To think everyone seems to be offering tuition?

[MsTuition]

I've been a qualified teacher for over 7 years and at times I have offered both online and in person tuition - all fine, was paid between 30-35per hour and students and parents happy. I haven't gone back to it since becoming pregnant but have been thinking about doing it again as I'm no longer in full time work, however, I am seeing LOADS and I mean so many posts shared in my whatsapp groups of people offering tuition, sometimes at incredibly low prices. It feels like a race to the bottom. I guess right now a lot of people are looking for the side hustle and desperate to get those clients.

Sometimes I dig a bit deeper and find out the person offering tuition isn't a teacher but a sixth form student or uni student or sometimes its online tuition but in a mix ability group (honestly can't imagine that working out well) but cheaper prices.

Curious to hear from parents who do use tutors for their children are you finding cheaper and cheaper options or being spoilt for choice? Not sure I want to bother trying to market myself as a qualified experienced teacher/ tutor if it's a crowded market.

I've used tutors for both my DC at various points over the years and don't see these issues. I'm in London so there's plenty of people listed but always a lot of whittling to be done to find the right person who has availability and fits the need. I'm not actually fussy about whether they are currently a working teacher or not and have had very good experiences with grads/students who don't teach but are good at tutoring in their subject.

I prefer in person tutors to online generally as it works better for my DC's focus, but can see why people would go for that as a more affordable option. And I've never paid as little as you mention for either online or in person. My older DC is getting A-level/uni admissions tutoring online at the mo for double that, and younger one's in person tutor (for KS4) is around £50. I've not seen group tutoring offered but presumably it works for some people or they wouldn't do it.

Honestly I don't think you need to worry about who else is offering their services or who is using other services that you don't rate. If you want to do some tutoring on the side, list your services and see who takes you up on it.

Lots of uni students now offer it.

there’s a lot of semi retired teachers out there as well trying to make a go of it, most realise pretty quickly it’s a saturated market and either get a part time qualified teacher role as eotas or similar or just stop.

It does look like a saturated market but parents still struggle a lot to find someone. Unless kids are homeschooled, there are only a very limited amount of hours when you can book a tutor, so spots get booked up really fast.

What you can do is rely on word and mouth and build your name that way. That takes a little time, but the very first thing parents go by are recommendations.

I live in an 11+ area so there are a lot around but people want to pass so word of mouth info about quality always wins out over cost.

Personally I'd prefer a qualified teacher who understands learning styles over a teenager/uni student who might not fully comprehend what is 'on the line' for a student struggling academically (or their parents).

I think there's a lot of people chancing their arm with trying to make an extra bob or two when they're not particularly qualified/experienced - after all, it's free to create a listing and they might get a bite now and then. But the ones who get the bookings are the ones with higher prices and QTS.

I am paying £25 to a online second year uni student from his current school- always over an hour, heading towards an hour and a half for A-level.

Reason - flexible, each week is a different time depending on DC and tutors availability. Engagement, DC is keener to engage as closer in age, can organise sessions directly and work on the problem areas.

I wouldn't use this set up for primary though.

The amount I used to charge was a few years ago so I actually thought it was low. I have seen uni students charging 20-25 and personally I don't think at GCSE level an a level student / uni student is going to be able to provide feedback on exam answers in the same way a teacher can.

I agree, but depends if that's what they need or if it's other kind of help for which a student is adequate (my 18yo DS is great at helping with 14yo DS's maths issues - which is free tutoring thankfully, and teacher level isn't needed for that). If people need what you're offering, they'll choose you and pay the difference.

I've seen 16 year olds offering to tutor kids for SATS. Not a snowball in Hell's chance that a child of that age has the skills to tutor anyone.

and dog walking and cleaning.

I know that you are a teacher and there's value in that, but there's a lot of value in peer and alternative learning too.

I tutored my classmates at A Level in English Lit. Six got As, five of those got their highest marks in any subject where I tutored them, and a seventh avoided being kicked off the course because she wasn't getting it from the teacher.

Sometimes different is what someone needs. I wasn't charging, but if someone is offering a service for a price without being dishonest about their knowledge or qualifications, then what they charge is their affair.

It's like Marge Simpson said about offering piano lessons...
'I only need to stay one lesson ahead of the kid..'

Again, what I did wasn't "the same" as a teacher. I worked a lot more on understanding (and enjoying!) the material and memory techniques. If they want to charge £25, fine. The market decides.

No offence, but some kids will automatically internally groan at another teacher - they already have a teacher. A psychological difference can be a big benefit.

My DGC's tutor charges £40 for a 45 minute online lesson. DGC is a year 3 pupil and the tutor is a retired primary school teacher. I wouldn't pay that for a university student.

We pay £50 an hr for a maths tutor. She was a maths teacher for 20 years and then worked with the local council on pedagogy. I value her for her great experience. Plus I had a lot of word of mouth recommendations for her. A friend pays half that for a second year uni maths student and that works for her child too. My son can be tricky (autistic) and I really wanted someone who knew the curriculum very well, to support what was going on in class, and had tactics for teaching kids who can be tricky.

I do think maths is different to other subjects, my dd has tutored several people, friends, younger relatives even her boyfriend successfully. I don’t think you can do that for a level English for instance

It depends what the tutor is wanted for.

If it's for passing an exam, then you want someone with excellent knowledge of the syllabus and ideally experience with the exam mark schemes. This would usually be a teacher or someone who has taught for a few years at the very least.

If you want someone who is generally just good at a subject, but are passing on knowledge not necessarily relevant to just passing an exam, but able to help with exam questions/generally understanding then a uni student would be fine.

Having good subject knowledge and a deep understanding of a subject isn't the same as knowing what an exam board is looking for.

You’re right that it can be race to the bottom. That’s why you have to show your worth by charging more. As an English teacher, I charge over £100 ph and do pretty well because parents know they’re getting a really high quality product!

We have lots of people locally posting ads from 6 th formers ( yr12/13) wanting to tutor younger children including up to GCSE . Parents who use these must be mad , may as well throw your money away .

As others have said, it depends what is wanted. For a child needing a lot of help and guidance, a qualified teacher is a huge plus. But some kids are doing ok and their parents just want to pay someone to sit with them and work through a few questions together. Kind of like supervised homework. It seems reasonable to me that these tutors (as you say, often uni students) charge a lot less. They're offering a different service. I think there's room in the market for both.

I’m not sure if you want parents in my situation to respond but my dd 16 is doing precisely what you’re talking about, and she has waiting lists now! She started off at £10 an hour, then went to £15 as demand got higher. She’s an alevel student who got good GCSEs at a grammar school. Parents seem very happy.

Agree with this, it is the era of the side hustle 🤮 and people will throw a line and hope someone bites. I see so many adverts from University students advertising A Level tutoring

I had a tutor for my son from time to time for A level maths/further maths. He was a 3rd tear engineering student iirc. He charged about £45 per hour. His lessons always went over, and he would respond to text message /questions in between sessions. He explained things in a way my son understood. So worth it imo. Son ended up with A and A star.

I actually think some very, very clever teachers are not so great at explaining things.

I think it’s great there is varying options and different styles will suit different people. Yes, the market is saturated but finding the right people for your situation is still very challenging.

We pay £40ph for my son’s tutor (Y4) one hour per week. She’s a former teacher but left two years ago to have her daughter and started a tutoring business and now also employs 4 other teachers.

It's not crowded really, I think lots more people need it, we pay one tutor (less experienced) £35 ph and another over £100 as he's just fabulous and it's a niche area where he has vast experience and real life understanding. I think for those who know what they're doing and add real, proven value then it's not a race to the bottom. There probably are equally very unqualified people charging low level rates for the same reason. It's hard to find someone who clicks with my son, is good at the subject area and can support him appropriately (he is neurodivergent so they need to understand what that means and tweak their style appropriately, they also need to be prepared to read his report and follow any requested approaches). If you have a niche then I think you'd be busy and make good money.