Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

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fantasyvn2008
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 11:35 pm

Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

Post by fantasyvn2008 »

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

This is my first time to find a tutor for my 7-year-old child for the 8plus exam.

I was surprised and puzzled to find that many young tutors, apparently from Oxbridge, would charge you £50 per hour. One person even charges £160 per hour.

Of course there are 'cheaper' fee, like £20 per hour.

But does anyone really pay £50/hour or more to these tutors? Are they really the elite tutors who will guide your children to the top prep schools?

Thank you
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

Post by Amber »

I will do it for £49. :wink:
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

Post by Daogroupie »

I am sure many parents unfortunately do pay £50 an hour to tutors and some even more.

I find it astonishing that some parents are prepared to shell out this type of money without doing the most basic of checks. It seems that they will take whatever a tutor says on face value without making sure it is actually true.

It is very easy to make sure that a tutor is going to really help you get into the prep school of your choice. Ask to speak to parents who have used this tutor and now have a student at the school.

I suggest you get some help here and post about the prep you are interested in to see if anyone can recommend a tutor with a proven track record. DG
nyr
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Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:39 am

Re: Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

Post by nyr »

There's a tutor very close to us who charges £60ph and local parents fall over themselves trying to secure hourly sessions, particularly for the girls school exams. The waiting list for 11+ tuition is about 18-24 months.

My feeling is that the tutor gets good results for children who are already very able but I know of students who've gone to her for 1 year and failed to secure a place at any independent, let alone the London grammars. Clearly she doesn't have a silver bullet but, of course, she'll keep quiet about these students.

I would also add that, if you're paying that sort of money then be very suspicious of any tutor who says it all rests on the Maths or on the English as this usually indicates that they can't teach the unimportant subject.

BTW £50ph for a 7 year old seems very expensive.

nyr
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

Post by Daogroupie »

Now all the girls private school results are out I wonder how your local tutor got on? Do any of those parents who pay £60 per hour ever actually ask when the results come out? With the formats and pass marks changing every year it is how the tutor did this year that matters and not five years ago. Habs had two English papers and one maths paper this year so a different focus. The Consortium English paper also changed. Make sure your tutor is keeping up! DG
PurpleDuck
Posts: 1586
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:45 pm

Re: Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

Post by PurpleDuck »

I know well regarded, experienced, and with good success rate, tutors, who charge £25-£30/hour and personally would not be willing to pay any more than that. At some point, you really need to ask yourself a question of how much extra value do you actually get for the additional £30? Even the best tutor will not guarantee exam success, the work has to be done at home by the child who will be sitting the exam.

The fact that someone has Oxford or Cambridge to their name is neither here or there. An excellent top-university graduate does not necessarily make a good teacher. The best tutor, in my view, is the one who knows how to best direct the revision efforts, identify weak areas and help improve on those. A tutor is a facilitator, a child is the one who has to put the work into it. This is why there are many parents who are successful at getting their DCs through the 11+ process without any tutors at all - they know their children and their weaknesses, they understand how their children work and what are the best ways of getting through to them. Perhaps it is a simplistic view, but that's just my personal opinion. :)
It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)
JaneEyre
Posts: 4843
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 1:04 pm

Re: Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

Post by JaneEyre »

PurpleDuck wrote: Perhaps it is a simplistic view
imho, not at all a simplistic view, just a realistic one! :wink:
Great post, Purple Duck! :D
PurpleDuck
Posts: 1586
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:45 pm

Re: Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

Post by PurpleDuck »

JaneEyre wrote:
PurpleDuck wrote: Perhaps it is a simplistic view
imho, not at all a simplistic view, just a realistic one! :wink:
Great post, Purple Duck! :D
Thank you, JaneEyre, that's very kind! :D
It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)
nyr
Posts: 1166
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:39 am

Re: Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

Post by nyr »

DG, parents don't seem to ask too many questions.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Should you pay a tutor £50/hour or more?

Post by Daogroupie »

I am astonished at the very classic sales lines parents fall for.

The killer hook seems to be we only have one space left on the course and you have to pay for the whole course now so as not to lose the space.

Then there is the study centre based in Slough who leave the phone off the hook for most of the day and then put it back for small periods of time. So parents think that there are loads of people trying to get through and book. So in those small slots out comes the "We only have one space left on the course so you need to book now so as not to lose the space."

Then there is the assessment fee, registration fee, deposit and postdated cheques. All money paid up front before any teaching starts.

Why would you not question why so much money has to be paid up front? Is it because they need to get all the money they can from you before your student starts and you find out what is actually being taught?

OP, The best thing is to get a reference from a parent who has used a tutor to get their student into the prep school that you are interested in. DG
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