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How do I attract more tutors? no luck so far. Feedback would be great.

Last post 13/04/12 at 16:31 by khru, 17 replies
Post started by teachgeorgie on 29/12/11 at 16:55

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  • teachgeorgie avatar
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    Posted by: teachgeorgie 29/12/2011 at 16:55
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    Hi,

    Hope you can help. I have just started my own tutoring business teaching evenings and weekends and have more students than I can teach as I teach in school in the day. I have had to start a waiting list :-)

    I have tried advertising for more tutors in my local paper to work as self-employed under my company name umbrella but many applicants were not qualified. I don't charge my clients very much as I think tutoring should be affordable and I think this contributed to the problem. Does anyone have any ideas how I could recruit qualified teachers in London for £12 - 15 per 45 minute lesson teaching KS maths and English. NQT's are fine. 

     Are there any websites that you think could help?

    Is £15 for 45 minutes just too low for tutors?

     All constructive advice would be helpful. Before I start a discussion on the merits of tutoring children at that age many of my customers are parents home-schooling their children or children struggling with maths and english.

     

    Thanks

  • dc88 avatar
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    Posted by: dc88 29/12/2011 at 21:01
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    teachgeorgie:

    Hi,

    Hope you can help. I have just started my own tutoring business teaching evenings and weekends and have more students than I can teach as I teach in school in the day. I have had to start a waiting list :-)

    I have tried advertising for more tutors in my local paper to work as self-employed under my company name umbrella but many applicants were not qualified. I don't charge my clients very much as I think tutoring should be affordable and I think this contributed to the problem. Does anyone have any ideas how I could recruit qualified teachers in London for £12 - 15 per 45 minute lesson teaching KS maths and English. NQT's are fine. 

     Are there any websites that you think could help?

    Is £15 for 45 minutes just too low for tutors?

     All constructive advice would be helpful. Before I start a discussion on the merits of tutoring children at that age many of my customers are parents home-schooling their children or children struggling with maths and english.

     

    Thanks

    That is far too little here in the North, so certainly it will be too little in London! I charge £25 per hour and I'm in exactly the same position as you with tutees. £18 for 45 minutes sounds more reasonable and is certainly not expensive for good quality tuition. I don't surmise that many professional teachers will give up their evenings and weekends for £12-15 per 45 mins. Good luck!
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    Posted by: PlymouthMaid 30/12/2011 at 11:39
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    I also think that it is too low. Once you take off tax as well and allow for travel and prep time it really wouldn't be worth it.
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    Posted by: robyn147 30/12/2011 at 15:32
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     Once you get involved in recruiting teachers, you are into company area and I think you come across employment laws. Just a warning.

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    Posted by: Not_1_iota 04/01/2012 at 20:22
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    I have to say, the opening post is completely ridiculous and shows the utter naivety of many teachers as to the value of their professional skills. There are tutors in London who charge £45 per hour for A level tutoring in shortage subjects such as maths and physics, and I know of a retired solicitor charging £50 per hour to help a friend's son with A leve law (what would he charge if it wasn't mates' rates?!!). Group tuition formats such as Kip Mcgrath typically charge £25 PER PUPIL to be one of a class of 5, for a 1 hour 20 minute lesson. That's a gross for the business of £125, subtract the cost of the teacher (typically £30-£33 per session) and premises rental, and the rest is profit. If entire businesses can make juicy profits charging parents £25 for their child to be taught in a class of 5, why would you charge LESS for traipsing all the way to the person's house, and providing an hour's INDIVIDUAL tuition?!!! IT MAKES NO SENSE!!! (and yes I know I am shouting, but I really do think that anyone who charges less than £30 for tuition in the client's home is stupid and needs to be shouted at!) Kip Mcgrath doesn't lower its fees for Key Stage 1 or 2 - these are incredibly high areas of demand and primary teaching is such a specialist skill that there is more pedagogical skill involved than at secondary, if we accept that subject knowledge and pedagogy can be complementary (i.e. the more subject knowledge is a premium the less important pedagogical skills, as the retired solicitor shows). Only a complete *** would, as a qualified teacher, go through the wind and rain for you to pay them £15 for an hour's tuition. Far better would be for them to set up their own website, advertise top-end rates £40+ per hour), list their qualifications and credentials, and make the comparison I have to alternatives there are, and what they cost. If parents can't see that £25 to be one of a group, where the parent does the fetching an carrying, is expensive compared to £40 where the tutor comes to your home and provides INDIVIDUAL tutoring, then they don't value your services enough, so let them go hang. No Kip Mcgrath centre will be lowering their rates to every person who walks through the door with a sob story, otherwise the word would get round and everyone would be putting it on. If I want a mechanic to fix my car, he will charge £60 per hour whether I like it or not; if I want a solicitor to send a threatening letter to someone who owes me money, she will charge me £200 whether I like it or not. Teachers are highly skilled professionals and should stop trying to make up for all the lousy parenting that lazy TV addicts inflict on their children. If you want to change the world, set it up as a social enterprise, go into the tough areas and provide tutoring at cost prices in church halls etc, join the Labour Party, perhaps in 20 years you'll be given an MBE for services to education for the disadvantaged. But don't try kidding us all that it is a business! Rant over
  • JennyMus avatar
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    Posted by: JennyMus 04/01/2012 at 20:49
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    Not_1_iota:
    I have to say, the opening post is completely ridiculous and shows the utter naivety of many teachers as to the value of their professional skills.
    No it doesn't.

    Not_1_iota:
    I really do think that anyone who charges less than £30 for tuition in the client's home is stupid and needs to be shouted at!
    No they don't.

    Have you considered that how much you charge should reflect your skills and experience?

    As a private music teacher I first started charging £15 an hour as a student teacher. Now I charge around £50 an hr which reflects the experience and training I have forgone in 20 yrs. If my students charged the rates you are suggesting when they are opening their practices they would be ripping people off to be quite frank.
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    Posted by: hhhh 04/01/2012 at 21:25
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     The teaching unions apparently recommend no teacher works for less than £25 an hour (from a meeting I attended once). And most teachers get holiday and sick pay. So it does seem low...my friend in the NW who teaches Maths gets £60 ph.
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    Posted by: Ireton 04/01/2012 at 22:17
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     Hi,

    If you are in London it's too low.  If you are trying to get tutors then most won't want to work for that fee when they have to drive/tube/bus across the town.  Plus, you are entering emplyment laws and tax etc etc.  Most of my colleagues who tutor charge between £35 - 50 per hour - the higher end for top notch tuition or for wealthy clients!  I would look to charging £35+ as, if you are seting up a compmnay then surely you are taking some profit. 

    Also, there are many such firms in London catering to the market you may it hard to get on that ladder, but good luck.

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    Posted by: DaisysLot 04/01/2012 at 23:28
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    £20-25 per hour is a reasonable rate, but upwards can be commanded as reasonable for advanced level courses or specific skill related teaching. Remember that tax should be paid on this income and that shortly teachers will come under scrutiny from HMRC as have other professions offering 'moonlight' cash in hand work.
  • puuaauufina avatar
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    Posted by: puuaauufina 07/01/2012 at 21:39
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    In my opinion, though, £15 is waaaay too low for London.  Most people struggle to live here as it is, and if someone is having to do tutoring to supplement their income, I suspect £15 wouldn't be massively attractive to them!  Especially as a couple of trips on the tube/time spent travelling would just about cancel that out.

    Have you posted on the NQT forum on here at all?  You might get some interest there?  If you were keen to keep your prices low - what about student teachers looking for experience?  I think, as someone posted above, people are prepared to pay for experience - be that £15 for someone training or £50 for 25 years experience!

    Not that this bit answers your question at all, but just as an extra comment: I work in in Alternative Provision in a large London Borough Council and we buy in private tutoring for some of our pupils (KS4 only).  We often get asked about home tutors for younger siblings and we always recommend parents go through reputable agencies who interview their tutors and run CRB checks on them (rather than looking online at businesses listing self-employed tutors)  We only use agencies which do that too.  We therefore pay much higher prices for tutors because we can't afford to take any risks.  I know this doesn't help you find teachers, but if you were to go down this route, you could maybe approach Alternative Provision teams for business (who will pay more!) Having said all that, it doesn't sound like you need any more students!

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