Anyone know about GCSE/A Level tutoring?

[MamaHobgoblin]

And is this the right place to ask, or should I take myself off to Education?

I really need to bring in some income, and it has to be something very part-time, and fit in around DS, who's 16 months. My mum can babysit occasionally, as she lives reasonably close, and I can do evenings. I've been thinking for a while about tutoring or coaching GCSE and A Level students for specific subjects (I can cover Archaeology, Classical Studies, or History, and quite possibly History of Art and probably GCSE level English Literature too).

But I have no idea how people get started, or even if there's a demand for some of those more esoteric subjects. I mean, it's going to matter hugely if your child doesn't pass Maths or English Language, but Archaeology GCSE...?

So how do you get into this? More to the point, am I being naive to assume that having three degrees to PhD level in some of those subject areas, along with a lot of uni teacing experience, is enough, or would I need a PGCE or tutoring qualification as well? (In which case, I think it's a non-starter for me.)

Would be really interested to hear from anyone who's tutored at GCSE or A Level levels in any subject, please - how to get started, what you need, how it went, etc.

TIA!

teaching experience.

Wow, you have way too many degrees

One of my friends tutored Chemistry GCSE and A-level for a bit, she started with the son of a family friend and then got personal recomendations.

Ok, so I should ask around and see if anyone has a teenager who's doing this sort of thing. All my friends have younger children at the moment...

Congratulations on your JOB!

Way back in the mists of time (about 15 years ago now) I used to tutor.

I first did it when I was a postgrad student, then again as a trainee and a new teacher (I'm not a teacher anymore but I was back then for a while).

Initially I worked through an agency - there are various about. They advertise in local papers and parents contact them, then the agency send the details through to you. You pay the agency a cut of your hourly rate.

I also had some word of mouth recommendations.

What parents wanted back then (and were prepared to pay for):
Key skills ie English and Maths at late primary and early secondary level
Prepping for London schools entrance exams

I'd be prepared to put money on that being what they still wanted.

I think I only ever had one A Level student, ever.

HTH.

Dd had an A level maths tutor.

We used a website called personal tutors I think

Paid £25/hr

will google

this one

dd did A level maths a yr early

quite a lot of kids do and lacked confidence -hence the tutoring

I don't know of anyone doing the subjects you mentioned

I think to succeed you need to build up some detailed knowledge of the curriculum of the subjects you want to offer.

In general though, I wouldn't expect you'd get much demand, especially for those subjects. Round here most teachers offer a fair amount of free 'tutoring' themselves to GCSE and A Level students who are prepared to come in after hours for additional help and support with their work.

Tutoring is also something of a seasonal baby. Generally you get some interest around Jan/Feb (when they've just failed their mocks and/or are frantically trying to get the coursework knocked into shape before the deadlines) for a few months, and then little interest.

Thanks - all very interesting!

I suspected that my subjects weren't going to be in high demand! It's just not going to be top priority, getting your child to pass history, is it?