A tutor supports two pupils in a Maths session

Our tutors

We know that tutoring is only effective when delivered by high-quality tutors. Our tutor pool contains a mix of undergraduate and graduate students, qualified teachers and experienced professionals from other fields. 

Our tutors 

Our tutors are self-employed and are paid a minimum of £22 to plan and deliver a one-hour tutoring session. Our tutor pool contains people with a range of experience, including qualified teachers and experienced professionals. Around 70% of our tutors are undergraduate and graduate students at local universities. 

We pay our tutors fairly and we are thoughtful about how we recruit. Fewer than half of tutors who submit application forms become tutors with us. All primary tutors have at least a grade B / 6 in both GCSE Maths and GCSE English. All secondary tutors have at least a grade A / 7 at GCSE in the subject that they tutor, and many are studying that subject at university. 

Before being approved to tutor with us, all tutors go through the following process:

  • Initial online application with scored competency questions
  • Online interview with scored questions, including a simulated tutoring session. Every candidate is interviewed by two members of our staff team.
  • 10-12 hour assessed online training, consisting of a mix of self-paced online learning, live sessions with our staff team and PGCE trainers from the University of Manchester, and assessed tasks. The training contains guidance on the various GCSE specifications and the National Curriculum. You can find out more about our tutor training here.
  • Safeguarding training
  • Two references
  • Enhanced DBS check and barred list check
Our tutor is amazing and is part of the team here. She has worked superbly with staff and children alike in providing highly effective targeted support."
Lisa Houghton, Ashurst Primary School

Building confidence and aspirations

Our tutors don't just provide academic support; throughout the programme, they strive to build confidence, foster aspiration, and encourage a love for learning in their pupils. Tutoring sessions not only provide a safe and supportive space for pupils to ask questions and work through the topics they find more difficult, but also the chance to have conversations in a small group with a successful adult role model. 

Many of our tutors are students at Russell Group universities, and an increasing proportion have engaged in Widening Participation programmes before attending university. They're very well-placed to talk with your pupils about their own journey to higher education and what options are available to pupils after leaving school.

I had my favourite tutor and he was the best and explained things to me in a way I understood properly."
Year 7 pupil, Abraham Moss Community Academy

Ensuring high-quality tutoring

After their initial training, our tutors receive ongoing support and monitoring from our in-house team of experienced teachers and school leaders, including subject specialists in English, Maths and Science. We offer ongoing programmes of development for our tutors, including video tutorials, a peer mentoring programme, live online sessions, and in-person training events. 

All tutors are required to complete annual safeguarding training and refresher training. 

Our in-house team ensure that all tutors are delivering high-quality tutoring sessions. Monitoring takes two forms, with tutors assessed against our rigorous matrices of tutor quality:

  • Lesson plan spot checks - all tutors are required to submit an exemplar lesson plan, which is reviewed by a member of our quality team. Tutors receive developmental feedback.
  • Lesson observations - last year, over 60% of tutors were observed delivering a session by one of our team. We observe as many tutors as possible, prioritising new tutors, those whose lesson plan indicates areas for development, and those we believe may be outstanding and able to mentor other tutors. Tutors receive full developmental feedback on the outcome of their observation.

We are very proud of the quality of our tutors: in 2022/23, 94% of tutors observed were delivering good or outstanding tutoring. The small number who need more support are provided with a bespoke programme of coaching and are reobserved.

  • 91 %

    of our tutors were monitored by our Quality Team

  • 69 %

    of tutors received a session observation

  • 94 %

    were delivering good or outstanding tutoring

A primary school-aged boy wearing a grey school jumper is sat at a desk. He is writing with a pen on a sheet of paper and concentrating hard.

Get in touch

To find out more about Tutor Trust's tutors and set up a programme in your school, get in touch

Get in touch