Tutoring – getting your money’s worth
Does your child really needs a tutor?
The simple truth is that tutors aren’t always necessary and the best in show will tell you so.
Tutors come into their own when it comes to plugging specific gaps – where, for example, a child has missed a lot of school, is preparing for a vital exam or needs a maths, science or history top up when a topic didn’t quite stick first time round. Tutoring can be great for students with a specific learning difficulty too.
But if students are too young, aren’t happy with the idea of tutoring, the goals are unrealistic or they are learning well without a tutor, you’ll be wasting your money.
Worse still, the tutoring could have a detrimental effect, with your child being pushed beyond their limits and/or getting the message that they are failing at something they’re not. This won’t be helped if you wind up with a bad tutor (yes, they exist) or one that teaches a completely different way of solving, say maths problems, than their own teacher.
What are the motives of the tutoring firm?
Sure, some tutors (often the best ones, in our opinion) either had a rocky ride with the school system themselves or are natural teachers who started helping out their friends at primary school and never looked back.
Others, however, may have different motives. Well-connected young things with no teaching experience who suddenly decide to open a bijou tutor agency in an affluent area might, it’s true, be overwhelmed by a sudden need to make the world a better (educated) place. There again, they might prioritise other things like nurturing a bonny, bouncing bank balance over your child’s educational needs.
Do go with your gut feeling
First impressions count for a lot. The tutor firm’s carpet may be so deep that you could row across it to the reception desk but if you’re treated like a nuisance when you get there, move on swiftly.
When you’re about to entrust them with the most precious thing in your life, a lack of civility doesn’t bode well for the relationship.
Do be wary of guarantees
Do not trust any tutor or tutor company that assures you that your child will get a place at their first-choice senior school on the back of their tutoring.
Even if a child is bright, there may be unforeseen risks such feeling off-colour on exam day – and there’s also the sheer weight of competition. In some cases, there will be over 10 children sitting for one place.
Bottom line – if your tutor tells you your money comes with a guarantee of a school place, ask yourself how that’s really possible.
Get updates from the tutor
Sure, your child may have needed a maths tutor when you signed up a year ago. But do they still need one now? Only use tutors that give you regular updates, either in person at the end of each session or in writing every month or so.
And don’t give in to generic statements – find out exactly where your child has improved, what they still need to work at and always make sure your tutor is working towards specific goals.
More expensive = better?
If ‘reassuringly expensive, no matter what’ is the mantra that works for you, skip this bit. But, having reviewed over 50 tutor agencies, we can tell you that some of the cheaper tutors are brilliant and some of the pricier simply aren’t.
If you’re using a tutor agency, find out what cut they take from your fee. If it starts to nudge half or over what you’re paying, ask yourself if you feel that’s fair on the tutor and how that might affect their morale and loyalty to the company.
Be prepared to pay more for subjects where there’s a shortage of tutors – and for more niche subjects. In niche branches of STEM subjects, for example, some tutors charge a small fortune that reflects their area’s rarity value and their depth of learning (well, wouldn’t you?).
Ask other parents in your area what they’re paying. We’ve encountered a trend for tutors to base their charges on whatever they think the market will bear (and in London and the South East, where competition for school places is fiercest, that’s a lot). Knowing local costs should help you work out if you’re paying too much.
Online tutoring
Online tutoring sessions can provide excellent value for money, as well as being hugely popular with children, especially teenagers.
Particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, you can get online tutors in pretty much any subject and at any level – and it should cost less than in person tutoring.
For more information, see our article on online tutoring.
Do sweat the small stuff
Even if you’ve snapped up the best GCSE maths or science tutor in the area, save cracking open a celebratory bottle until you’ve read the small print.
Are travel costs extra? Will you still be charged if little Johnny is ill or you’re running late? Does the price include regular progress reports? And if you’re asked to pay for a block of lessons upfront, be clear about your right to call the whole thing off if you find your child just doesn’t like them.
Don’t pay for unnecessary extras
Choosing a tutor is not like buying a new car. Which is why we urge parents to take a step back if tutor firms bust a gut to push you into expensive, go faster extras, like screening tests you haven’t asked for, revision sessions or holiday courses.
‘The tutor we got for my dyslexic 9-year-old daughter insisted on a £300 assessment before starting lessons,’ one parent told us. ‘She spent a couple of hours with her, the report took weeks to arrive and when it did, it was a cut-and-paste job (from dyslexia websites). It felt like an unnecessary cost.’
