards are looking for. I have also been to Oxford to go through what the requirements are for entry etc.
All this proves is the old adage that some people have more money than sense. A super tutor would be someone who can really help a child who may be struggling and improve their grade and aspirations etc.
Kids in top schools should already be well ahead.

Do you think you would cope with teaching?

Teaching and tutoring require different skill-sets. I have a huge respect for teachers. I know I would struggle with the crowd-control aspect of classroom teaching. I am thinking about training as a secondary school teacher later in life but I haven't decided yet.

Am I the only one who is wondering why, if OP is charging £70/hr, which is a darn good rate in my opinion (and yes I appreciate people earn more per hour) and let's say works out at say £100k a year she feels she cannot afford a taxi fare?

No they don’t need different skills. To tutor you should really be a teacher. Being a teacher is not just about class control it’s about being able to teach a bloody subject.
Most agencies won’t even take on people that aren’t actually teachers.

I'm not sure if these AMAs always go well...
£70 isn't "super tutor" territory in London. I personally don't think that a non teacher is always in the best position to tutor the demanding, reformed qualifications. Of course you know the content, but you won't necessarily have the CPD training, possibly be an examiner or have years of experience. I know plenty of teachers with the above who do this.
For example if you are the chief examiner for an in demand subject, you can possibly see why parents may pay £100+. I certainly wouldn't pay anywhere near that for someone without a teaching qualification/ experience and/or experience of being an examiner.

And agree with other posters - some of the parents you mention as the "elite" don't value education at all. They do value the end result of course.

If you would struggle with controlling a class then why on earth would you want to teach secondary school? They'd have you for breakfast.

Glad someone agrees super