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How to become a tutor??

6 replies

PineappleMelon · 18/02/2026 16:03

I left teaching (Primary) five years ago. I don’t want to go back and want to explore becoming a tutor instead.

Can anyone who is a tutor give me the realities of this idea? What are the pros and cons?

And how do I get started? How do students find me?

OP posts:
RipplePlease · 18/02/2026 19:25

I also left Primary teaching, 6 years ago.
I now tutor 1:1 for the 11+ and do general Primary English and Maths boosting.
I tutor from home.
I work term time Monday-Friday (depending on my uptake) 4-6:15pm which is 2 1 hour sessions.
The Pros:
I have my days to myself.
I make my own rules, I’m not answerable to SLT, I get to teach how I want to teach.
I earn roughly the same as I was doing 2 days a week job sharing at a primary.

Cons:
Most years are very busy but I’ve had one where I only had 2 students, so the money isn’t as regular.
I can’t honestly think of any other Cons!

southchinasea · 18/02/2026 20:15

I am a primary tutor - English and maths - and I love it and find it so rewarding. I mostly support children with additional learning needs and find there's lots of demand for this.

I tutor face to face and 1:1 from my home, 15 hours a week after school (3.40-6.30pm) and charge £45 per 50 minute session. I see tutoring as all the nice aspects of teaching without any of the school politics.

There are some really supportive helpful tutoring groups if you're on Facebook - look for Twinkl private tutors, Tutors who thrive, Katie's tutor support.

southchinasea · 18/02/2026 20:17

Families find me via my business Facebook page, Google maps, my website and word of mouth.

It's important to have clear terms and conditions around cancellations and take payment in advance.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

ChocolateHobbit · 18/02/2026 20:24

I started by working for a big international tutoring firm. I'd really like to work for myself instead but it does involve jumping from one to another due to local conflict of interest.

RipplePlease · 18/02/2026 20:38

I see tutoring as all the nice aspects of teaching without any of the school politics
100% this.
Good luck OP.

BiologyandChemistryTutor · 18/02/2026 20:45

You'll need to get your business head on as well as your teaching head.

I've been full-time tutoring for many years now, in addition to Alevel question setting, exam marking and various other bits for the exam board.

A few tips:

You'll need a fairly rigorous set of terms and conditions, otherwise expect to be messed around. Most people are wonderful and reliable, but the few that are not can eat up a considerable part of your time.

Register with HMRC as self employed as soon as you start advertising, not when you get your first student and think about whether you'll do your tax returns yourself, or whether you will want/need an accountant. Personally I use an accountant because the amount of time she saves me vs doing it all myself makes her fee worth it.

Be prepared that you'll have to chase some parents regularly for prompt payment. This will use up a lot of time unless you set expectations early and stick to it.

Think about how you want to deliver tuition.

Travel to students is time-consuming and expensive, but you do see students in their own homes and that keeps work separate from home life. You can end up with a logistical nightmare though trying to coordinate travelling from one home to the next, students availability and what you do between sessions if you have cancellations or get stuck in traffic.

Delivering tuition at your home is more convenient, but do you have a quiet area which won't impact on the rest of your family massively? If you are tutoring face to face either in their home or yours, think about safe-guarding. No tutoring in bedrooms and for minors there must always be another adult in the house. Think about seating and ensuring the student always has unhindered means to exit the house (including leaving the door unlocked) and also what will you do if a parent fails to collect their child on time and you have another session booked in following. Do you have somewhere for the student to wait for their parent whilst you start on the next session.

Online is easier in many ways, but requires more imaginative approaches to keep things interactive. It also takes longer to build close relationships with your students, which ultimately helps their progress.

It is a fantastic job (I've been doing it for 13 years full-time and absolutely love it), but not always as easy to make the transition as people think because it's a very different job to teaching in a school. Yes you don't deal with SLT, but you do have a lot of other things to think about if you want to make a serious living.

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