As a parent considering a Maths tutor for your child, the following options are available to you:

• Try to tutor to your child yourself
• Go to one of the large tutoring companies or agencies
• Employ an individual Private Tutor like me.

Tutoring the child yourself can often work if you have the time available and a deep knowledge of the current Maths curriculum and exam marking systems. However, we don’t all have the experience or time to tutor the child in the subjects they may need; for example, my wife and I pay for music and languages tuition for our daughter.

The large tutoring companies or agencies can be tempting as they can market their offerings widely.  Beware of web sites which appear to offer local tutors but, on closer investigation, do not. Any company or agency will be liable to register for VAT and will, of course, need to pay its non-tutoring staff and also make a profit. All of these costs come out of the fees you pay. Beware of companies that offer unqualified teachers and particularly of those who offer undergraduates (who can become unavailable in exam season just at the time you need them most).

With an individual Private Tutor like me, you get the same tutor each week. There is continuity so that the student gets to know and expect the same tutor. A private tutor can be flexible on duration, date, time and place of the tutoring sessions in a way that is often impossible with the larger organisations. An individual Private Tutor will learn the strengths and weaknesses of each student and will prepare each hour’s tuition accordingly; each tutoring session is tailored to the needs of the student and can be sped up or slowed down or changed depending on how that particular lesson progresses.

I, as a private tutor, work to get the best possible grades for a student. I know the student and the student knows me. I will only take age groups where I know how to get the best possible grades for the students (in my case 9 to 18 year olds). I am enthusiastic and knowledgeable and devote all my energies to my students, in preparing and delivering interesting and successful tutoring sessions.

 

Martin Procter –  August 2017