# What's tutoring like, UKers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2017, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tutoring-like-ukers/784308 "2017-04-12T12:27:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tutoring-like-ukers/784308/1 "2017-04-12T12:27:14Z")
So I’m packing in my job on a career break for a few years to become a stay-at-home dad to my youngling, and I’m considering taking up tutoring as a part-time flexible income. This board’s full of smart cookies, so there must be a few Brits who do it. Walk me through it? My strengths are in history and politics, but am also casually interested in science too. What does a typical tutoring session involve? At what key stages? What preparation do you do for your sessions? Best ways to get business? Upshots? Downsides? Risks? ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tutoring-like-ukers/784308/2 "2017-04-12T13:31:52Z")
you could make a lot of money just teaching them how to use an apostrophe. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tutoring-like-ukers/784308/3 "2017-04-12T13:56:54Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > What does a typical tutoring session involve? At what key stages? > > What preparation do you do for your sessions? > > Best ways to get business? > > Upshots? Downsides? Risks? First of all, have you got any teaching experience or qualifications? Are you familiar with the current curriculum and exams? I’m a retired teacher and know of several colleagues who tutor privately in academic subjects. They have both of the above. My own experience is tangential - I do both chess and bridge coaching! ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tutoring-like-ukers/784308/4 "2017-04-12T14:01:11Z")
> [@glee](#): > > First of all, have you got any teaching experience or qualifications? > Are you familiar with the current curriculum and exams? > > I’m a retired teacher and know of several colleagues who tutor privately in academic subjects. They have both of the above. > My own experience is tangential - I do both chess and bridge coaching! Undergrad in history, Masters in politics. I’m a part-time tour guide out of hours of my current job, so my public speaking/explaining of ideas to laymen seems alright. No specific teaching qualifications, though. Oh, and I’m going to read up on the current curriculum and exams with the help of a teacher friend of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tutoring-like-ukers/784308/5 "2017-04-12T17:14:52Z")
A few friends have done it, who do not have teaching qualifications (they were university students at the time). It was Maths in both cases, a subject where understanding is far more important than curriculum, in a way that probably isn’t quite as true for history and politics, or sciences for that matter. My parents briefly tried to get me a tutor when I was at school, but it didn’t go well, the problem being that I didn’t really give a crap about the subject, which wasn’t really something the poor sod could fix. As to key stages, it’s going to depend on a few things; where I used to live, there were two grammar schools with a lot of competition to get in, and getting tutoring prior to the entrance exam (age 10-11) was popular. Here that isn’t as much of a thing, and the ads I normally see are just focused on GSCEs and A levels, which I’d expect to be the standard.