Academic looking to retrain - private tutor vs secondary school teacher?

[ritatherockfairy]

So, I'm a part-time university lecturer (Russell Group). Personal circumstances mean that I need to increase my income to support myself and two children. I have looked at retraining as a teacher - would probably be secondary school as my subject is in high demand. However, I happen to live in an area of the country where there is high demand for tutors both for 11+ and for GCSEs/A Levels. I was wondering if tutoring is a realistic alternative for me to look at? One advantage in my mind is that I could continue with my lecturing and hopefully pick up some clients even before I gain formal teaching qualifications. Anyone out there making a living from lecturing/tutoring?

I'm a qualified teacher and I'm a home school tutor, tutoring kids that can't cope in mainstream. I love it and I hated being a classroom teacher.
I think the problem with after school tutoring is that you cannot do it full time as there are a limited amount of hours that kids will come to your lessons.

Hi Joopy - that's really interesting as I was getting ahead of myself and thinking that if I did tutor then I'd like to feel I was doing something worthwhile (unfortunately, I see the results of kids that have been tutored all the way into university and then find they can't cope). The part time could work with my existing hours at College.

I am not sure many people would hire a tutor who had no (school) teaching experience , as that is really vital to understand specs, demands of new GCSEs, A Levels etc and how children learn. Silly as that may sound. Most tutors are current or ex teachers. Especially if you are in a buyers' market. You could possibly pick up A Level tutoring , or university entrance tutoring but there is less demand for that.

I may be wrong there, but that's my instinctive reaction.

I teach secondary and tutor- shortage subject.

Tutoring is limited as it’s only after school hours or weekends which impacts on when you see your own children.

Realistically you can tutor from 4:30-8:30pm in an evening- that’s 3 clients with travelling time in between. If you did that 5 nights a week you would be making about £375 a week (3 x £25 x5). However it would take you a while to build your client base and you would need to be self employed and pay tax and NI on that. A lot of mine over the years have come from recommendations so building the client base can be slow at first, especially if you are not qualified.

I only do a few hours a week now and just for family and friends.

I just want to correct the amount that the previous poster put. It depends where you are. In London for instance, for high demand subjects, your hourly rate would be much more. Especially if you work through one of the top agencies. My hourly rate is £55. I have been doing it a long time, but it is something you could build to. I agree with the hours posted as being after school hours and weekends. However, there are more and more opportunities for day time work for home educated children - particularly for exam subjects.

@Wiifitmama yes true in London you could earn much more.

I’m East Midlands and charge £25 for GCSE and £30 for A-level; that seems to be the going rate here.