Top Tips For New Tutors

Setting up as a Tutor

Three years ago, I set myself up as a self-employed Tutor. This involved a mix of face-to-face tutoring at the student’s house and online sessions via mainly Zoom. This all changed in March 2020 due to Covid, as I had to move all my sessions online. After over a year, the lockdowns and strict rules have been eased and life is attempting to return to a form of normality. Although, I have continued tutoring online as it has enabled me to support far more students, as I am not spending time driving in between houses or getting caught in traffic.

Before I started tutoring, I completed lots of research looking for ways to set up as a Tutor. I browsed lots of websites searching for advice and top tips, watched lots of YouTube and Facebook videos from practising Tutors and read the advice in forums and on Tutor blogs. I found these extremely useful. So I thought I would offer my own two penneth into the mix in the hope that I can share my own experiences and offer advice for other new Tutors. I am sure that there will be things that I'll forget, so I shall keep adding as they crop up from my memory.

Two things that are required before any tutoring commences:

A DBS (Preferably sign up to the online update service)

Insurance (Public Liability and Professional Indemnity)

Face-to-Face Tuition

The main equipment which I required included:

• Transport – a car (unless you live in a small village, or you are only tutoring near to or in your home).
• A range of revision textbooks and cards for all the subjects and different levels that you are tutoring.
• An exercise book for each student (so you can write notes during the session - what you have done, what pages are next etc).
• A laptop with several hours of battery power (although you should also carry the charger just in case of low power, as some resources zap your power, i.e. Zoom, YouTube, etc).
• Subscription to relevant websites (Twinkl, School History, Mathletics, My Maths, etc).
• Pencil case with pens, pencils, highlighters, rubber, sharpener, ruler, geometry set, post-it notes, etc.

Online Tutoring

The main equipment which I have found useful includes:

• An office desk
• A laptop with a decent camera and sound.
• A headset with a microphone.
• A visualiser camera.
• Extension lead
• USB multi-port splitter
• Wireless keyboard and mouse

Extras which make the experience more comfortable and organised, as well as bringing little moments of joy.

• A decent computer chair for comfort.
• A widescreen monitor with dual-screen capability.
• Printer Scanner (One of my best purchases even though it takes up half of my desk).
• Filing cabinets for excess resources and printed papers.
• A quiet fan for the summer sessions when there is too much noise outside, to open a window.
• Aftershokz Wireless Stereo Bone Conduction Headset