Tag Archive: tutor

1. Setting Up a Tutoring Business in 2024 – Step 1: The Why?

   4 June 2024 7:51 pm Leave a Comment

   So, You’re Considering Setting Up a Tutoring Business?

   With plenty of head-scratching questions filling your head, potential knots in your stomach and friends, family, and colleagues questioning your sanity…

   It makes complete sense to do some research!

   But where do you begin? You’re probably eager to see how to price up your services and bag your first paying tutee. However, it’s important to take a sensible approach and reflect on one simple question:

   Why are you looking to set up a tutoring business?

   The “Why” To Setting Up Your Own Tutoring Business

   If you’re reading this article, there’s a good chance you are considering opting for a different career path to the one that you’re currently on. Whether that is leaving the teaching profession, entering the education sector for the first time, or simply wanting to gather inspiration for setting up a small business to call your own, the chances are your current job isn’t quite fulfilling your needs.

   So, why consider setting up a tutoring business? That’s really what you, and only you, need to answer. Nobody else will know exactly how your current circumstances are influencing your feelings and decisions.

   Helping To Answer Your Why

   Let’s have a look at some of the common reasons to enter the tuition game and hopefully provide you with more answers than questions!

   We each have our own perspective on life. On how we should manage our work-life balance and how we would ideally like to spend our valuable time.

   If you’re looking to start a tutoring business to have more free time, then you’re in for a shock! Of course, it all depends on your current workload, what your expectations are going into this process and how big (or small) you want your potential empire to be.

   Like any other start-up, a serious amount of time and effort needs to go into the early stages. Especially to get things off the ground initially. Plus, learning things that may be completely alien to you – such as business taxes and registering a company – takes time. Gov.uk is a great place to start. However, if you’re already familiar with that sort of jargon (or do friends’ tax returns as a hobby) then you can discount some of this time. However – if you have never run a tutoring business before, you’ll still need to dedicate a period of time to better understanding the profession. You will want to consider it’s need in your local area, the size of the opportunity in your location (unless you’re considering online tuition, which somewhat negates this) and the business model you intend to follow.

   “I want to be my own boss!” – a great idea in practice, but have you considered the implications involved with being the boss? Whether you plan on being a solopreneur or scale up to a full-blown operation consisting of hundreds of employees, the major decisions, headaches, and angst will rest on your shoulders. It’s not all doom and gloom of course. Ultimately, you’re in charge (to as much of an extent as is possible) of your professional fate. You get to decide who to hire and fire. You get to decide what the company culture will grow in to. And you get to pick the subjects and services that are offered to your students.

   Are you perhaps looking to move away from the ironically playground-esque staffroom politics within your current teaching role? It’s certainly a good enough reason to leave, but is it the reason for setting up a tutoring business? If you want to avoid the drama, but remain in education, would supply work offer a better solution?

   Found Your Answer?

   Hopefully by reading till this point, you have made some progress with reflecting on your why. Don’t be too stressed if you feel no further to discovering your why – there is no right or wrong answer. Besides, it doesn’t need to be a defined mission statement with which to base your entire business plans around.

   Make sure that, when you have identified your ‘why?’, it is strong enough to make the plunge worthwhile. There is nothing worse than dipping your toes in, failing, and then berating yourself for your business’ shortcomings.

2. How to Instil the Importance of Exams Upon Your Students

   26 April 2024 11:57 am Leave a Comment

   How do you instil the importance of exams upon your students without putting the fear of God into them?

   This conundrum is one of the biggest challenges facing teachers today in the classroom.

   It’s a real problem because of 3 factors: the nature of teenage life, human nature in general, and the nature of schools.

   The Nature of Teenage Life

   Young people, it’s worth remembering, go through a lot of change and upheaval during their teenage years. Their bodies are developing; their emotions and minds are developing; and they are beginning to find themselves and their identity.

   There’s a lot going on, a lot to handle, and an awful lot to deal with during your teenage years.

   Not least the pressure of exams.

   Human Nature

   The psychology behind our actions and behaviour is extremely complex. However, when it comes down to it – in certain aspects – human nature is really straightforward.

   When we are faced with pressure, some people seem to thrive on it – even seeing it as some kind of incentive. In essence, we rise to the challenge.

   On the flipside, many of us seem to do the opposite when faced with pressure. We find it really difficult to cope with. In essence, we buckle under the challenge.

   That can manifest itself in several different ways. We might try to deny the importance of something or put off dealing with the issue head-on – kind of hoping that whatever it is that is causing us the pressure or stress will somehow magically go away.

   Which, of course, it never does.

   Part of our ability to deal with challenges in our lives comes from experience.

   This makes dealing with pressure especially challenging for teenagers. For more help understanding what’s going on inside the teenage brain, check out this BBC article.

   The Nature of Schools

   Schools exist under the lingering and looming threat of Ofsted. Not only that, schools are at also the mercy of government decisions and education budgets. All of this piles pressure onto schools.

   Under constant pressure to continually improve exam results, the pressure school leadership teams feel feeds down to curriculum team and subject leaders. This, in turn, is passed onto classroom teachers.

   And – you’ve guessed it – teachers then pass this pressure down to their students.

   Teachers are feeling it, so the students they teach feel it too.

   It is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken.

   So, What’s the Solution?

   In all honesty, there are probably at least another couple of blogs waiting to get out (possibly even a book!) on this topic. We’ve actually posted another blog ourselves on the matter. But to keep things short and sweet here, let’s leave it with this:

   Just because exams are important doesn’t mean that we have to talk about them all the time.

   We don’t have to mention exams in every lesson or every assembly.

   Learning, exam preparation, and performance in exams all have a process. Refine those processes and have faith in them.

   Think how an athlete responds after a disappointing result or performance. They don’t panic or make any knee-jerk reactions; they trust in the process that got them there in the first place.

   Trust in the process is the key.

3. Why is PPA Time Important on a Teacher’s Timetable?

   17 April 2024 12:07 pm Leave a Comment

   It doesn’t really matter what stage of their career they are at – PGCE student or veteran with 20 years of experience in the classroom – all teachers will agree on one thing…

   There is just simply never enough time!

   There is never enough time to do all the work you have to do. There’s never enough time to do all the work you think you have to do. And there’s definitely never enough time to do all the work you’d like to do.

   And it doesn’t matter how much you try to work smarter rather than harder.

   It never seems to make any difference.

   That’s why PPA time is so important on a teacher’s timetable.

   What is PPA and What is it for?

   Planning, preparation, and assessment (PPA). This time is a statutory entitlement for all teachers in England and Wales who work under the STPCD (School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.) Therefore, it applies to most teachers who work in state schools.

   PPA time is non-contact time that is allocated on a teacher’s weekly timetable. The statutory requirement is that PPA should amount to at least 10% of their teaching timetable. The National Education Union has more resources on their website if you want to find out even more about PPA.

   During the allocated PPA time, teachers cannot be directed by school leaders or managers to do any particular tasks. Teachers should be free to use the time to plan lessons, mark work, or to catch-up on any other work.

   Why is PPA time so important in a teachers timetable?

   Hours that teachers work and the holidays they get have always been a source of misunderstanding among the general public – and misrepresentation in the media.

   Comments such as, ‘All the holidays teachers get!’ or ‘I wish I could just work from 9-3!’ echo in teachers’ ears.

   Only if you are a teacher yourself – or live with one – do you truly understand the number of hours that teachers have to put in outside the classroom.

   This is why PPA time is absolutely vital.

   The idea that all a teacher’s planning, preparation, or marking can somehow be rattled off in a couple of PPA periods a week is an absolute nonsense.

   In reality, it isn’t even enough to scratch the surface.

   It’s also fair to say that the way PPA is delivered across the nation’s schools is inconsistent. Many schools do allocate more PPA time to their teachers than the statutory requirement. For those who do, this time is seen – as it should be – as absolutely sacrosanct.

   However, in some schools there is still an unwritten expectancy that ‘if duty calls’ then PPA time could be either taken away, rearranged – or that teachers might still be directed to do other tasks during their PPA time.

   All in all, though, while PPA time is not perfect and not enough… it is something.

   Yes, it only goes some way in lessening a teacher’s workload. However, it goes a long way in terms of its benefits for a teacher’s wellbeing. For more advice on how to better your wellbeing as a teacher, check out this blog post.

   Even if it just gives a teacher the opportunity to catch their breath during the hectic school day, PPA is well worth it.

4. The Easter Holidays: Revise and Re-energise!

   22 March 2024 12:33 pm Leave a Comment

   This year’s exam season is almost upon us: GCSE exams begin the week beginning 6 May, and AS/A levels kick in the week after. That leaves – at the time of writing – just 6 full weeks left before the exams begin. And, of course, 2 of those weeks are not weeks in school or college; they are the Easter holidays.

   And that’s the subject of our latest blog – the importance of making the most of the Easter holidays and of using the time to revise and re-energise.

   Making the Most of the Easter Holidays

   The Easter break really is – excuse the pun – a Godsend!

   After a full day at school or college, it’s difficult to do a significant amount of revision in the evening as well because students are bound to be tired.

   It’s also worth bearing in mind that once the exams have begun, they come thick and fast – and they really take it out of you, so revising during this period should be no more than a last chance to go over things; a last minute refresher and putting the proverbial final icing on the cake before each exam.

   This is why the Easter break is so important. It offers a run of full days that can be used to really knuckle down to some serious revising.

   Plan your time carefully and you’ll be able to achieve a lot during the two weeks. Looking for some extra help? Check out our blog post on how to make a revision schedule.

   Getting the Balance Right

   Not that we are advocating spending entire days revising for two weeks solid!

   That is absolutely not what you should be doing!

   Yes, as students start ‘the final push’, they are bound to up the ante a bit – but it is vital that students (and families) get the balance right between revision and relaxation.

   There’s a tendency to think that all the rewards and free time can come once all the exams are over.

   But, in a way, regular rewards are as important as regular revision.

   Do a Little a Lot… but do a lot of it!

   The general consensus about good exam revision advice is to revise a little a lot.

   Regular and frequent short chunks of revision are always going to be more effective than a 12-hour shift of non-stop revision. BBC bitesize has a helpful article on some top revision techniques to help you find a way of revising which works for you.

   And scheduling in little rewards and treats are important to keep the motivation going.

   You don’t want to feel completely knackered at the end of the Easter break; you want to feel re-energised!

   The Home Straight

   Once students return to school or college after the Easter break, they really are in the home straight. The start line will now be in sight.

   The Easter holiday provides an opportunity for a young person to take stock and assess where they are at in their various subjects.

   A few last minute tutoring sessions can often be just the thing to get you fully ‘match ready’.

   Sometimes, it’s a just a bit of tweaking, a fresh pair of eyes and a fresh face that can help solve any last minute worries, problems or concerns a student might have in a subject. Get in touch for a chat if you would like to book a tutor.

5. What is PHSE?

   15 March 2024 2:30 pm Leave a Comment

   PHSE – Personal Social & Health Education – has taken many forms and gone under several different names over the last 30 or so years in our schools.

   At various points over that time, it has been pushed to the fore of the curriculum. However, at times it has also been left for schools to ‘fit in somewhere’ – almost as an afterthought – onto the curriculum.

   However, one thing has remained constant: its genuine importance.

   Of course, exams and results matter. But they don’t guarantee your personal, social, emotional, and economic wellbeing – or your happiness.

   Life is a little bit more complicated than that!

   And that’s why PHSE is, was, and always will be a really important part of the school curriculum.

   PHSE might not be a compulsory exam subject, but you could argue that there is nothing more vital than supporting a young person’s personal, social, and emotional wellbeing.

   At the end of the day, is there anything more important than happiness and good health?

   Exactly. That’s why PHSE really matters.

   Why PHSE is important

   Although the fact can get lost sometimes under the relentless focus on exams, exams, and more exams, there has always been much more to schools than just results.

   Schools play a crucial role in young people’s personal, social, and emotional development. Not only that, but schools can also support children’s mental health. To find out more about supporting kids’ mental health in schools, check out our blog post on the matter.

   Emotional well-being and self-esteem should not be underestimated, not just during your school days but also in later life.

   A carefully planned PHSE curriculum delivered well in schools can go a long way in breaking down a young person’s self-limiting beliefs and perceptions. Such a mindset can seriously stifle aspirations and make it much harder to achieve.

   Happiness is the key

   Happiness in life trumps everything else.

   When you are happy, it is much easier to cope with the challenges of GCSEs. When you are happy, you are best placed to thrive in your chosen career. You are also far more likely to be able to build and maintain friendships and relationships.

   What brings you happiness is a complex question, and a lot will depend on the individual. However, a common denominator is confidence.

   Having confidence in yourself and who you are and the confidence to cope with anything that life throws at you will go a long way in bringing you happiness.

   And that’s another reason why PHSE is so important.

   No other element of the curriculum has such a focus on the developing ‘the whole person’.

   No other subject has the potential to future proof a young person for later life.

   Nothing else at school can help young people to develop the resilience, confidence, and emotional intelligence needed to lead a happy and successful life.

   The Talk is a new video learning platform aimed at providing teachers with all the information, tools and resources needed to deliver an engaging and modern PHSE syllabus.

   The Talk’s vision is to revolutionise the way PHSE education is delivered in schools. The platform is designed to teach young people essential skills for life through dynamic content.

6. The Difference Between Learning Objectives and Outcomes

   8 March 2024 2:17 pm Leave a Comment

   Learning Objectives and Learning Outcomes have been a fixture of most lessons in schools for close on thirty years now. But there is still a fair bit of confusion around what they are, how they are different, and why they are important.

   So, let’s try and make everything crystal clear!

   How Are Learning Objectives and Outcomes Different?

   In simple terms, an objective sets out the knowledge or skill that is being introduced, developed, and learned by students during the lesson.

   The outcome, meanwhile, is the work or evidence that the students will produce during the lesson. Typically, this is used to measure how effectively the objective has been met.

   Why are Learning Objectives Important?

   It is slightly punitive and unfair to judge the quality of a lesson on its shared learning objective. An appropriate and suitable learning objective has the power to bring all the elements of a quality lesson together.

   And many a lesson has lost its effectiveness because of an unclear or inappropriate learning objective.

   What Should a Learning Objective Include?

   To achieve consistency, many schools instruct their teachers to follow a particular model. Some will ask their staff to frame learning objectives in a certain way. Of course, this makes sense as it helps it to become familiar for the students.

   So, there are several possible ways that you can word a lesson or learning objective. And while it’s all just an issue of semantics, there are couple of non-negotiables when it comes to writing a good learning outcome.

   Firstly, a learning objective should focus purely on the learning that is going to occur in the lesson. Essentially, lessons should be focused of one of two things: knowledge or skills.

   If you want to understand more about which one to focus on, check out this helpful blog about balancing the two.

   Include anything else and it will be flannel, superfluous – and quite possibly unclear.

   Secondly, learning objectives should always be student-focused.

   An objective needs to be concise and accessible for all students. The aim is to make it clear to students the point of the lesson ahead.

   To this end, it’s always important to take time at the start of a lesson to introduce and explain the learning objective – especially if there are any specific key words or terminology to be covered in the lesson.

   Should Learning Objectives Be Measurable?

   Yes, and this is where the learning outcome comes in.

   If there is an objective or aim to any lesson, there must be some form of measurement to check that this has been achieved by the end of the lesson.

   Therefore, the learning outcome should measure the progress students have made towards meeting the learning objective.

   This means that the wording of a learning objective needs to be precise, focused, and really specific to the aspect of knowledge or the skill that the students need to know.

   The broader, more general, or less specific an objective is, the less effective the learning will be.

   Finally, a learning objective should never be task-driven. Studies around how we learn best indicate that an objective acts like a North star to help guide the learner. If you want to learn more about the science behind learning, check out this article.

   Therefore, the objectives are not the activities the students will complete during the lesson.

   The objective must come first, this should then be followed up with a sequence of activities that work together and help the students to achieve the objective.

   The tasks in the lesson should be seen as the implementation of the learning.

7. A New Year’s Resolution, For Teachers… Finally!

   9 February 2024 12:52 pm Leave a Comment

   The new term is underway, and you’re settled back into the swing of things.

   Now is the time for teachers to think about setting a New Year’s Resolution or two for the months ahead.

   Here are a few suggestions:

   New Year’s Resolution Number 1: Be More Organised

   Many teachers start the year well but then things start to slide.

   Being organised doesn’t necessarily guarantee you will have a great lesson, day, or week, of course. However, if you are continually disorganised and running around chasing your tail, those good and great days will be few and far between.

   And the thing with being disorganised is that it never gets better – it always gets worse.

   So, Resolution Number 1 has got to be to get more organised!

   Whether it’s to try to get to school 5 or 10 minutes earlier, or to vow to keep your desk tidier, any small way that you can try to be more organised will help.

   It should even result in you having a calmer and less stressful day.

   It will make you feel on top of your workload. For any teacher, this is massive.

   If you’d like to read more around how you can get a little more organised on a weekly basis, check out this handy blog from asana!

   Resolution Number 2: Take Less Work Home

   Work/life balance is a major issue for any teacher. That’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

   However, teachers are sometimes their own worst enemies. If you set out to take less work home – either on certain days or at the weekend (occasionally), you will stop the blurring of school and home.

   And it might even stop you feeling like you are working all the time.

   How do you do this?

   You can try to work smarter when you are setting homework to reduce the marking load.

   Is there a day of the week when you could stay in school to work later to finish things off and prepare for the next day? It’s a great feeling to get home and know that all your time that evening is for you, your kids, or your partner.

   Listen, you’re a teacher, so realistically you’re never going to make every night like that.

   But once or twice a week, or just every once in a while, would be nice, wouldn’t it?

   Resolution Number 3: Prioritise Your Own Wellbeing

   As teachers, we are wired to put our students first. It sometimes seems difficult to prioritise our own mental health and wellbeing. We feel guilty if we put ourselves first.

   However, this is the most important resolution of all.

   Putting your mental health first will not only make you a better teacher, but it will also make you a better parent, partner, family member, and friend.

   You will know what it is that is good for you and what works for your wellbeing, but typically if you try to eat healthily, get regular exercise, and give yourself time to spend on a hobby or interest, you will get a big mental health boost.

   It will certainly help to eliminate stress – something we’ve discussed here previously.

   You will be happier, have more energy, and be far better placed to take on the challenges of teaching, and whatever else life throws at you.

   It’s a no-brainer, isn’t it?

8. What to Expect From a Tuition Company

   25 November 2022 2:43 pm Leave a Comment

   The fact that you are reading this right now suggests you are interested in hiring a private tutor…

   Yes, our powers of deduction really are that good.

   But have you Googled ‘Tutors in Warrington’ yet?

   Believe me, if you haven’t yet, you need to sit down when you do because the proverbial floodgates are going to open up right on top of you.

   All Tutors in Warrington are Equal

   As George Orwell famously once wrote, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” 

   The same, unfortunately, can also be said about tuition companies.

   One thing is for sure – on the eighth day (when God created tuition companies), he most definitely did not create them equal!

   What to Expect from a Typical Tuition Company

   There are a vast choice of tuition options available on that there internet but some things are a constant. You can expect any tuition business to ensure that all their tutors are appropriately qualified and trained, for example. You have a right to expect that all tutors are vetted and DBS-checked. All tutors in Warrington should have easy channels of communication and should make the payment process simple and straightforward.

   However, all of the above does not constitute some sort of ‘Tuition Company Gold Standard.’ Far from it, this should be the minimum – the least you can expect from any tuition company.

   Hiring a Tutor is like Booking a Taxi

   For some tutoring companies, hiring a tutor is just like calling a taxi. You ring up and say where you are and where you want to go. The taxi company then sees which drivers are close by and sends one of them to your door. In the same way, you ring up for a tutor, you give your details, and the company sends a tutor to your door. Just as you would expect a taxi driver to be insured and to have a driving licence, you would expect a tutor to come appropriately qualified and DBS-checked.

   Unfortunately, for some tutoring companies, the above analogy is just about the level of service you might get. Yes, the tutor you get could be great – but ultimately, it’s all about convenience and finding the ‘nearest available tutor.’

   TutorRight – a Personable Approach

   At TutorRight we aim to provide a service that is above and beyond what you can typically expect from a tutoring company. Let’s face it, when you are dealing with something as important as your child’s education, we’re pretty sure this is exactly what you want too.

   Above all, we aim to be personable and approachable. To this end, we have a dedicated admin team on hand to make the whole enquiry experience as personalised and bespoke as possible. Whether your request is simple and straightforward or specialised, ultra-specific and unusual, we work hard to match students with tutors that are best suited to your needs.

   There are various types of tuition that we can offer too. Many prefer one-to-one tuition which takes place face-to-face in the student’s home, but it’s certainly not the only option. The tuition can happen in any other suitable venue. Not only that, it can also take place online if that’s more convenient for you. 

   In fact: individual, small group… whatever you want the tuition to look like, we’ll do our very best to meet your requests.

   It all starts with a Conversation

   As the saying goes, ‘It’s good to talk!” And, it is – and we are good listeners. For general enquiries you can send us an email at info@tutorright.co.uk. If you prefer, you can fill in our online contact form. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

9. Why you should consider becoming a tutor

   28 October 2022 1:47 pm Leave a Comment

   It’s a weird thing to be honest, but you’d be surprised at how many qualified teachers know very little about what tutoring really entails. Of course, tutoring is very similar to conventional teaching in many ways – but there are some key differences too. Becoming a tutor isn’t for everybody – nothing is – but we think, in general, that the differences are advantages. 

   Maybe we’re a little biased but this isn’t about us, it’s about you. We don’t want to give you some sort of glorified sales pitch here. We just want to set out the case for why you should consider becoming a tutor.

   Nothing more, nothing less. No pressure. We want you to make your own mind up.

   Become a tutor – for practical reasons

   In reality, life is often about the practicalities. And that’s the first reason why you should consider becoming a tutor. Take 3 scenarios: 

   1) You’re a newly qualified teacher just starting out in schools. You could do with extra income to help pay off your student loans.

   2) You’re a teacher coming back to the classroom after a career break – maybe maternity – and you don’t want a full-time position in school so that you can have more flexibility because your circumstances have changed.

   3) You’ve retired from teaching full-time – but you’d still like to do the best bits of the job, on your own terms.

   For all the above, tutoring could be the ideal choice. 

   Become a tutor – to escape the politics and pressure of schools

   Maybe ‘escape’ is a bit strong, but let’s not beat around the bush here. Teaching, undoubtedly, is a wonderful profession. It can be the best career in the world. It’s a vocation and a calling, not simply a job. However, anybody who has been in or around education in recent years knows only too well that there are a hell of a lot of teachers trying to get out of the profession. What’s more, the stats don’t lie – an alarming number of new teachers aren’t sticking around for very long. Recruitment and retention figures are very worrying.

   There are many reasons for this and now is not the place to wax lyrical about the whys and wherefores of it all. Having said that, let’s just say that that tutoring can offer you a way out from the staffroom politics, the workload, the incessant pressure… oh… and OFSTED.

   You can probably see where we’re coming from now!

   Become a tutor – to make a difference

   

   Ask any teacher why they came into the profession, and you are likely to hear the reply, ‘To make a difference.’ And teachers really do make a difference – every single day. But in the high pressure, cut and thrust climate of progress targets, observations and inspections, the never-ending scrutiny and monitoring can make even the most dedicated professionals feel as though they are not making as much of a difference to the future of young people as they would have hoped.

   With tutoring, you can literally see the difference you are making on a day-to-day and one-to-one basis. Whether it’s helping push a GCSE student up from Grade 2 to a Grade 4, or enabling a school refuser to access the education they deserve, the rewards are tangible.

   Become a tutor – to become a better teacher

   Although people might be considering becoming a tutor as an alternative to teaching, it doesn’t have to be instead of teaching, it can be as well as… and tutoring gives you a fantastic opportunity to really hone your craft. 

   Private tutoring will only make you an even better classroom teacher overall.

   Tutoring is your opportunity to genuinely provide bespoke and personalised learning for each individual student. This is a challenge – but it’s a pleasure and a privilege too.

   Join our team

   At TutorRight, we have a motto: ‘their success starts with you.’ Our tutors are what makes TutorRight tick. If tutoring sounds like it could be for you, we’d love to hear from you. You stay in complete control. You’ll never be under pressure to take on more students than you want to. You can be as flexible as you want to be – and you’ll always be paid competitively and treated like the professional you are always.

   Registering your interest is easy. Simply fill in the form here, click send, and we’ll be in touch!