Question for tutors or parents who use tutors, please?

[ehwhat]

Hello. I'm fairly new here, so please be gentle with me .

I have a question for any tutors, or parents who use tutors please (I'd like opinions from both sides of the fence).

To give a bit of background info, DD1 is in year 13. Last year, she took 5 AS levels and had tutors in all 5 subjects for an hour a week, this year she has dropped a subject and is taking 4 subjects at A2, which she also has tutors for. Some of these are the same as the ones she had last year, some are different.

On top of the hour a week tutoring in each subject, I ask all her tutors to set and mark homework for her, because otherwise I worry that she won't look at the work in between times. She is very bright (predicted A* across the board, but quite lazy). Having 4 different tutors is obviously very expensive, but we think it is a good investment in her future and 3 out of her 4 tutors set and mark homework for her (outside of the hour tuition) on a weekly basis without charging for it, beyond the money we pay for each session. However, the 4th tutor has asked for an additional amount, equivalent, he says, to the amount of time it takes him to set and mark the homework. I resent paying this extra, because as I said, we already pay out a lot for tuition every week and surely he must use the same homework for other students, so the time taken to set it is not that high? If it makes any difference, the tutor who would like the extra for the marking outside lesson time is a retired teacher (I don't know why that would make a difference, but I don't want to drip feed).

So, my question is, what do other people do? Do you automatically expect regular homework to be set and marked in the cost for tuition, do you see this as an extra expense, or do you not expect a tutor to set and mark homework every week? I'm just trying to get a feel for how others do it

TIA

Thanks for your reply. The tutor tells me that the homework typically takes about half an hour to an hour to mark? He has said he does mark homework for other students, but not every week, outside of lessons? He is via an agency, so I don't know if the amount I pay, is the amount he receives, iyswim. Thanks. I'll have a word and see what he says.

I should have said, if it makes a difference, the subject is an MFL btw. Thanks.

to be honest, it's the tutor's time; so he should be paid for it. any time he spends marking your DD's work is time he is not spending tutoring someone else where he would be making money. A lawyer, plumber, cleaner would be no different - you pay for the time. that's the way i see it anyway; and the fact you are already spending so much on tuition anyway, which is a choice you have made, should be no reason to try and get the tutor to work extra time for free.

I have had tutors who have marked my DD and DS work and i have always offered to pay for their time. The tutors I had were full time tutors and super busy so any time they had extra, I was always hugely grateful for

If you are expecting the tutor to mark work outside the main lesson time then in principle you should be prepared to pay extra.
The alternative is for the tutor to mark a pupil's work during the lesson time (usually while the pupil is doing another task). This could typically be the first 10-20 mins of a lesson. This can be quite valuable as it provides quick feedback to a student about ways that they can improve their work and their exam grades and also helps the tutor find out quickly if the pupil understands the topic or whether it requires further work. It also gives pupils the opportunity to ask questions on how to improve. Using written feedback on work set a week ago can be quite a slow process and not much different to what happens at school. It could also mean that a tutor has moved onto a new topic when what is needed is further revision.
Some agencies do charge the tutor commission on an hourly basis, so please don't assume that the tutor receives all the money you pay the agency. For some agencies the rate of commission is 5-6 pounds per hour which is significant. However it could also be possible that paying extra for marking would mean that the tutor would have to pay more commission to the agency, so both you and the tutor would need to be careful about this one.

I'm a tutor and I normally charge for setting and marking homework, because it's my professional time. I don't set homework as standard because it's usually not necessary, but if parents specifically request it, yes I charge extra.

Why would you not expect to pay for this?

Really? I just assumed that because DD's other tutors didn't charge for marking, that this was the normal way of doing things. It is good to see other's points of view though.

Thanks for all your feedback.

I normally mark in the session. There are always periods of time (5-10 min) when the student has to work by themself. I can either stare at them, my iPad, or mark something they've worked on in class or for prep. As I do essay subjects - history, politics and English, I also sit next to the student and talk through each bit of the essay and how they can improve, or get them to explore an idea further. I only charge marking for online students, as generally that is part of the online package.

However, due to the nature of my subjects, the fact that I've tutored the subjects for 7 years and have seen nearly every permutation of every question (really, they recycle them - I have a list of all politics questions set from 1980-2013 and they are reworded versions of the same problem year in, year out) and the fact that I'm a university lecturer with a Phd which combined two of those three subjects, I must say I find it ridiculously easy to correct a GCSE or A Level as I go (especially GCSE, for which the required answers barely count as essays in my opinion). This may not be true for other subjects!

Yes, if it was just 5-10 mins which I could do in the session I wouldn't charge extra either. But the OP said this tutor estimated it would take half an hour to an hour to mark. That's quite a lot of time, too much to be unpaid IMO.

The tutors I have used have never set homework.

My DDs Maths tutor sets homework and doesn't charge - BUT the homework is the basis of the lesson, so its marked as they work through it. And the new homework is based on what they've done in the lesson, it used to be relevant sections from the school homework book, now tends to be past papers. If it was an extra then I'd expect him to charge for time.

BTW are you HEing? If not I am wondering why you are paying for tutors in all subjects, and how your DD will cope at University.

Are you home educating?

No, we're not HEing, but DD has her sights set on a very competitive course and we want to ensure we give her the best possible chance of achieving the grades she will need.

Thanks for your feedback regarding homework. It is very interesting to see what others experience. I think I will offer some extra (say 15 mins extra) for marking homework and I hope that the tutor will be able to do the marking in that amount of time.

Sorry but I would be worried that she is not going to be able to cope with the course after so much tutoring.

For example: in my observation of those studying medicine, they need to memorise and understand a lot of quite difficult material. Self-study groups are often the best way to do this, and is what she should be doing.

My ex-Supervisor at Oxford would probably grade your DD down if he knew she had tutors for all subjects (but he was also biased to state school pupils).

It is much harder to find tutors for University level (although I have known people need this in the past).

My DD's tutor marked the homework during the lesson. If she had needed to do it outside the hour, I would have paid her for it.

If you are tutoring her in all her subjects plus asking the tutors to set homework on top of that then either get school is doing something wrong or she's studying the wrong subjects for her. I'm a bit shocked that you are asking her to put in at least 8 hours a week extra study over and above her A Level studies. If she gets on the course she wants will you be having her tutored to they extent throughout her degree too?

I am really shocked at this! How is she going to cope at uni when she'll have to self motivate for everything? :-o

tutors in 5 ASs?! Gosh the poor child. Surely it would have been better to do 4 ASs well.

I think you're setting her up for a lifetime of emotional problems.

Any time spent marking regular homework outside of lesson time should be paid for- or it should be marked in the lesson. Some tutors will be happy to mark the odd piece as a favour, but it could take a long time to mark and annotate a long essay in English for example- an hour would not be unusual.

I agree that if your DD needs this amount of input she will perhaps find it hard to learn independently - unless you are simply hoping to increase her grades by 1 grade for uni admissions.

I think it really depends on the amount they charge. Included in the price, there is preparation for the lesson, right? You don't pay extra for that. I would think marking could be a part of this time outside lesson the payment for which is included in the lesson.

I once had a tutor who would not spend extra minute talking to me or giving me a recommendation of which books my child should read. At the same time, she charged 60 pounds per 1,5 hrs and insisted on having 1.5 hrs and not 1 hr which suited DS much better. Needless to say, we parted ways.