private tutoring - hourly rate?

[kitkatsforbreakfast]

Does anyone here use a private tutor? Or is a tutor?

I'm thinking about doing some private tutoring. I am a qualified primary teacher, so would offer maths and literacy tutoring. But I don't know how much to charge. Some websites suggest around £15 ph, but I know some people are paying £35-40 ++ ph. I don't want to be greedy and price myself out of the market, but nor do I want to work for well below market rate.

I have a few leads on people who want tutoring already, and they've asked me to name their price.

I used to tutor but the deal was that the mother looked after my children while I taught her ds. I then charged £10 ph, but it was a different situation, and amongst friends.

Any ideas?

Yes, I have professional indemnity, public liability and employers liability insurance. I travel to students, which means I require class 1 business use on my car insurance (an extra £100/year and that's with more than 9 years no claims), I also have to factor in payment to a pension scheme because I don't have an employer, and if I need time off, I need to make sure I've saved enough to pay for it because I don't get paid holiday pay. Ditto sick pay etc. All this has to be factored into the price and therefore a reputable one-to-one tutor is unlikely to be able to afford to charge rock bottom prices. If they do, corners will be cut somewhere.

Where people can't afford one to one tuition, small group tuition (usually 3 or 4 to one) can be an affordable alternative. You still get that extra help and support, but at a more affordable rate because the price is shared between more people.

As steppemum has stated, low ability doesn't mean cheaper. I find I have to prepare much more for low ability students than for ones who will get it first time.

Thats very expensive - we have DS's teacher from last year and she only charges £10 for the hour

I very much suggest that she's doing that as back pocket cash, not declared for tax, etc., and that she won't have insurance etc. I.e. doing it as a "favour" rather than as a business.

People doing it properly, legally and above board won't be able to charge so little.

£40 and hour. 11+Maths tutoring. Not a teacher, a medical student infact but bloody good.

Hi
I have recently starting private Spanish tuition and am charging £30 an hr for 1:1 (for adults). I have done GCSE tuition and charged £30 an hr for that too. Def think £15 per hr is cheap! I'm based in Surrey.

11+ tutor in Lancashire - £25 per hour and they come to our house.

£40 per hour.

A Level £50 per hour and GCSE £30 per hour. Pay in advance, no quibbling. Make sure any homework set by me is completed otherwise your are wasting my time. I have a waiting list.

The tables on this link are a useful guide for different subjects and different areas of the UK. Hope this is helpful.
www.personal-tutors.co.uk/tutor-rates.html

I pay £30 an hour for DD's Spanish tuition.

Luckily I do not need to use an agency like catslife's posting to find clients

I am not recommending this agency goeasy. The rates shown are useful as a guideline.
The rates you charge would be too high in may areas of the country.

It really varies depending on your experience in teaching. I suggest not to charge very much if you are new as it becomes like learning for yourself. But if you have experience or students who have achieved great results in their exams or made great progress as a result of your support then you can charge between £30 to £50 ph again depending how many years of experience you’ve got, what subject, what year etc.
Teaching and Tutoring is not just about teaching a subject and getting paid, it’s about the impact you can have on a child’s learning life. It’s really rewading.

We paid £25 / half hour for 11+ tutoring in Kent but talking to other parents this was considered quite cheap!

My non-teacher friends used to charge £20 an hour at uni but that was on an extremely casual basis, cash in hand and no teaching experience. Others who did more official set ups charged more than that, despite still having no teaching qualifications- but would have all had A*s/university level studies in what they taught.

I tutor GCSE Sciences and Alevel Biology in the North East. £25 for GCSE and £28 for A-level. Have all the proper insurance and do everything by the book. I have a waiting list too, so clearly not over charging.

Wow I should tutor! I've left teaching and was looking at minimum wage work!

Forgot to say, I'm Not a qualified teacher, but have a degree, Ph.D and undergrad teaching experience.

I pay £108 per month for 4 one hour lessons (I'm in Devon!) for DD15...thank god it's only until May or I'd be bankrupt what with nursery fees too...

Wow I should tutor! I've left teaching and was looking at minimum wage work!

A lot of people also say that about gardening, cleaning, etc., but soon realise the reality. The difference is that with "a job" you get paid for all the time you spend. Whereas with self employment, you have a lot of unpaid time, such as administration, driving to customers' homes, time spent on advertising/marketing, meetings with the accountant. Then of course the extra costs, such as insurance, travelling, accountancy fees, stationery, computer, books, subscriptions, etc.

For my job, as a self employed accountant, I charge for about half the time I actually work, so my "charge out rate" is automatically halved. Then out of that, my overheads eat up another half, so my real "wage" is a quarter of my charge out rate. This is typical of many self employments - I have a spreadsheet which I go through with new clients to pop in the unchargeable time and overheads, and it usually ends up between a quarter and a half of the charge out rate being the actual hourly rate!

So, given minimum wage at £7.50, a charge out rate of £30 per hour isn't going to be too far from the mark as an equivalent to cover the non chargeable time you'll have to work and all associated costs, such as travel, phone, professional fees, insurance, computing, stationery, books/subscriptions, etc.

I'm well aware of what it's like being self employed! But I Didn't realise the difference between minimum wage work and tutoring was so high. I genuinely need to look into it as I miss actual teaching but dont want to teach in school again and had assumed it wouldn't pay for itself!

Ok, so opinions needed.... I am a HLTA for a primary school in Wiltshire. I am just about to be made redundant. I have 15 years experience of whole class, small group and 1:1 teaching with a main focus of maths. Whilst I am not qualified above O level, I am obviously up to date with the curriculum and methods of working.
I have been approached by a parent asking if I would tutor her daughter in maths.
Given this info, do you think I should charge a low rate of £15ph to start with. I know a degree or similar is obviously more desirable but do you think it is still reasonable for me to tutor?

Change in direction, if the parent has approached you themselves, then fair enough.

I know a degree or similar is obviously more desirable but do you think it is still reasonable for me to tutor?

Out in the self employed world, qualifications are less important. What really will enable you to grow your new business would be your track record, personal recommendations, etc. If you do a good job for your first pupil, hopefully their parents will recommend you to others, and so it goes on. Likewise, your results - once you've been established a while, you can shout your success stories, i.e. "100% 11+ success", or "90% grades C and above for GCSE tuition", etc. Personal service business, such as tutoring, but also the likes of tradespeople, driving instructors, etc., grow their businesses on recommendation. Advertising/marketing is a factor, but it's harder to compete against everyone else advertising - a personal recommendation is always going to be easier to convert to a client. One of my clients is an 11+ tutor - he never advertises - nothing at all, no website, no facebook, and he's even ex-directory in the phone book - he's completely invisible. Yet he's booking in pupils 2/3 years in advance because he is always fully booked, purely on the back of personal recommendations from parents of previous pupils.

Hi,
I am looking for a tutor in the SE15 area for my daughter who is in year 5 for the 11+

Any suggestions?
Thanks so much!

Compare what some tutors are charging with what one would pay a plumber for an hour's labour!