Ever sat in a classroom, watching the teacher, likening them to an artist, painting knowledge across the canvas of young minds? Or grimaced at an out-of-touch tutor’s hapless complicating of the obvious, thinking “I could have told you that!” Well, perhaps you can. If you have a knack of clarifying the complex, strong communication skills, and a desire to help, tutoring or teaching may present a practical form of self-employment.
Tutoring presents an exciting opening to share the knowledge you have gained through your studies, and if you excel in a particular academic area, a rewarding opportunity to help others. Just think about your favourite teacher, who made trigonometry seem as natural as writing your name, and think of the confidence that gave you going into exams. The prospect of enlightening minds, with the aim of boosting a tutees academic credentials provides a fulfilling, mutually beneficial job. As well as this, tuition provides an opportunity to hone one’s teaching abilities in a comfortable, one-on-one environment, enabling you to fine-tune your teaching technique in focused sessions, without the pressure of addressing a class-room full of students. It will also enable you to select your own work, adhering to your personal schedule, and as such, many undergraduates pursue tuition as a flexible trade and source of income.
Conversely, if tuition is something you are considering as a career, it offers the scope to undertake more regular work as you develop your reputation, with the possibility of heading up a directory for home tuition. There is also a consistent demand for tuition, due to the high numbers in compulsory education (the clue’s in the name!), and increased emphasis on the importance of further education. As well as tuition, self-employed supply teaching is also a possibility, enabling a teacher to work in various schools on a part-time basis.
Despite the benefits of self-employed tutoring and teaching, there are various factors which must be acknowledged when considering its plausibility. For instance, and it’s an obvious one, are you familiar enough with the subject to teach it with confidence? It seems a given, but the paying customer will expect you to be able to clarify various scenarios for their ease of understanding. Practical considerations too, need to be made, such as accumulation of resources (past papers, textbooks etc.), and deciding whether to work from home, or travel to the tutees house. Depending on the customer, this may be pre-determined, due to their mobility. Either way, you will need to account for travel expenses or hospitality costs. Similarly, costs of advertising should be taken into consideration, as, much like with any business, this will be your key marketing tool. Although there are agencies dedicated to assigning tutors to tutees, they will often expect a commission payment based on the tuition fee. It is also worth allowing for lulls in the academic year where demand for tuition may dwindle, such as the summer holidays when sunshine replaces study!
So if you want to share some of your undoubted genius, tutoring or teaching could present an excellent opportunity to help mould the minds of tomorrow, whilst making money. Though practicalities must be considered to ensure benefit to both the tutor and tutee, sitting on the ‘other’ side of the table is an understandably desirable prospect for many students.