teachers and tutoring as a sideline

[overthemill]

I have just started tutoring as well as teaching part time. Am English degree holder plus Social Policy and Politics MA so am teaching English in schools (currently intervention programmes) and tutoring sociology A2, Politics A2 and GCSE English plus KS2 booster Literacy and numeracy. I earn more with tuition than teaching! I love doing both though. I have also applied to mark GCSE and A levels. I am thinking of selling sen materials as this is kind of my specialty now. schools seem to struggle (imo).

I used to own findasitter but have sold it in the summer as I simply could not spend enough money on it to make it viable. Absolute wrench but money paid off my student debts (from retraining to teach).

I already earn more from three tutoring jobs a week than I do from my sessional work at a local school (trying to find perm job locally is hard, not being in an urban area!).

Any hints or tips from established tutors? How do you fit in in? I teach one day straight after school, one sunday afternoon and a thursday night!

I want to get examining work with an exam board but haven't managed to do that yet - does anyone have tips for that?

Hi, you sound as if you have got your working life well organised. I am also an English teacher with around 5 years experience in schools. Since having my dd 7 months ago I have been a sahm. Recently, however I have been tutoring two afternoons a week. If you look in the TES you will find adverts for work with exam boards.

How did you get the intervention work in schools? I would be interested in doing that. I have my Mum looking after dd though and she can only do two afternoons a week. How do you arrange childcare? I don't want to leave dd with anyone except my mum or dh when she is so young.

I tutor for A-level chemistry and GCSE chemistry, physics and maths (plus combined sciences). I live in an urban area though and am well known so my tips probably wouldn't really help. I try to only do one night a week and a morning at the weekend, especially since I am due to give birth in 2 weeks!

I'm also an examiner for AS level. Your barrier to this will be teaching experience in the subject you wish to examine. Most boards set a minimum of 2 years experience of teaching the exam board syllabus before they will consider you (especialy for A-level, less so for GCSE). Go to the exam boards websites and they tell you the likelihood of there being vacancies in your subject this year. Moderation tends to be easier to get hold of than examining as it tends to hit when employed teachers are still busy in school.

kritur useful information! I did think that exam boards would take me on as they advertise as taking on PGCE students - and I finished my PGCE this summer, So I will carry on trying for them, working my way through each board.

chocablok i got the intervention work through checking every school's vacancies on a daily basis! As soon as I saw something I phoned and arranged a visit the next day. I was lucky being so quick off the mark as they were desperate. I am hoping this will continue and may lead to other things with the school and others in the area. I know some areas do 1to 1 but mine doesn't and I'd have quite long distances to travel. I am also on a 'list' with a SENCO in a bigger school who will give my name to any parents who ask for names of people who can help with extra english etc.

Childcare - I am lucky as mine are bigger now and my 12 yr old just needs a lift home from school in the winter - summer she walks. so i scoot to her school, get her home and then dash off to tutor!

They do say they take on PGCE students but to be honest I've never met any for my subject! I suspect that is for the subjects they get really desperate for KS2 SATs and also non-specialist marking for GCSE and A-level. You could try applying for non-specialist marking, some of the questions are taken out of my papers and done by non-specialists where the answer is easy to mark. eg, this year the answer to one question was 'sulphur' so that went to non-specialists. A friend of mine does it and it's soul destroying marking 1500 scripts that either say sulphur or don't but the money is good.

You should look at exam marking as a way to improve/inform your teaching and the money it brings in as a bonus.

Awarding bodies will be looking for a bigger team of markers when GCSEs go linear (for current year 9s when they get to the summer of year 11), and then all the mid year work will dry up.

AFAIK, you apply on the websites of the awarding bodies. You need school references.

kritur I am interested in the non-specialist marking. I already mark GCSE in my own subject but the work is drying up because they have cut down from two written exam papers to only one. Rest of course is controlled assessment now.
Interested to know which exam board does non-specialist marking and which subjects/levels.

Why would an exam board be interested in non-specialist markers?

mindthegap, yes i was hoping that exam marking would increase my employability for english as i can only work in a quite limited area - we are in a rural area with big schools in central areas so not that many in reach. everyone goes to catchment. So far not many jobs have come up since i qualified.

Love teaching lower age group ( a happy surprise) as with my training I am better qualified for yr 9 - 13

I am trying to apply for marking with OCR. What kind of computer will I need. The application form will not accept/validate my 4 year-old Packard Bell 1200.

can anyone tell me what the going rate is for gcse and a level english? Do you have pre-planned sessions or do you tailor it to the particular needs of the student. Where do you advertise? I am thinking of doing some but don't really know where to start.

As far as I know all exam boards take on non-specialist markers although my friend works for AQA. He gets A-level questions but I am sure that they also exist for GCSE. I think the subjects tend to be the more 'wrong or right' type of subjects like the sciences and maths where the answer will be one answer or number.

GCSE and A-level English - would depend on your experience and the supplyh and demand in your area. Advertise in the newsagents or just get word around local schools and always tailor to the individual student.

I advertise on uk tutors and first tutors and get enough interest and more but I only do a few! I charge £25 per hour in the southwest but I have years of teaching experience. I plan the sessions around each child and what they need to know. For example I have 3 students all trying to get a c from a predicted d but very rarely do the same thing with them as they all have different strengths and weaknesses.

I charge £20 an hour for GCSE/GCE and vary it for other work. I generally have a minimum of 2 hours at a time but not for little ones. I think I could charge more but want to set myself up and get recommendations first - have registered on First Tutors A1 tutors and childcare.co.uk. And made a googleplace for myself but that has still to be verified. Google worked very well when I babysat my way through PGCE!

I always tailor for each student - using a rough lesson plan and also resources (but pilfer these as well as do them myself, eg TES, edusite etc).

And did you see the story in TES saying that HMRC is getting shirty? I do declare my earnings...

If you have to ask whether you tailor the lesson for the child or give them something off the shelf, perhaps you are in the wrong job.

All teaching should address the needs of individual students, but in the case of tutoring, this is the whole point.

totally agree with mindthegap - tuition is a very personal service and that is what parents pay for. you do have to extremely flexible. it is completely different from teaching a class.

Totally agree with mindthegap. Tuition is a totally different ball-game from teaching.
You need to be able to tune in to that pupil's wavelength, whatever level they may be on. You cannot plan your lesson on a "one size fits all" basis. That is why it is called INDIVIDUAL tuition.