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Why I chose to become an online tutor and why you should too

Children and young adults have relied heavily on online tutoring through lockdown and it is forecasted to remain increasingly popular. I've been an online academic tutor for 3 years outside a full-time job. With generous pay and flexible working hours to name a few reasons, here's why I recommend becoming one.

By AVPublished 4 years ago β€’ 6 min read
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Photo by Julia M Cameron from Pexels

During my A-levels, I had a AS Maths module that I was greatly struggling with. After a dispassionate attempt in my mock set a month before my real exam, I achieved a whopping 3/72 (That's a U grade, Unmarkable, if you're wondering) which I completely deserved since I had understood virtually nothing all year. I've always been excellent at Maths, but the teacher I had just didn't click with me and I consider myself a hard-working individual but for the first time, I was stumped. Something had to change, and fast.

My mum suggested I try working with a tutor for a few lessons but I was constrained with time due to the commute to college. However whatever I was doing clearly wasn't working. We found a tutor online which I worked with in the evenings going through exams questions for three lessons and I managed to achieve a high A in the exam! Three hours was all it took - everything had clicked.

I'm sure the initial part of my experience resonates with virtually every GCSE or A-level student. You feel like you're the slowest in the class and whilst studying for multiple subjects at once expected to excel at all of them AND everything else in your life, the pressure is on (no wonder we're in a mental health crisis!). A few hours of tutoring turned it around for me, which is why I decided to become an online tutor myself to help students feeling the same way.

The importance of online learning πŸ“š β€πŸ’»

Even before the pandemic, the UK's private tuition market is worth Β£6.5 billion and is only increasing. In London alone, 41% of state school children have benefitted from private tuition. With school budget cuts, exams becoming increasingly competitive and larger class sizes reducing the attention and support to individual students, it's no wonder parents are turning to additional resources to help them keep up.

As the world has been put on lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we've relied on everything being online and home-schooling is a new challenge parents have now had to face. Young peoples education has been put on hold with school closures and although exams are cancelled this year, others will still need to keep on top of work with online classes. However useful Zoom is for work meetings, young people have been finding it extremely difficult to learn new topics through online teaching. That's to no fault of the teachers, who have been thrown into this unexpectedly with some taking the opportunity to put in minimal effort. One of my tutees said his teacher just sends powerpoint slides with links to Youtube videos. Not quite how I'd like to be introduced to analysing Shakespeare or learn trigonometry for a future exam.

Post-pandemic life is projected to rely more on technology than ever before. Some companies are already choosing to be work remote permanently and we've already seen the importance of free online educational resources which schools were already increasingly depending on. Just think how many times you've turned to Youtube or Khan Academy when your teacher fails to explain something properly and it suddenly all starts to make sense thanks to them. It's incredibly important we keep funding such resources since everyone learns in different ways.

At University I was looking for a part time job and I considered the usual waitressing, retail etc. but being in one of the most populated student cities, the job market was incredibly saturated. So I chose to become a tutor on one the highest-rated tutoring websites online, MyTutor, and still do so today alongside my full time job. I can stay confident that my tutoring job is future proof which as we may hit a global recession, provides me great stability. After all, if you're a millennial living away from your parents without a side-hustle, how are you affording to live? (Thanks, boomers)

WFA (Work from anywhere) πŸ’» 🧠

Since all my tutoring lessons are all online, all I need is my laptop, a working internet connection and my brain switched on (β˜•)️ . No spending money and time on overpriced, unreliable transport. If it's an hour lesson, it's an hour of my time. Simple. This convenience has been the number one advantage and without this, I would never have been able to work alongside a full time 9-5 job.

Self-employment πŸ“†

As a student or young professional, time is money. You've got a million assignments to do whilst trying to balance a relationship and master a vegan recipe you found on Instagram. 'Gig economy' self-employed jobs are therefore on the rise due to their flexibility, allowing you to take as much or as little work as you like considering some weeks are busier than others. After all, who doesn't want to be their own boss #bossgirl. Flexibility is super important for me with an active social life and an underlying health condition. I can rearrange my tutoring schedule to fit in around a busy schedule outside work. As tutoring lessons are 1:1, it's only one other person you have to work around. No longer do I have to lose out on pay or be disproved by my boss for, god forbid, catching the flu.

Money, money, money πŸ’·

Ah, the part you've been waiting for this whole article. Although this varies for each platform, on MyTutor I started earning Β£15 an hour and now earn Β£27.50 after building up a profile (another article on how to do this coming up soon). Minimum wage for 21-24 year olds is currently Β£8.20 in jobs that can replace you with a click of their finger and let's be honest, who even likes customer service? Now I get as much as my full time job with working half the hours. As you grow your experience or if you have a teaching qualification, you can easily earn up to Β£40+. With that kind of money, maybe millennials could even afford a house? (Hahaha...haha..ha next joke)

It is incredibly rewarding πŸ†

For me, this is what makes the tireless hours worth it. The students genuinely want to be there and learn so they're attentive and much easier to work with than what a teacher will have to deal with. The 'ping' of the lightbulb when they finally understand the concept you explained and storm through questions they originally didn't know where to start is incredibly satisfying. You're treated with a high degree of respect as you're their role model and the parents provide constructive and positive feedback. The student's victories are your own and you also start to notice your own strength and weaknesses in the process. The best way to learn something after all, is to teach it.

Let's get started ▢️

If you're a university student or young professional looking for extra work and this sounds right up your street then feel free to give it a go. Although this post is not sponsored by MyTutor (I'm definitely not famous enough for that), their marketing and technical support is second to none and I recommend them as a place to start.

I hope you enjoyed this article and I'll be posting more soon on my journey to becoming a successful tutor and on the ethics of tutoring as a business itself later on. Thank you for reading!

teacher
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About the Creator

AV

A whole lot of thoughts structured into blog posts

Instagram: @_instashika

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