Would you consider a private tutor?

[SonNotMum]

Hi, basically I am a son not a mum :oso answering the sign up question of am i pregnant was quite easy!

Anyway i am a student at University and am doing a module where we have to create a fictitious business. Mine was around home tutoring services for children done by high achieving graduates opposed to old retired teachers which you often see now a days.

I am not sure on the policy of mumsnet so hopefully i am not contravening them , but if i post a couple of questions I would really love to hear your thoughts on this. It would help me no end, it really would. I can prove I am not some random spammer or what not so please dont just delete on a whim.

Thanks for reading.

1. Do you have children currently in Primary/ Secondary education and if so which?

2. Have you ever considered using a home tutor for additional help for your children outside of school?

3. If yes to Q.2, what were the things you were looking for in a tutor, and what was it that either made you take the tutor or not?

4. If I were to start a tutor service provided by high achieving university graduates would you be interested?

5. What would you consider to be the most important selling points to attract you?

6. It is possible for us to provide tutoring on topics children are finding hard throughout the year, as well as preparing them for their whole exam which would therefore involve a greater amount of lessons. Which of these services would you be most likely to use?

7. Would guaranteeing that all Graduates were CRB checked make any difference to you seeing as currently there is no law to stipulate self-employed tutors need to be CRB checked?

8. What is the most you would be willing to pay for an hour of tutoring?

9. How many hours a week would you want a tutor for?

10. Would you expect a tutor to travel to you?

11. If no to question 10 how far would you be willing to travel?

12. Hopefully the idea of having a graduate ran tutoring service appeals to you. If there is anything I might find of interest that hasn?t been asked above then please feel free to leave your feedback and thoughts below.

Not a mum (yet - 1 week to go) but I am a tutor. I think you need to consider your market more carefully, as a tutor I challenge your idea that most tutors are old retired teachers rather than well-qualified graduates. I am 31, have a PhD from a Russell Group University and 6 years teaching experience with 3 years experience examining for one of the major boards. Most tutors I know are the same as me, early-mid career teachers. Your other questions.... Sometimes I travel to them, they sometimes come to me it depends on their location and my commitments. Most mums I come across want someone who knows their subject and the requirements of the exam boards rather than just someone well qualified in the subject. Mostly see students for 1h a week, sometimes 2h a fortnight. Prices around here vary from £20-35 an hour depending on supply/demand in the subject. Most demand is for high status subjects like maths and English GCSE and also sciences and maths at A-level eg, where students are holding offers for things like medicine. Hope this helps with your research.

My daughter is currently being tutored for her A level Biology...

Tutor is young, high achieving grad from a Russel Group Uni, she is only 29 now and has been tutoring pretty much since she graduated!..

As it happens the tutor sites I looked at had mostly young graduates/those doing masters/PhDs.. very few tutors were middle aged/retired.. the market is alive and well already.

Most of the tutors we looked at do help for resits as well as help with the current course.. most students I know (several of DD's friends are also being tutored) do an hour a week.. too expensive to do more. We may pay for extra just prior to the resit exam.

Most important as far as I was concerned was that the tutor was up to speed with the exam board my DD is sitting.

We tried a traditional tutor first but didn't care much for him, and switched to an online tutor... done via skype with documents emailed before hand. It has worked brilliantly for my DD, no travel expenses , no journey time, working from her own bedroom:) DD has improved massively since she started.

CRB not an issue with my DD being an A level student but would probably insist on one for face to face tuition with a younger child.

Cost.. exorbitant!!

thank you very much for your feedback, i really appreciate it.

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