Tutors Are The New Teacher!
In a nation crying out for teachers, government cut-backs and changes have resulted in a decline in teachers wanting to teach. You only have to read TES news and there will be at least one article droning about the copious amount of hours teachers have to work, and how the overtime time hours heavily out-weigh the pay packet that teachers are earning. The stresses that come with teaching today are phenomenal, and what used to be considered the UK’s best job, is now in the top five listed of most stressful jobs!
Let’s be honest, teaching has never been one of those jobs where you can leave work at the end of the day and that is it until tomorrow. Planning, prepping, marking, analysing… blah, blah, blah, are all factors that come with the territory. It is the added stress of meeting unrealistic targets that put teachers off. It is impossible guidelines having to be followed and the bucket loads of extra work added that make teachers want to jump off of a building or choose another career path.
Who wants to work more hours for fewer wages?
…Junior doctors??!!!
The truth is that vaster quantities of teachers are now turning to private tuition as an alternative. Heaven knows the workload is a hell of a lot less, and the wage packet is pretty decent too. Plus you have the option of specifying if you excel in a particular subject (I.e. music). You have more freedom to choose your own destiny and teach how you want to teach. Obviously there is still the curriculum to follow, but it is far less stressful.
I will leave you with an article that I found on TES website that discusses teachers ditching schools for private tutoring.
Under-pressure teachers ditch schools to become private tutors
Tuition firms report surge in applications from staff tired of ‘politics, pressure and long hours’ in state schools
Private tuition firms are reporting a huge spike in applications from teachers who are turning their backs on the pressures and long hours involved in working in schools.
It comes amid warnings of a growing teacher recruitment crisis and falling pay in schools, at a time when tutoring demand is predicted to soar under proposals to expand grammar schools.
William Clarence, a London-based firm that works mainly with full-time tutors, has seen applications from experienced teachers double in the past year.
Managing director Stephen Spriggs said that he had been “deluged” with applicants – around 85 teachers send him their CVs each week. He attributed the increase to teachers’ growing workloads and the burden of bureaucracy in schools.
He said: “There’s a lot of stress in teaching. People probably went into it because they enjoy teaching – working directly with pupils and seeing the results – but then actually don’t get to do as much of it as they’d like.”
Tutoring offered “comparable pay without the school politics”, as well as greater flexibility, he said. Rates start at around £20 an hour, but the most qualified tutors – those who can help pupils pass entrance exams at independent schools such as Eton and Harrow – can charge up to £200 an hour.
Keystone Tutors, which is based in London and Oxford, has noted a significant increase in applications over the past 18 months. Its director of education Ed Richardson said that teachers putting in long hours at school were realising that they could earn the same amount in far less time as a £30-an-hour tutor, the going rate in London.
Keystone has seen a particular surge in applications from Teach First graduates.
Mr Richardson said: “They’re going into tutoring and cover work because they want to move away from the classroom and need to earn money in an interim period before they become a lawyer or enter a graduate programme.”
If you are a teacher and want to turn your hand to tutoring,
1ST Note Education (specialising in music teaching) is a great company to help you follow that path!
Andy T
