How To Find The Best Private Tutor

 

It'll be easy to find the best tutors, won't it?

 

Oh my goodness! Where do I start?

A few days ago I 'enjoyed' the experience of placing a small task I needed doing for the company on a 'freelance' website.


If you've never used these sites before, you simply place the details of your job, then wait while the bids for the job come rolling in from all over the world along with proposals from interested freelancers.


Within 20 minutes I had around 400 bids from people all vying to do this job.

Talk about overwhelm!


The result was that I didn't choose even one - just way too many choices. Rather than save myself some effort by hoping to pay a freelancer to do the task, I'd actually created one huge headache for myself.

You can get a similar effect when faced with a HUGE menu in a restaurant. How many of us give up on reading it all, and just plump for the tried and tested?


This has become one of the biggest disadvantages of the modern internet era - that of 'TOO MANY DARN CHOICES'!

A similar scenario is what will face any parent hoping to run a quick Google search to land the services of a tutor for their child, and very often this will end in failure, or like my freelancing experience, they will be overwhelmed by choice and simply give up, hoping things improve at school by themselves.


But of course, that's unlikely to happen. So what do I suggest? How does your average (or exceptional!) parent find the BEST PRIVATE TUTOR for their child?

 

Now, we're not talking about the 'numero uno', the 'big cheese', the very best private tutor on the planet here! No! Rather, we're talking about the best private tutor we can find in the local area whose skills and teaching experience match up well with our child's needs. And whom we (and our child) can strike up a good relationship with.

 

The Solution (how to find the best tutors):

1. A recommendation...

by someone you know, like and trust probably carries the most weight with parents. So ask around. (Much to my dismay, I've found that many parents and children view private tuition as some kind of failure, and don't like it to be made public - so this could be a non-starter for you.)

2. If you're prepared...

to do the legwork and put some considerable time into it, then a decent tutor can be found simply by Googling, and at a reasonable price too. (A 'reasonable' price will differ for many parents. More on this later.)

It isn't an exaggeration to tell you to be prepared to give up at least 2 or 3 hours of searching. In actual fact, that's probably an underestimation for many parents. This is your child, so understandably you'll want to take extreme care and exercise extreme caution at who you bring into your house to work with your child on such an intimate level.

So, there are various kinds of tuition company.

Some are simple directories - where teachers can upload their details and wait to be contacted by prospective clients. In these cases, parents will usually pay a one-off fee to access a tutor. One disadvantage to this can be that these 'high volume' systems are automated, and there is usually no verification process with tutors - anyone can claim a spot!

I've witnessed this myself when students and unqualified 'teachers' have wanted to register at Ash Tutors, claiming they tutor already with companies elsewhere.


This might be fine with you, and precisely what you're looking for. In these cases, prices will usually reflect the extra effort the parent has to put in to ensure the teachers are qualified, DBS checked and actually good at what they do.

3. A less-trodden approach...

is to use a company like Ash Tutors - where all tutors are verified, qualified teachers with a proven track-record. In our case, we take the details of tuition goals, practical preferences, and any other consideration into account, and we do the legwork for the client.

Clients are then 'offered' a tutor who they may decide to hire or to try another option at their own preference.

As this is a continually monitored service, more convenient and with a greater chance of academic success (so I believe!) than the others already mentioned, then prices are usually (not always!) a little bit higher to compensate.

Technology is moving on at a rapid pace, and tomorrow there may be other business models to contend with that may totally disrupt the whole private tuition sector. Just think of Uber and AirBnB!

I don't recommend any of these approaches over others - it's a matter of personal circumstances, finances, convenience, and preference. All could work well, but I think some increase that likelihood!


Which route would you prefer to go down? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

If you're looking for a good private tutor, and have decided that our route is the one for you, then simply complete this form to give me your details and those of your child, and I'll get to work finding the perfect fit, so you don't have to! Click here to access the form.