Home Tutoring Advise needed

[RachelMyers01]

Hi All,
This is my first post on here. I have a daughter approaching her GCSE's and a son whose in Primary School. I am looking for a Tutor to support their learning in Maths, English and Science. Can I ask where you can find a great tutor from? What price is reasonable to pay a fully qualified Tutor? What method of tutoring is best - One-to-One, Centre-based or online?

Thanks and look forward to hearing from you all and hope you are having a great Christmas period

I think that it is key that you know what you want from the tutor. "To support their learning" is fairly vague to be honest, and you could probably get similar from using websites. I think you first need to understand what the tuition needs to cover before looking at whether you need one to one or a short course. So take each child each individually. For your dd, are there specific subjects where she needs help? What did her mock results identify? Can you talk to her teachers and identify areas where specific help may be beneficial?

For your ds, there are online resources such as bbc bitesize or the woodland primary school website. How would he get on with these?

One to one tuition can cost £25-40 per hour, more for certain specialist areas, but is worth while if you have specific aims. But often you are simply throwing away money if the children aren't motivated. Sometimes courses can be helpful if motivation is the issue as they will see other children putting in similar effort.

Thank you for the response Ladymuck. It's given me a lot of clarity.

Would you or anyone else who responds to this go to a tutoring agency or would you go for a individual whose private and from somewhere like Gumtree? And what are the criteria that I should take on board before making an informed decision

I asked the school. Although they are unable to 'recommend' someone officially. They did, after much begging, suggest a few names.
These tutors contact the school, work alongside the school and know the syllabus. = perfect.

Thank you Oblomov for the suggestion.

As we are concerned parents what other sources of information would you use to find out a good tutor, whether online or away from the internet?

I'm a teacher and also do some private tutoring. I'd definitely recommend going with 2 separate teachers qualified in whichever areas/subjects you are concerned about.
I've used www.firsttutors.co.uk and have found it to be good.

Word of mouth is what most people use to find a tutor. Ask around! All of my pupils have found me via word of mouth and I've never had to advertise. I'd imagine that's true of most tutors.

I too would probably start at the school, first with the teachers that they have and then with students from the years above. If your dd struggles with particular subjects then so will others.

Hi thanks for your responses and to Ladymuck again it is clarifying things well for me.

In terms of using a tutor from word of mouth or by agency, is there any real advantages which tutoring agencies can provide us over word of mouth private tutors? As private agencies charge is a lot greater in terms of fees

Rachel, I have used tutors for maths, science and English. I am currently on my third English tutor for my DS who is 10 years old. I have used word of mouth, agencies, and tutor hunt (online). Agencies are more expensive as they take their cut. Tutor hunt was very good and you only pay a small fee once to get the tutors details. As with any teacher it is important to find someone really good. I have tended to prefer youngish tutors (in their mid twenties) that can connect with my child, have a could of years if tutoring under their belt, and can motivate my child to enjoy the subject. Bear in mind kids hate being tutored as it is extra work and therefore the choice if tutors is important.

Regardless of how you obtain the details of a tutor, check qualifications, DBS checks and references yourself. Anybody reputable will not be offended to be asked for this information.

With respect to qualifications, there is no such thing as "fully qualified" per se, but for GCSE and A level, I'd suggest at least graduate level in the subject and with up-to-date curriculum knowledge (simply having done their GCSEs 2 years ago wouldn't cut it, really). For primary level, knowledge of current teaching methods for the subject(s) is a must, otherwise your child may end up more confused by conflicting teaching methods between the school and tutor.

I would say however that you do need to be clear about what you hope to achieve from tuition because this will help to set clear goals and avoid misunderstandings later.