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Get together with other private tutors in the TES Tutors Group. Read advice on the best way to get into private tuition, how to set yourself up as a tutor, what rates to charge and much more.

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Personal Tutors. Outpricing and undercutting..Tutoring on the cheap. Or?

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    Had a look at the Personal Tutors/ German tutoring website for tutors in my area and they vary from £26 an hour (for a HOD and Language teacher) to £9 an hour for someone (a student) to tutor German. For an hour!

    Just seems that they are undercutting one another. The charges per hour just get lower and lower..On the one web page..

    I am a specialist German teacher who is bilingual (come from a German family) (BA Hons), PGCE, M.Phil) with 17 years secondary experience (GCSE and "A"Level).  Have a track record of excellent results.

    Am thinking of charging £25 for "A"Level German and GCSE German. 

    Is that too much? Or should I set the benchmark a lot lower to compete with the others on the site? 

    Just think that it is worth paying that bit more for a qualified teacher and quality. 

    I am based in south Birmingham/ W. Midlands.



    [edited by: Ostpreussen at 18:04 (GMT 0) on 21-4-2012]
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     I agree. Monkeys and peanuts spring to mind. You get what you pay for

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     Stick to your plans. By the sound of it, you're worth it. My wife charges £25-28 for A level History.

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    I tutor A level biology. I charge more than £25 per hour and have an established reputation and I get results. I have a son struggling with KS2 English and I pay a tutor more than I charge. I could engage a local tutor (an undergraduate) for less than half of my rate but I choose not to. The bottom line is that you get what you pay for. If you are worth a higher rate then hold out and your reputation will prove that you deserve it in the long run.
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     I tutor Maths and Science GCSE and A Level - I agree with the last post  - I charge £25 an hour for A Level and this works very well. 

    I have plenty of work and have had to turn down a student in the last week as I do not have any time to fit him in!

    I have tutored for a while so some of these come from recommendations

    I do agree though - as with any self-employed job - that you get what you put in and it can take some time

       

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    I do wish Personal Tutors would state the rate you charge rather than giving a price range to the parent. It gives the parent false hope that they will get tutoring of my quality for half the money!

     

     

     

     

     

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     I agree - it is absurd that they quote so low a rate, especially when you consider that they take £5.10 for every lesson! Parents often express shock when I tell them what I charge, saying 'But the agency says...'

     For my subject and area - English, in London - they  quote about £31 an hour. If I charged that, I would be making less than I pay my cleaner; each lesson requires an hour of preparation and / or marking, so that would be £31 -PT fee £5.10 = £25.90, so per hour = £12.95. Cleaners in London get £15 an hour. So that would be £2.05 less than a cleaner, for someone with 22 years' experience and a D Phil.

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    trickywu

     I agree - it is absurd that they quote so low a rate, especially when you consider that they take £5.10 for every lesson! Parents often express shock when I tell them what I charge, saying 'But the agency says...'

     For my subject and area - English, in London - they  quote about £31 an hour. If I charged that, I would be making less than I pay my cleaner; each lesson requires an hour of preparation and / or marking, so that would be £31 -PT fee £5.10 = £25.90, so per hour = £12.95. Cleaners in London get £15 an hour. So that would be £2.05 less than a cleaner, for someone with 22 years' experience and a D Phil.

     

    Perhaps if the agency's cut was pro rata rather than a flat fee, then they would have little incentive to quote the lower end of the price range?

     

    DB

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