Challenges of private tutoring
Congratulations! If you are reading this, it means you have decided to become a tutor. Or maybe you are already a tutor, but you still have some unanswered questions that need to be clarified. In any case, giving tutoring or private lessons is not an easy task.
As a tutor, you have a major influence on the learning success and education of your students – a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. The role of a tutor goes far beyond tutoring, get more information from MedicMind. A good private teacher shapes his students and prepares them for their future.
Where to start?
A passion for teaching is an essential prerequisite for providing private tutoring. The first thing you should consider is whether you have the patience and motivation to teach someone, because not everyone is suitable for the job of tutor.
Next, you should decide whether you want to work as a private teacher full-time or part-time. Most tutors are students who earn some extra money while studying. Part-time tutoring can be a good way to earn extra money on top of your main income. In any case, self-employment must be reported to the tax office and individual tax situations must be clarified in advance.
Do you have to pay taxes as a tutor?
Anyone who earns money through private tutoring must always report their activity as a tutor to their local tax office. Only if the tutoring is carried out exclusively among friends and family is no report necessary. All profits earned through tutoring must be declared as part of the annual tax return using an income-surplus statement. However, if you earn less than €10,347 per year from your tutoring, you are exempt from sales tax.
Place an ad as a tutor
Now is the time to place an ad as a tutor. When designing your tutoring ad, think carefully about who you want to teach. Do you want to teach primary school students, secondary school students, upper secondary school students, or students? This will help you both target audiences and build your personal brand. Before you place your ad, you should consider the following:
Qualifications: What qualifications do you have? Do you have training and experience in the subject you want to teach? While qualifications are not always required, more qualified tutors can of course charge more money for their services.
Strengths and weaknesses: In addition to your qualifications, you should also consider your strengths. What were you good at school? Also try to think honestly about your weaknesses. What did you have trouble with at school? Even if you found something difficult, you could be a great help to students who are at a lower level. If you were successful, you can help them succeed too.
Experience: When you talk about your experiences, you can’t just limit yourself to your teaching experiences. Depending on what you want to teach, students may be interested in learning more about you. For example, a French tutor might highlight the fact that he or she has lived in a French-speaking country. A marketing tutor could also report on his projects. The more experienced a tutor is, the more money he or she can charge for tutoring.
Your personality: It is important that you are able to assess yourself correctly. Are you a patient person? Do you have good communication skills? If you’ve never taught before, it can be difficult to imagine what you’ll be like as a tutor. However, having the right personality is a key factor when it comes to becoming a tutor. It is therefore important that you take some time to find out whether the job of tutor suits your personality.
What really counts when placing a tutoring ad is your intuition and knowing what you feel ready for. For example, if you are a student, it is logical that you can tutor high school students, and if you are doing a doctorate or master’s degree, you can help other students.
If you use an online tutoring portal like Nachhilfelehr.de, you can advertise your private lessons online and receive messages from potential students. You can also search for other tutors who teach the same subject as you to get an idea of the competition and tuition prices.
How to find tutors
Once everything is prepared, all you have to do is start finding students for your tutoring. Most tutors start tutoring because they already have one or two tutors, but if that’s not the case for you, don’t worry.
Although social media is essential for tutors these days, word of mouth is still the most effective way to attract tutors. That’s why it’s important to let everyone you know that you’re tutoring, because you never know who might need a tutor right now.
Another easy option is to create an ad and post it. Make sure you create a good ad with a detailed description and a photo that will convince your potential students. Think about what you pay attention to when shopping online (the pictures, a convincing description, etc.) before you make a purchase.
For this reason, it is also important that you ask your tutor students to rate you as a teacher. If they are not yet registered as a student at Nachhilfelehr.de, please ask them to register and leave a comment under your profile. More and more people tend to only read reviews before making a decision.
Try to stand out from other tutors who teach the same subject as you. Read other tutors’ advertisements and try to differentiate and highlight your profile. An easy way to do this is to write a blog post or create a professional social media account.
What are the most popular tutoring subjects?
Teaching a subject that is less in demand has its advantages as you can get more tutoring schools due to less competition in that subject. However, these are the most popular tutoring subjects if you would like to orient yourself a little:
Math: Math tutoring in particular is in high demand. From primary school to university, there are learners of all levels who need online math tutoring.
German, English and French: Language tutoring is very popular with middle and high school students. Private language lessons for adults are also in high demand. For private language lessons, the language level of the teacher is very important. Native speakers are in high demand, as are tutors with experience abroad.
Physics and chemistry: They are one of the most difficult subjects in the entire school curriculum and that is why there is a high demand for chemistry and physics tutoring. In addition, the number of students in these subjects is increasing. Being a physics or chemistry tutor requires a great passion for science.
Biology: Biology is another scientific subject in which many students need tutoring. For many students, being a private biology teacher is the path they take before going into research.
Prices for your tutoring
How much should you charge for tutoring? Deciding on the price of private lessons is probably one of the most difficult aspects of being a tutor. For many young tutors it is the first job, and even for the experienced tutors it is difficult to know what tuition price is appropriate.
The tutoring market is very diverse, and that’s why we want to give you a few tips:
- Find out about the prices for your subject and in your region. What price do other tutors charge?
- Research the average price for tutoring in your subject or take a look at our price list .
- Make sure you include the costs for preparation and travel to the class location.
- Estimate the pace of learning and the time the tutor will need.
- Do you have any qualifications or experience? If you are a qualified teacher or have a lot of teaching experience, you can charge a higher price.
- Offer something unique if you want to charge more for your tutoring. This can take many forms, but if, for example, you teach a rare or complicated subject that requires a lot of knowledge, you can charge more.
- Offer results and a guarantee of success. Teachers with a high success rate and good reviews can increase the price of their private lessons.