Ultimate Tutoring Guide: How to Become a Tutor

Whether you’re already a tutor or aspiring to become one, you’re in the right place! In this article, we’ll delve into the intricacies of tutoring—what it means to be a tutor, what it takes to succeed, and some practical tips to help you on your journey. So, let’s dive right in!

What Does a Tutor Do?

A tutor’s primary role is to support their student’s academic goals. This means doing everything in your power to help the student or learner (the tutee) reach their academic potential, in line with their goals. As a tutor, you do this by helping your tutee to understand challenging concepts and by developing their confidence when faced with assessments. Confidence is crucial—your ultimate aim as a tutor is to help your tutee become independent and capable of tackling academic challenges without constant support. Success as a tutor is marked when your tutee no longer needs you because they have gained the skills and self-assurance to thrive on their own.

SMART goal setting

One of the first things that a tutor should assist their tutee with is to set goals. This helps you both to get onto the same page about what you’d like to achieve in the long run. It is, however, very important to keep the goals realistic and attainable. If they are not, you run the risk of setting your tutee up for failure. This is not something that any tutor wants!

Learn more about setting SMART goals here.

Building tutee confidence

Sometimes children or students understand their work well, but still are not achieving the marks that they want. This usually comes down to a lack of confidence in their own ability. As a tutor it is important to be able to discern between when a tutee is struggling with content and when it is about confidence.

If you determine that a tutee’s main challenge is with confidence, you’ll need to lean into practice and repetition. Providing ample opportunities for your tutee to practise will help reinforce their skills and boost their confidence.

When Do Learners or Students Need Tutors?

People reach out for tutors for a wide variety of reasons. Some parents seek out tutors when their children are just shy of distinctions, while others do it when their children are failing subjects. Some tertiary students seek out a tutor when they have an assignment due and don’t understand the subject matter or even just require direction in their reading and writing. Beyond challenges with subject matter, people also seek out tutors when they have learning difficulties. The reasons for requiring tutors are as varied as people themselves. For this reason it is important to try to fully understand a tutees needs, along with their goals, before jumping headlong into a tutoring plan. Careful consideration is crucial.

Why Become a Tutor?

Being a tutor is one of the most rewarding things to do. It is so much more than just a job. If you are passionate about helping others and supporting the growth of those around you, then tutoring might be for you. However, outside of the fuzzies, there are plenty of other benefits to tutoring.

Work experience

Many students turn to tutoring as a job because it is a great way to build up your professional experience and CV, even if you do not plan to go into the education sector. This is because any opportunity to prove that you can conduct yourself with dedication and professionalism is one worth grasping.

To learn more about getting great client feedback and glowing references, check this article out.

Extra income

We live in a world of side-hustles – there is no denying that. What better way could there be to generate some additional income while also sharing your knowledge with the next generation? There is no reason that you can’t earn an extra income while helping someone else.

Flexibility in work

You get to set your own schedule, choose which clients you are willing to take on and which subjects you want to teach. The old adage still remains true though: The more you put in, the more you get out. So if you approach your tutoring with dedication and determination, you will be able to build a thriving client base.

Read Why I Love Tutoring for some insight into an individual perspective.

What Do I Need to Become a Tutor?

To be a tutor you need a few basic skills and attributes, that we’ll discuss in more detail soon. But the most important quality is the desire to be great. To be a successful tutor you have to really WANT to be tutoring and helping your tutees to grow.

Academic excellence

This is likely the most obvious and most important of all of the necessary qualities for a good tutor. You have to have a solid understanding of the content of whichever subject you choose to tutor. This can either be based on getting excellent marks in school or as a result of studying further and taking associated subjects at tertiary level. In addition to this, if you want to tutor school children you also need to stay up-to-date with the latest curriculum requirements.

Patience and optimism

You should ideally be a patient person who can whip up optimism. When assisting someone to learn challenging concepts it’s important that you are able to encourage them, no matter how slow the process might feel. Getting impatient with your tutee is never going to lead to a positive result. Conversely, remaining patient depends on your ability to be optimistic and believe that your tutee WILL grasp the concepts they’ve been struggling with.

Time to dedicate

While tutoring can be very flexible, you do still need to have some time available to put into it. This means not only lesson time, but also preparation time. Each lesson needs to be planned out for the individual tutee. Sometimes this means creating resources to use during the lesson or even choosing videos to watch together. Preparation takes many different shapes, but it does take some time and dedication. Without this time and dedication, tutoring may not be for you.

Respect and professionalism

While these are traits that you can hone with experience, you need to understand their importance to be a good tutor. As a tutor you often interact with families different to what you may be used to. It’s important to have respect for clients, regardless of how different from you they may be. In addition to this, you have to be able to conduct yourself professionally at all times. This refers to your communication and ability to be punctual as well. Every one of your client interactions builds on people’s impression of you.

Effective communication

The ability to transfer knowledge from yourself to your tutee is critical. Without a doubt, teaching difficult and confusing ideas and content will put your communication skills to the test. Always keep in mind that if you cannot clearly communicate what your tutee needs to know, then they will not be able to learn it. Further to this, you may also need to communicate clearly and effectively with your tutee’s parents – making this a pivotal skill in your toolbelt.

Reliable transport

In South Africa a large number of clients still prefer to opt for in-person tutoring. With this in mind, it is worthwhile to consider how you might best be able to reach your clients. While exclusively tutoring online is attractive, it is not necessarily a viable strategy here. This is definitely something important to consider when weighing tutoring as an option.

Training or experience to become a tutor

While tutoring does not necessarily require any specific kind of degree or qualification, experience goes a long way. This experience could be informal, such as helping your younger siblings or friends at school. Every little bit helps to hone your skills in teaching others. If you have no experience it’s recommended that you tutor through a company that has an in-house training program to ensure that you have all the tools you need to succeed. You can also access online open-source resources to help you grow.

Check out some awesome tutoring tips here!

Tutoring Across Different Age Groups

Depending on the kinds of tutoring you’re most comfortable with, you might find yourself tutoring children and adults in different stages of their lives. That’s part of what makes tutoring so exciting! Below we’ll go over some basic information surrounding what you can expect from tutoring different age groups.

Pre-primary and primary school

Especially pro-active parents often reach out for assistance for their young children. This usually happens if a teacher identifies aspects in which the child may not be functioning at the same level as their peers. Pre-primary tutoring typically takes the form of assisting with basic numeracy and literacy development.

In addition to tutoring specific subjects to younger children, parents also often seek out tutors to assist with general homework supervision. If you are open to this, you would need to make sure that you have a basic understanding of most primary-level subjects. This may require a fair amount of research and preparation if it’s not something you’ve done before.

To learn more, check out this article on Teaching Literacy and Numeracy.

High school

When it comes to tutoring high schoolers, you really need to be a subject expert. The ideal is that you should have excelled at school at the subject you want to teach. If you have tertiary experience with the subject, that goes a long way too. If you’ve been out of school for more than 5 years you should not just assume that you still know and understand the curriculum. A lot could have changed and it’s important to do that research. Beyond the CAPS and IEB curriculums there is also an ever-growing need for tutors with experience in the Cambridge syllabus.

In terms of subjects to tutor, the requirements of clients can be pretty varied. That said, trends do lean towards Maths, Maths Literacy, Life Science, Physical Science, CAT and languages. Primarily we see parents needing assistance with English Home Language and Afrikaans First Additional Language, but even that varies.

Tertiary students

Tutoring at a tertiary level can be quite complex. This is because module content varies so much between different institutions. Just because you did well at Statistics at one university, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be able to tutor it to someone at a different university. For this reason, we recommend that you always first review a course outline before committing to a client to be safe.

In addition to this, the golden rule is always to be honest. Don’t over-promise and wind up under-delivering. Rather tell a client that you’re not sure that you can help them, but that you are willing to give it a trial. See? We’re back to why effective communication is so important.

Adults

Outside of university students (who are obviously adults) you may also come across adults requiring tutoring outside of tertiary requirements. This is usually related to learning a language, but not limited to that. As an example, someone could just be interested in learning about coding and seek out a tutor to help get them started and perhaps give them some direction. In this case you would be expected to structure content based on your own knowledge. Alternatively, you could look into the structure of online courses or similar. You could even use your own university resources as a starting point. With cases like this you really have a lot of freedom, provided you and the client are both happy with the agreed upon approach.

Tutoring Children With Special Needs

With an ongoing increase in people seeking professional help and subsequent diagnoses being made, it often happens that clients need help for tutees with learning challenges. The most common of these include ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia and Dyscalculia. We’ll go over all of these briefly, as understanding how to tailor your approach is crucial to helping these learners succeed.

ADHD

Tutees with ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) typically have challenges with executive function. As such, they struggle to regulate their ability to give adequate attention to a given task. Depending on the main category that they fall into, they may be prone to either inattentiveness or hyperactivity/impulsivity. For the former the tutee might have a hard time staying focused and on track with content being covered. For the latter the problem may be the same, but may also present as hyperfixation on irrelevant content, making it difficult to cover the necessary work.

Check out more in this article to learn about Coping with and Helping Learners with ADHD.

Autism

Autism Spectrum Disorder is otherwise known as Autism, Asperger’s (outdated term, but still used) and ASD. It’s a developmental disorder which can cause difficulties with communication and some behaviours. It can range in spectrum from severe, where children don’t speak at all, to mild. In milder cases children are slightly socially awkward and have trouble understanding cues.

As a tutor you can help by making sure to be understanding and aware of the child’s needs. Don’t make a situation more socially awkward if you can easily break the ice. Find out what the child’s interests are and centre lessons around those. Try not to focus on one topic for too long, as children with Autism often grasp concepts very easily. Make sure to stick to a routine as this will help the child know what to expect and decrease anxiety.

This advice was taken from our larger article on Tutoring Kids with Special Needs.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that is primarily characterised by difficulty reading and/or writing. This can take many different forms in terms of the specific challenges that your tutee might face. To adequately help them, it’s important to understand their specific challenges and adapt your teaching methods accordingly.

For more on this topic, please check out our article on Tutoring Learners with Dyslexia.

Dyscalculia

Much like Dyslexia is with words, Dyscalculia is with numbers. It is a learning challenge that affects a person’s ability to do Maths. It makes it difficult for them to understand numbers and may hamper their ability to learn to manipulate numbers and perform calculations. At a more fundamental level it may even make it difficult for them to understand concepts like bigger and smaller than something. While it’s not as often discussed, some estimates indicate that it is just as common as dyslexia (estimated to affect between 5 and 10 percent of the population).

See our 3-part series on the topic here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

How to Stand Out as a Tutor

Because being a tutor is such a great job, there are a lot of people out there who do it. With tutoring becoming increasingly popular, standing out in a crowded market is important. We’re going to look at 3 main ways to make sure that you stand out, but you can also check out our Top Tips here.

Become a tutor who learns

Constant personal growth and development is what sets the good apart from the great. To be exceptional you should be reading, learning and growing as much as possible. Outside of staying on top of your subject matter, you also need to try to stay up to date with trends in education and learning methods. The more you know, the more you will be able to help your tutees smash their academic goals.

Find your niche

While it can be tempting to be a Jack of all trades, it’s highly recommended that you find your niche. Keep in mind that focusing on a niche field doesn’t mean that you can’t still dabble in others on occasion. It’s just a way for you to master a specific tutoring segment, which will allow you to stand out. Your focus area should be age- and subject-specific. That way you can put your efforts into developing that particular skill set of yours.

Upskill your online game

On-demand is increasingly the way that people choose to learn. While it is unlikely that contact sessions will ever be completely redundant, providing quality online lessons is just another way to stand out from the crowd. Many tutors say that they are online-capable, but there is a difference between being merely capable and being truly effective. Read up on the different online platforms available and make sure to pick the one that best suits your niche. You can also experiment with different online tools and tricks to level-up your skills. The better you are at providing high-quality online lessons, the more in-demand you will be.

What is it Like to Tutor With BrightSparkz Tutors?

Getting into the tutoring game on your own can be quite daunting. It’s daunting for clients as well! That’s why BrightSparkz is so well-positioned. We manage a lot of the administrative processes so that you can focus on your tutees. Let’s look at some of the main benefits to tutoring through BrightSparkz.

Client sourcing is taken care of

BrightSparkz spends a lot of time and effort on sourcing quality clients and managing the relationship until the point that they are ready to book tutoring services. This means that you don’t need to worry about exposing yourself to strangers who may or may not go ahead with booking. On top of that, we handle all of the payment collection and tax bits and pieces, so that you don’t have to. It’s a win-win!

Work experience and referrals

Working as a contractor for such a well-established organisation means that you have something more substantial to put on your CV than just informal tutoring. On top of that, we are happy to help out with referral letters on request wherever possible for our tutors who have put the time and effort into their clients.

Training and support to become a tutor

When you’re accepted to join the BrightSparkz team we offer a short introductory course on the basics of tutoring to help set you up for success. Because we’re invested in our clients, we’re also invested in our tutors. That means that we’re here to support you while you find your feet and become the awesome tutor we know you can be.

In addition to introductory tutor training, we also offer you different niche fields to branch into. All of our additional products like Little Sparkz, Study Skills Crash Course and language boot camps also have their own training courses that you may be eligible for.

If you’re even more adventurous, we also offer our clients Concessions Facilitation services, so that’s also something you might be eligible to get trained up on.

Our resource library

Along with providing guidance where possible, we also host a Resource Library that is open to our amazing tutors. Here you can find worksheets and other resources for most of our popular tutoring segments. In addition, we’re always open to accepting more resources from our top-shelf tutors, so it just keeps growing.

Being part of a dynamic team

Joining BrightSparkz means joining a dynamic team of professionals who genuinely want the very best for all of their clients and tutors. We’ve been around for many years and know what it takes to succeed. Being a part of our team, means being a part of that success. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to be part of a winning team?

If you believe that you have what it takes and want to become a tutor, you can begin the fully online application process by following this link.

A version of this article has also been published on our sister-site.