Considering becoming a maths tutor. Would anyone parents out there who are looking for tutor be able to tell me if my credentials would be someone they would be someone they would consider hiring as a tutor?

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I am not canvassing for work. I am just starting out on this path and thinking about whether it would work. I still need to put together notes etc and study plans to follow.
just wondering if anyone would pass opinion on if I look like someone they would consider hiring. I am aware my qualification is from a while ago.

I have a mechanical engineering degree from 2002.
my own maths qualifications are all A
i have teenage children of my own who I tutor
i am patient working with children, I have volunteered at primary school
i am pvg checked
I am also planning to complete open university course in how to teach maths

Yeah, it's not going to earn you fortunes. Most people would do it as a side hustle kind of thing.
It's great that you want to do it though. There's never a shortage of need for maths tutoring.
Maybe 11+ as well as older? But for that you need to tutor English and verbal reasoning as well I think. This might be wrong now as I've not been involved in that for 30 years!

Good luck x

I wouldn't to be honest. Teaching is about much more than being good at a subject. Teaching itself is a skill that takes most people time and experience to become good at. You also need a lot of knowledge of exam specifications and courses to prepare students effectively for exams. I dont think it would be fair to set up as a tutor without this knowledge and experience. It isn't something anyone can just do.

That being said, a lot of unqualified people do it so if you were upfront about your background and didn't charge too much you may well find people happy to use you.

I wouldn’t tbh. IMO it’s not the teaching experience, it’s the not having recent experience.
One of my DC’s tutors for GCSE’s had no teaching experience but was in their 2nd yr at Uni. They were really good! Went over exam technique’s, good understanding of the curriculum & revision.
My concern would be how much the exams have changed between then & now.
It might work with slightly younger children but the change rate would then be lower or if there was some kind of bridging course/cert, I maybe then would consider it along with the volunteering you’ve mentioned.

I’ve hired tutors for my kids. I filter for qualified teachers - as they know the curriculum, syllabus and what examiners are looking for. Many have been examiners themselves. Other tutors I’ve chosen are PhD MSc in the subject I’m looking at, having not long done the qualification I want them to tutor.

So you would hire someone to tutor your child maths on the basis that they achieved an a level in maths 25 plus years ago? Ok

Are you in England or Scotland? You mentioned a Scottish tutoring company?

My husband tutors Nat5/Higher maths as a side hustle - not for any tutoring company.
He's GTCS registered - big draw for parents providing your registration number that they can check
Works at a FE college as a manager
Used to be a secondary maths teacher/FE engineering lecturer
He gets £30 an hour from multiple students

You need to know all the recent past papers (whether that's Nat5 GCSE or whatever), be able to tell students more than one way of working out a problem, be able to tell them why this question is only 4 marks despite being a full page of work, that sort of thing, and that really only comes from working as a teacher.

Of course maths knowledge has a use by date! It's the same as any other academic subject. It doesn't mean that OP can't refresh and learn it again but I make a bet if she walked into even a year 1 course in Engineering maths today she'd struggle (assuming she hasn't been using the maths since, which seems to be what she's saying).

I don't know if I'd pass an Alevel maths exam today (I certainly wouldn't pass well), but when I was 18 I would expect to get close to 100%. I am confident that a month of study (maybe less) could get me back there, but that doesn't mean I'd hire me to tutor someone in Alevel maths today.

Just to add -- although my maths qualifications were never looked at or scrutinised, some people did care about the enhanced DBS. Some charity tutoring agencies will arrange this for you when you join.

It's true that, on taking up tutoring, I needed some practice to get up to scratch plus the course had changed in places (no complex numbers, more questions on statistics), there's a huge amount of helpful material on the exam board websites which is freely available. This includes marking schemes for past papers where they explain in great detail possible solutions, how they give marks, and what students may lose marks for. It's not a mystery, it's not hidden. You really don't need to have worked in a school (I never have) to find out the necessary information and do a good and professional job, and really help students.

With the greatest respect you are not ready to be a tutor.

£12 per hour is less than minimum wage, that screams to me that you are not paying tax and NI and probably don't have any insurance.

I would say you need a teaching qualification, even something like a Level 3 Award in Education and Training that takes a couple of weeks would be better than nothing.

You will also need an enhanced DBS.

How much time do you have available to volunteer? Schools are struggling to get teachers and using a lot of unqualified or TA staff so if you can volunteer regularly you might get something directly with a school.

Organisations working with asylum seekers often want volunteers.

This is a great point. Yes, a school would accept you as a volunteer and if you went in at GCSE level, you'd very quickly pick up the content and structure of the curriculum. Plus, they'd probably get a DRB for you, at which point you could pay to be on the update service, which would mean you'd always be covered.

Sorry OP but I wouldn’t employ you either. When I was looking for a maths tutor I wanted someone who was not only a teacher but also taught the exam board my daughter was sitting. If they had examining experience of that exam board too that was a bonus.

I have a maths degree and also a heavily maths based PhD; both from 20+ years ago. So better and more relevant qualifications than the OP.

My DS took A Level maths a couple of years ago. There was some maths I'd never done as the curriculum had changed and a lot of maths that I'd forgotten how to do to the required level. And plenty of questions where I wanted to solve them using techniques that weren't covered by A Level.

OP's degree only shows that he is numerate and has the aptitude to do maths. Having taught some UG engineering students as a postgrad, I would not even assume that his maths ability was at a high level. A mech eng degree is otherwise irrelevant for A Level teaching. He would probably be fine with primary and lower secondary school students.

I'm currently paying for a maths tutor and no I wouldn't use you. What I looked for is someone who knows the marking criteria and has taught the subject at the relevant level.

No, I wouldn’t consider you as a tutor personally. Whilst it’s clear you obviously have a good grasp of math, that doesn’t necessarily translate into being a capable teacher. I’d be more interested in someone with a background in education and teaching if I were looking for a tutor for my children.

I have a maths tutor for my son who is doing A level maths and further maths and is hoping to study maths at uni. The main thing I was looking for is teaching/tutoring experience at this level, specifically in Maths and Further Maths, and for my son who has ADHD, experience of working with students with SEN. I definitely would expect someone to have detailed knowledge of the curriculum, marking scheme etc. I’d rather pay higher rates for someone with the right qualifications. His current tutor is a Maths secondary school teacher with lots of experience. My son is great at maths with lots of natural talent for it but due to his ADHD his actual academic performance in exams can be a bit all over the place, and the entry requirements for decent uni maths courses are a reasonably high bar hence the tutoring.

I think you have a great sort of background already for something like eleven plus tutoring though and would have considered someone with your background for pre-GCSE maths tutoring.

And the OU course will help for sure but I agree with others familiarity with the curriculum would help a lot so volunteering in schools first is a great idea.

Out of interest why don’t you want to teach mechanical engineering?

I’m interested in this thread, I’ve sometimes thought I’d really enjoy tutoring for eleven plus but I also have no teaching experience (I have a medical degree but am fed up being a doctor so looking for other options!)

I would be looking at someone to get my child through GCSE or a level and so I would want someone experienced in teaching those subjects.

Yes, do this, or cheaply first and then get glowing references and any way you can verify eg scired 4/20 on year 4 assessment at start and after a term with me scored 18/20

Very good idea schools are finding it so hard to recruit TAs now

I'm going to go against the grain here and say it it isn't teaching experience that is the most important thing, it's working knowledge of the spec and exam questions.
I live in an 11+ county and the most in demand tutor is a solicitor, no experience of teaching at all. She charges much more than the actual teacher tutors, you have to buy the books and mark the homework yourself, but she has a massive waiting list and loads of self confidence.

Exactly this.

My children both have maths tutors, one child is very able at maths, but has ADHD and works so much better 1:1. His tutor really connects with him and he’s coming on really well.

my other son is doing GCSE’s and really wants a 9, he has a different tutor who is working on the grade 8/9 questions with him as he doesn’t feel the school cover this well enough.

the problem you have is that for both I was really looking for in depth curriculum knowledge.