Do I need experience in online tuition? Expand We have circulated a survey asking tutors to highlight their interest in and experience of online tuition. If you have experience of online tuition you think we should know about, then please note it in your survey response. If you have not completed the Online Tuition Survey, please do so here. If you have no experience of online tuition, then this will not discount you from being selected for assignments.
How do I get assignments and how are they allocated? Expand School Coordinators will be emailing out online tuition assignments to the tutors they are responsible for just as normal. Tutors will therefore only be eligible for assignments in their city and subject, as they usually would for an assignment. School Coordinators will distribute assignments to tutors who apply for them using the same criteria they usually would e.g. when did they apply, what are they like as a tutor. Just as School Coordinators will consider a range of factors when judging who to give a face-to-face assignment to, they will decide to give online assignments to tutors in the same way. As always, deciding which tutor gets the assignment when many tutors have applied is down to Coordinator discretion.
Do I need my DBS certificate with me? Expand We understand that some tutors will not have their physical DBS certificates with them at the moment. As all our tutors are DBS checked, we will provide evidence of this to schools and many of our partner schools will find this acceptable. It is, however, still up to the school’s discretion whether this evidence is valid or not. Coordinators will stipulate if a school has particular requests regarding DBS evidence in their email advertising the assignment. If you do not have your physical DBS, please email your relevant School Coordinator to notify them.
Will we be in contact with someone from the pupil's school? Expand When you take on an online tuition assignment, you will have an online Introductory Meeting with your Coordinator and the school contact. The contact will direct you to the topics they want you to cover with the pupils. You will be required to produce feedback after every session and there will be a member of the Tutor Trust team catching up with you after your first session and regularly throughout the assignment. The school contact will also be giving feedback so all parties should have regular communication about how the online assignment is going. For safeguarding purposes, the student’s parents or guardians need to be present at every tuition session, and because of Bramble’s specifications, all tuition sessions are automatically recorded. This enables the Tutor Trust Quality Team to ‘observe’ recorded online tuition and they may also ‘attend’ one of your live sessions for monitoring purposes (tutors will be given advanced notice of this)
How much will I be paid and when? Expand Online tuition rates are £15 p/h, inclusive of pay for preparation and planning. As usual, tutors will be paid on the 25th of every month and will be paid a month in arrears e.g. your pay on the 25th of May will reflect the work you carried out in April.
What happens to my pay if a pupil does not show up to my tuition session? Expand If a tutor prepares for a session and the pupil fails to show up, then we will try to rearrange the session. Please wait at least 20 minutes before deciding that the session is not going ahead, as pupils may be delayed by technical difficulties. Contact your School Coordinator once you have decided the session will need to be rearranged. Tutors won’t be paid in the first instance of the pupil not attending, however if the session is rearranged and your pupil fails to show up again, then you will be paid for this session. The assignment will be reviewed if this is a persistent problem.
What happens if a session is cancelled? Expand If your online tuition session is cancelled by a learner, the tutor will be notified at the earliest convenience. Just as with regular face-to-face tuition, tutors are not paid for cancelled sessions.
I am ill and can’t make a session – what should I do? Expand If you are ill you should email the pupil’s parent/carer to let them know. You must include your School Coordinator in this email and any other correspondence you have with a parent/carer. In your introductory meeting, the parent/carer will determine if they have specific demands for what to do in case of illness. Just as with normal assignments, tutors are not paid for sessions missed due to illness.
What happens if the parent/carer is not present for the start of the session? Expand It is essential that the parent or carer of your pupil is present at the start of the session for safeguarding purposes. If they are not there you will need to rearrange the session and will be paid once the rearranged session has gone ahead.
My internet connection is being unstable – what should I do? Expand If you cannot carry out a session because of unstable internet, you should text or call the pupil’s parent/carer and try to rearrange the session. You must send a text to or call your Coordinator to notify them of this as soon as possible.
I cannot start until May/June – can I still do online tuition? Expand Although our Online Tuition pilot is taking place at the end of April, we are hoping to expand and continue our online tuition programme in the coming months. We are confident there will be many more opportunities for our tutors to be involved with this exciting new project. If you are not available to take part in tuition until a later date, there will hopefully be more assignments available for you in May and June. Please keep in touch with us and keep checking our website for updates.