Who would I be tutoring? Where does tuition take place? Expand As a tutor you will work with pupils from a disadvantaged background who are either not making the expected progress, or who require an extra push to achieve even more. Unlike private tutors, we work directly with schools rather than parents and tuition typically takes place at these schools during the day. The schools we work with are based all over the Greater Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool regions, so we want tutors who are prepared to travel outside of their respective city centres.
What qualifications do I need? Do you accept international qualifications? What if I have not sat GCSEs? Expand To be a Primary tutor we require you to have a minimum of two B's in Maths AND English GCSE. To be a Secondary tutor you must have an A or A* in the GCSE in the subject you wish to tutor. These grades are essential – successful applicants will have to bring their GCSE certificates to interview as evidence of having achieved these grades. If you did not go to school in the UK, we do accept international equivalents, so please continue with the application and fill out your qualifications in the Education Details section of the application. Grades from international qualifications can be transposed by checking the following University of Brighton webpage: www.brighton.ac.uk/international/study-with-us/your-country-info/index.aspx. If you attended school before the advent of GCSEs, please enter your O-level grades in the Education Details section of the application.
Can I work for The Tutor Trust if I have a Tier 4 visa? Expand Unfortunately, tutors must have a Tier 1 visa to be eligible to work for us. This is because you must be able to register as self-employed with HMRC, which Tier 4 visas do not allow for. Students visiting from countries outside of the EU will have a Tier 4 visa and should therefore not apply to be a tutor. We apologies in advance for any disappointment this causes.
Do I need to be a University student to apply? Expand Not at all – although we work with a lot of University students, we also have tutors who have graduated, retired, or who tutor as a full-time job. As long as you have enough spare time and the right personality for the role, anyone can apply to be a tutor.
Do I need teaching/tutoring experience? Expand You do not need to have teaching or tutoring experience to be a tutor with us, however if you do have any such experience please highlight this in your application.
Who can I use as a referee? Expand We ask for one academic referee (a tutor, teacher, lecturer) and one personal referee (not including a family member, or a peer). If the person you have put down as a referee has not confirmed that they can provide this before you submit your application, don't worry. If you need to change your referee at a later date you can do so by emailing [email protected].
Documents for interview Expand Please bring to your interview TWO forms of identification (e.g. passport, driving licence), as well as a proof of address and your original GCSE certificates. If you do not have all these documents at the time of your interview do not worry - if you are successful, you will be able to bring them later to training or our office. However, your DBS will take longer to process if you cannot bring them to interview so we advise you to provide them as soon as possible.
Can I apply for more than one vacancy? Expand We ask that tutors begin by applying for just one vacancy (either Primary, Secondary Maths, Secondary English or Secondary Science). You will have the opportunity in your interview to express interest in training in other subjects – as long as you pass the relevant subject knowledge test and attend the relevant training, you will be able to tutor in more than one subject later on.
What if I can’t attend one of the training dates? Expand Training only takes place once following the recruitment round in each city. If you are unable to attend a training session, it’s possible there might be a session you can attend in another city. To arrange this, email [email protected]. We do expect all our successful applicants to complete ALL the necessary training, which may mean you have to miss some University contact time. If you do not attend the Welcome Evening and relevant training for your subject, you will not be able to tutor.
Will I need to work during University holidays? Expand We follow the term timetable of schools, and so tuition can sometimes run 1 or 2 weeks into University holidays. When you sign up to assignments, you will know how many weeks they require you to tutor and you will have to be available for EVERY week listed – please do not take on an assignment that you know in advance you cannot complete, as this is unfair on the children you are responsible for tutoring.
When will the work take place? Can I choose my hours? Expand You are not given shifts as a tutor. We send out tuition assignments to tutors as they become available - this will include details of the time and day of the tuition, the pay rate and how long the assignment will run for. Tutors can apply for as many tuition assignments as they wish, but we expect tutors to have checked that they can commit to the entire run of an assignment before applying. The amount of available work varies depending on the time of year and the demand from schools and we cannot guarantee that work at a particular time/in a particular area will be available.
How far will I have to travel? Expand This depends on which school(s) you work with - some are right next to universities, but this work tends to be taken up very quickly. The average travel time to assignments is around an hour on public transport from student areas. Assignments which are further away tend to be for longer blocks of time so that tutors’ journeys are worth it.
About my pay… Expand We pay our tutors in arrears on the 25th of every month. This means your pay will reflect all the work you did in the previous month e.g. on the 25th October, you will be paid for all the work you did in September. You will be paid for ‘contact time’ (the tuition session you deliver) and ‘non-contact time’ (the preparation done at home for the session). The minimum you will be paid is £12 per hour for contact time and £5 per hour for non-contact time; pay will increase and vary according to factors including number of pupils being tutored and length of the session. The Tutor Trust will be responsible for processing your pay. We do not cover travel expenses for our tutors, however if you take on an assignment that requires commuting longer than usual, this will be reflected in the rate of pay. When you become a Tutor Trust tutor you register as self-employed, which must be done on the HMRC website.