Whether you’re an IT expert, an avid cook or a professional pianist, you have a skill you can share as a tutor. Every day thousands of people in your local area search for personal tutors to help them meet their learning goals. They range from those wanting to expand their skill set for personal and professional reasons to students needing homework help. One-on-one tutoring is a rewarding pursuit with many benefits.

Why not seize this opportunity to become a private home or online tutor? You could be a mentor for those who need help and pass your knowledge on to those looking to learn new skills. Perhaps the idea of becoming a tutor has already crossed your mind, but you haven’t taken the plunge. Here are just 5 great reasons to start tutoring today:

  • wed your passion to your job
  • enjoy your workday
  • make an impactful addition to your Curriculum Vitae (CV)
  • launch yourself into business
  • take charge of your earnings

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Tutoring is A Great Addition to Your CV

Being a private tutor requires a multitude of transferable skills that demonstrate your ability to manage, motivate and mediate. Having these skills and the references to back them up make you more employable. Mentoring shows your ability to put your qualifications into practice in the world of work.

As a tutor, you have to meet your students' high expectations to achieve observable improvements in their attainment levels. Often students seek a teacher to help solve a problem they find particularly difficult or help them catch up in class. As such, you will have to be a patient and engaging educator, creating an environment in which students feel relaxed and able to learn.

As you’re not your pupil’s usual teacher you will initially lack knowledge of their academic capabilities. You will have to identify their strengths and weaknesses and help them adjust to changes in the learning environment and teaching style. You will also have to adapt your own techniques to their needs and wants.

Above all, being a private tutor is about building strong relationships based on trust and respect. This is a skill essential in all walks of life. For that reason alone tutoring jobs make a wonderful addition to your CV.

Expand Your Business Network

If you decide to join a network of tutors with higher visibility, such as Superprof, the chances are you will come across people in the same field as you. Whether you're a physics tutor, Spanish tutor or creative writing wizard, this kind of professional network is invaluable for building relationships. You can exchange valuable information and connect with other professionals for future job prospects.

Having an extensive professional network is often perceived positively and can open many doors via word of mouth. It can also provide a support network among like-minded people able to encourage and enrich each other. That's how my mate found out how they could teach English online.

Four people sit at a wooden table with notebooks and writing instruments scattered in front of them; one person has an open laptop facing them.
Tutors on Superprof can build relationships and make connections to other teachers (Source: stocksnap)

Private Tutoring: A Meaningful Increase in Your Income

Whether you’re a student, in-between jobs or just looking for work in your spare time, private tutoring is a great way to supplement your income. Whatever skills you have to pass on to others, tutoring jobs offer a rewarding and enjoyable way to increase your income and share your knowledge with others. You might tutor in linguistics, computer technology, and anything musical or mathematical.

There is a growing demand for private tutoring in the UK. Thousands of students search Superprof every day for 1-on-1 lessons at home or online tutoring via webcam. Meeting new people, sharing common interests and making students feel valued may be the best job to have.

Set Your Own Rates

In giving private tuition, you take charge of your own income. You decide your hourly rates and how much time to dedicate to your tutoring job. In setting your rates you should consider;

  1. Your financial needs
  2. Competition in your subject area
  3. Educational qualifications
  4. Professional credentials
  5. Tutoring experience

Not everyone has the means to pay £40 a lesson. You might consider tailoring your rates depending on the student and what they require. Or consider discounting your hourly rate for bulk packages. If you are an experienced tutor/teacher knowledgeable in your subject, your rates will be above average in comparison to those just starting out so giving a discount gives you an edge.

Want to give private lessons?

Join the Superprof community and share your knowledge with interested and motivated students.

Create an advert

Take Pleasure in Your Work

The transfer of knowledge is what makes us human. Part of the benefit in tutor jobs is the joy you feel in sharing your knowledge and watching your students grow. Perhaps you’ve just seen your student pass their biology exam with flying colours. Maybe they’re playing their first piece of music on guitar without your help.

Or possibly you’ve witnessed them put their reading and writing skills into practice in the real world. Congratulations; Here’s to you and your student’s continued success. Thanks to your hard work and effort, you have helped them achieve their goal. The work has paid off and you have borne witness to the benefits of one-on-one teaching.

A person wearing a grey fedora with a grey blazer over a white shirt smiles and plays a red electric guitar in a record shop.
Sharing your knowledge can be a very enriching experience (Source: stocksnap)

Foster Your Own Tutoring Style

Seeing the tangible effects of your work makes you feel proud and gives you an incentive to further develop your skills. Based on your own school experience you’ll be aware of how teaching styles and learning techniques vary from teacher to teacher and student to student. Sometimes they create a perfect match, but at other times they might conflict.

Teaching is all about approachability, understanding and diplomacy. When you're alone with your student, you have complete freedom in how to approach the lesson and which learning methods to use. These will vary based on pupils' age and experience, as well as their level of educational attainment. You should also consider their character and personality, and don't forget that some kids learn faster than others.

You have to constantly adapt your methods. It is sometimes a case of trial and error, a meaningful process for both teacher and pupil. There is no magic recipe for the perfect class. Still, you can follow some basic steps to increase your chances of success.

Be prepared in advance to tailor each lesson to the pupil. Be patient, supportive and understanding, and build confidence and trust with your student. To keep lessons fresh, alternate work with regular breaks.

For the transmission of information to be successful it must always be organized. Managing your time efficiently is the key to any tutoring business. In posting your tutor jobs London ad online or around your local community, you are taking your work schedule into your own hands. That demands time management skills.

Make sure prospective students are aware of your schedule by listing your working hours on your tutor ad. Bear in mind that limiting your working hours may limit your chances of finding students. Different groups will have different schedules as well. At university, students might have flexible, but non-regular schedules.

Tutoring: Combine Your Job with Your Passion

School students and professionals have regular timetables but less flexibility in their schedules. Still, sharing your skills and knowledge can be a very enriching experience, even after school hours and with those who only have evening availability. Why not spend that time doing what you love and pass on your hobbies to others?

You can teach someone how to fish, play poker, or write a captivating story. Everyone has something to learn. In providing instruction and learning support, you’re making a meaningful difference in someone else life. You help solve problems and give learners the tools to progress and succeed.

The positive results you achieve together are reciprocal; they represent your own success and will be a true source of happiness and self-fulfilment. What could be better than seeing your student making progress, and building their confidence under your tuition? If you enjoy building new relationships, engaging conversation, and rewarding challenges, being a private tutor is for you!

Being passionate enough to become a home tutor isn't everything but it’s 90% of the job. But being a passionate teacher will always make you more effective than someone teaching out of necessity.

It is also very important to know how to impart knowledge. There are many online teacher-training courses available, including from Superprof tutors. There are also more career-oriented qualifications undergraduates and postgraduates. Check with the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) to find out how you could earn a degree in education.

A person in a green and blue short-sleeved shirt sits atop a mountain with an open laptop computer on his lap, facing a valley and other peaks in the distance.
Tutoring gives you free rein to plan your work environment and schedule (Source: stocksnap)

Become a Tutor and Work for Yourself

The biggest advantage of private tutoring is having total control and flexibility over your job, whether it is the rates you charge, your schedule, or your place of work. Most sessions take place at a tutee's home but it's up to you to select your environment so you don't waste time and money on travel. You could also teach at your own house or an agreed upon, neutral location like a café, library or in a park on a beautiful sunny day.

Why not advertise small group lessons and start a study group to earn more money per hour? Remember that people will expect a lower rate if the class is not one-to-one. And technology now makes it possible for you to teach all over the world from the comfort of your living room. Nothing says you're restricted to students in the UK; the world is your classroom!

Work Around Your Studies

Many students combine their studies with part-time jobs in the service sector, pulling pints or serving sandwiches. These jobs are appealing to students because of their flexibility and part-time nature and as alternative jobs for teachers. The average rate for private tutoring ranges between £30-60 an hour (depending on your subject). Add to that the cachet tutoring adds to your CV, and private tutoring jobs become attractive propositions for students wishing to trade the café for home.

The significant difference in hourly wage is what makes this job so interesting for students looking to make efficient use of their time. Have these ten great reasons to become a private tutor convinced you to start teaching? There's no need to wait; sign up for tutoring jobs on Superprof. You'll find this platform full of friendly students in your local area and online who are keen to work with you.

Want to give private lessons?

Join the Superprof community and share your knowledge with interested and motivated students.

Create an advert

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Jon

As an Englishman in Paris, I enjoy growing my knowledge of other languages and cultures. I'm interested in History, Economics, and Sociology and believe in the importance of continuous learning.