Pros and cons of working as a tutor

Recently, the demand for tutoring services has increased sharply. Increasingly, officially employed teachers earn extra money by giving private lessons, and some even leave school and other educational institutions and devote themselves entirely to tutoring. However, this type of activity has both pros and cons.

General information about the activities of a tutor

A tutor like guitar tutors is a teacher who works with a child individually on an hourly basis. His services can be used in several cases:

1. The child has low educational motivation.
2. It is necessary to improve the student on one of the topics that he did not understand at school.
3. Preparation for exams.
4. Improving school performance.

Depending on the goal, the issue of training duration and frequency of classes is decided.

Pros of working as a tutor

• Hourly payment. Transparent payment is an undoubted advantage of any work. The teacher himself sets the cost of 1 hour (most often an academic hour is taken into account, i.e. 45 minutes). Each region has approximate rates that each tutor can adjust up or down. Moreover, payment often depends on the complexity of the task assigned to the teacher: the student’s level of knowledge, his motivation, age, and final goal are taken into account.
• Flexible schedule. The lesson schedule is discussed individually, and the tutor himself decides when it is more convenient for him to work: in the first or second shift, on weekends or on weekdays. Thanks to this feature, free time appears for self-development, household chores - everything that a school teacher often cannot afford. In addition, it is possible to combine official work and private practice.
• Lack of paperwork and reporting. Every day an ordinary school teacher has to draw up lesson plans, fill out journals, work with an electronic diary, assign grades, correspond with parents, submit quarterly and annual reports. A college or university teacher does almost the same thing. For a tutor, the only form of reporting is a conversation with parents, and the child’s performance is measured not by numbers, but by real knowledge.
• No need to check notebooks. Checking notebooks is the bane of all teachers. An ordinary teacher teaches about 100-150 schoolchildren. And almost every day (depending on the subject) you have to check written work. A tutor does this too, but the workload is much less.
• Motivation. According private UK tutors on NiceTutor most often, motivated children come to tutors. Their parents pay for classes, and this greatly encourages most of the children to be active.
• There is no need to be disciplined. Every day, the teacher spends his energy to keep the class active, quiet and free from distractions. The tutor devotes the entire class time to providing the material and practicing the necessary skills with the student.
• Lack of control from management. The teacher-tutor is free; he has the right to establish his own laws and rules for conducting classes that will suit his students. There is no need to adapt to the system or experience the stress of constant control.
• No homework. The tutor, after conducting the lesson, is absolutely free. Of course, you need to prepare assignments for each student, but this takes a minimum of time, and after several years of work, an impressive folder with all the necessary materials is formed.
• Communication with a child. A tutor can optimize the learning process through an individual approach and build a strategy for effective communication with the student.
• High wages. An hour of work for a tutor is paid better than one lesson spent at school.

Disadvantages of working as a tutor

• Lack of official employment. The tutor does not have sick leave, vacation, or days off in the traditional sense, and the length of service for accumulating a pension is not taken into account.
• Non-teaching experience. A teacher who has worked at school all his life has the right to retire early and receive other benefits. The tutor is deprived of this opportunity, even if he registers for self-employment.
• Lack of creative component. Any teacher is a creative person. There are a huge number of forms of conducting lessons, interdisciplinary classes, excursion lessons. The tutor should only teach. He is given a specific task and given a limited amount of time.
• Searching for clients. To ensure its existence, a tutor must have a certain client base. Sometimes students study with one teacher for several years, but most often the course is limited to one year.
• The need to advertise yourself. This drawback is related to the previous one. Typically, professional tutors collect feedback from their students and exam results.
• Irregularity of classes. Students may miss classes due to illness, family circumstances, or school events. Some even skip work without a good reason. Missing a class means lack of payment and reduced learning efficiency.
• Excessive demands. Parents who pay for their child's classes often have high expectations. But it is impossible to achieve results only thanks to the teacher’s competence - a combination of factors is necessary: ​​the student’s diligence, the initial level of preparation, the regularity and frequency of classes.
• Lack of inclusion in the system. When a teacher works in an educational institution, he is aware of all changes in the school curriculum, exams, and assessment of work. A good tutor for a mid-level student either works at the school or has extensive experience in this field. The solution to this problem is to combine official employment with individual classes.
• Organization of work space. Most clients want a teacher to come to their home. This means that he will have to spend a lot of time on the road and take with him all the necessary benefits. The problem is solved if the students agree to come to the tutor themselves (provided that he has a specially designated room for classes).

Conclusions about the profession: who should choose it

Tutoring is an activity for those who love to share knowledge and see results. In most cases, teachers with extensive experience switch to individual lessons, since with age it becomes more difficult to withstand the daily load, and work experience allows them to show good results.

Those who like to speak in front of an audience and prefer a creative approach to business should not leave work at a school or other educational institution for private practice. Teachers who are willing to actively look for clients, advertise their services, travel, or set up an office at home will enjoy tutoring as a profession.