Boost Your Teaching Income... 

 Tutoring is a beneficial way of making some extra dosh when we've been subject to so many pay freezes it's like the ice age and is an incredibly rewarding way to supplement your income.

 Okay, you're here because you've clicked the title of this article and it's intrigued you, am I right? You've probably just broken up for the Christmas holidays and are already wondering how you're going to pay off that pesky credit card bill that you know you used probably a little too frivolously when it came to ordering everyone's Christmas presents online (because, as teachers, we all know we never have the time to actually go out to actual shops before Christmas!)

​Or, maybe you're like many of my colleagues; your college or school paid you early, and you're wondering how you're going to make your money stretch during, arguably, the most expensive time of the year? Alternatively, perhaps you're like me, and you're reading this while on maternity leave, wondering how on earth you're going to pay the bills when that statutory pay hits (because, really, how many professionals do you know that can manage to pay their mortgage and bills on just £145 a week?!)

Or, possibly you're looking to earn some extra money to save up for that well-deserved holiday you'd really like to take during the summer break?

 Well, this article is here to help with all of these predicaments and many more. As we all know, you don't go into teaching for the money, particularly at the moment with all of the countless pay freezes we've had. So, here are some benefits and a bit of a guide to making private tutoring work for you; using it to boost our income, making sure it doesn't add extra stress and pressure on our shoulders, and also ensuring we do it the sensible way, so the tax man doesn't come calling!

 This is the dream, isn't it?! Having a work-life balance as a teacher seems nigh on impossible! But I promise you it isn't. If you get yourself signed up to a reputable tutoring agency (such as Ash Tutors) you'll find it takes out a lot of the hassle of having to search for clients yourself, when you're already swamped with planning, marking, and running extra curricular activities that you never really believed would somehow become a part of your job.

You can decide how many clients you take on, and manage your work around that. I know some teachers who work full time and tutor up to 12 clients at once – personally, I'm not sure I could cope with that! But, I'm sure it's very lucrative for them and obviously works for their lifestyle and families.

 I also know some teachers who have been able to reduce their hours at school, opting to work 3 days a week, for example, and making up the rest of their wages by taking on tutoring clients. However you'd like to manage things, that's the crux of it all – you get to manage things! You're working directly with parents and their children at home, or in a library, or even out of your home (if you so wish to do so). You can choose your own hours and make tutoring really work to fit your lifestyle and your family. That's certainly something that can't be said about teaching in a school.

 The 'going' rate for private tuition is between £20-£30 an hour. Now, I'm not a Maths teacher, but looking at these figures, just one private tuition client could earn you an extra £100-£120 a month (minus tax, of course). So for one extra hour of your time, per week, you'll have that summer holiday saved up for in no time!

 As a side note: on the matter of tax, you need to make sure you're getting your sums right, because in many instances as a private tutor you are classed as 'self-employed' for tax purposes. Therefore, you need to ensure you register as self-employed with HMRC and complete your own self-assessment Tax Return once a year. Alternatively, if that all seems a bit too 'taxing' for you (I apologise, that was a ridiculous joke! Also, does anybody now have that really annoying government advert catchphrase in their heads?! "Tax doesn't have to be taxing!" Anyway…) Ash Tutors have a bespoke arrangement with Grosvenor Tax Services – this makes it a lot simpler for us to ensure the tax man doesn't come hounding us for all of our hard earned extra cash!

It's easy to set up, inexpensive, and makes the whole process of tutoring that much smoother, leaving you to focus on teaching. 

More Enjoyment and Job Satisfaction

 We all wish we could spend more one to one time with the pupils in our classes who really need that extra support, don't we? Well, tutoring enables us to do just that. We get to really spend quality time teaching and mentoring a student one to one, giving their learning and progress our full and undivided attention. Personally, as an experienced secondary school teacher who has been tutoring for many years, I often get greater job satisfaction tutoring my private clients than I do in my day-to-day teaching job!

 This is not to say I dislike my day-to-day job, far from it, but I can often see progress a lot quicker with my tutoring clients than I can with an entire class of 30+ students. Seeing an individual student's confidence grow week on week is incredibly rewarding, and when their parents thank you come results day, the sense of satisfaction is immense.

 Planning is Easier and more Straightforward​

 I find planning and preparing for my tutoring sessions significantly easier and an awful lot quicker than I do planning a GCSE lesson for an entire class of students. With only having to focus on one student, their needs, barriers to learning and ultimate progress, I find planning for tutoring sessions a lot speedier and more efficient.

 I can also often adapt resources that I have used in my lessons with my classes to suit the individual learner, and rarely have to create brand new bespoke resources from scratch. Put basically – it's minimal effort for maximum results! That's not to say you don't work conscientiously, of course you do, as you want your tutoring client to succeed, however, the idea of tutoring alongside your normal teaching job is often to boost your income and not add a lot of extra work on your already intense and immense work load!

 So there we have it! Have I convinced you?! Are you ready to give private tutoring a go? It clearly is a beneficial way to supplement your income as a teacher, and it's definitely something I know I will continue to do during the years I'm in education. On that note, I'd better go and grab my resources, as I'm tutoring this evening!

If you'd like to register as an Ash Tutors tutor, and you live in our service areas of Wigan, Warrington and St Helens, then simply complete the form at this link:

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