Maths tuition

[Mathsisfun]

Hi all,

Looking for a wee bit of advice.

I am a maths teacher with 16 years experience, I’ve marked for the sqa and would count myself as a very experienced and knowledgeable teacher. However due to family circumstances I now work part time and we are a bit tight for money.

I’m thinking about setting up a wee tutoring business to keep us going but would find it difficult to commit to regular weekly sessions due to circumstances mentioned above.

So I wondered if there would be much of a market for “masterclass” sessions? My idea would be to run a session for a couple of hours on, say, a Saturday morning with a specific topic. For example “Higher Maths Straight Line” or “National 5 Maths Quadratics” etc.

Is there anyone here who has children in certificate classes who might think this is a good (or not so good!) idea?

I would love a bit of feedback on this.

Also, what would you be willing to pay for a 2 hour session with maybe 6-8 pupils (if I could generate that amount of interest)?

Thank you so much!

You could join 'first tutors' and offer tutoring through there. Not the way you propose but to prepare kids for their exams. There will be great demand for tutors once people get their prelim results. I myself am getting a tutor for DDs English and Chemistry through that site as she's struggling with these. She doesn't need anyone for Maths (touch wood) as she got an A in the prelim!

PS I would prefer 121 tuition and the norm for these are £30-40 if the tutor is a qualified and practising teacher with knowledge of the current curriculum. I'd be annoyed if it was a group session as some kids are shy and others may need a bit more help than others. How can you help them if there's a group?

Thanks @TinyChancer
Unfortunately I can’t commit to weekly sessions due to family circumstances so I can’t do 121. I was thinking more about wee group sessions that people could sign up for specific topics they are struggling with.
With a small group I could do a bit of chalk and talk,highlighting what the sqa are looking for to hit the marks,then a wee group exercise (maybe start off with one of these to break the ice actually) then some individual tasks. Basically like a wee lesson we would have in school but with a lot less pupils and no disruptions!
I have done 121 tutoring before with great success but unfortunately just can’t commit atm.

My DCs schools offered free *masterclasses" similar to what you suggest weekly from January to May with a whole day revision classes in Easter holidays. Thus uptake in my area would be very limited.

@SandyIrvine
Thank you. The school I work in also does this but they are run on the same nights as other subjects so pupils cannot always attend as many as they would like to.
Maybe other schools are better organised than ours, it wouldn’t surprise me 🤣

Personally, if ds was struggling, I wouldn't look at this format. I would be looking for weekly 121 sessions for the obvious reasons - build relationship/trust, focussed on his ability and gaps, continuity, being able to plan a study timetable around our own commitments.

A one off session on a specific topic would not be of interest. You also cannot guarantee no disruptions, it would be very easy for one child to take all your focus.

@BrokenWing This is very true.
Thank you for your insight. I’ll knock that idea on the head then I think!

I agree with what others have said, but would question why individual tutoring wouldn’t work for you. You say you can’t commit to weekly sessions, but could you do some other frequency, or be available more sporadically but answer email questions regularly and arrange short phone calls or video calls.

My dd is in S2 and you should think at offering sessions at this age her year are really behind in maths as they missed so much in p6 and 7. In S1 they were working on the same workbooks that my dd in p6 was working on. Myself and a group of dds friends parents are hoping to get a tutor in the new year to boost their confidence and for some consolidation.

There is a definite market for this but I'd say for the classes it's time dependent - you are going to get a lot of interest from January - April when exams are looming. I know a company here ran similar sessions in the Easter holidays, smaller groups of 4-6 students who were all prepping for Nat 5 / Higher.