Teaching or Tutoring? What’s the Best Choice for Your Career?

Is teaching a bad career choice? If you find yourself asking that question, then you’re not alone. For several years now, there’s been a clear, ongoing trend in the UK of skilled teachers leaving the profession, often transitioning to non-classroom-based roles.

Meanwhile, private tutoring has become increasingly commonplace, with many parents feeling the need to supplement their child’s education outside of school hours.

But is tutoring really the solution? How much do private tutors actually make? And which job provides more satisfaction in the long run?

Becoming a Private Tutor

So how do you become a private tutor? Does it require the same qualifications as teaching?

Actually, there’s good news on this front. The bar to becoming a private tutor in the UK is much lower than becoming a teacher. Of course, you will still need to be an expert on your subject. While they won’t demand a teaching degree, most parents will want to see some qualifications and, ultimately, you won’t be able to teach what you don’t already know.

If you’re already a teacher, then this is a huge added bonus when transitioning into private tutoring. Being able to tell parents that you’ve worked in a classroom environment shows from the get-go that you’re comfortable working with all kinds of children from all kinds of different backgrounds.

Private Tutoring Careers

Of course, while qualifications aren’t as important, you do still have to think carefully about your career as a private tutor. While there are some companies you can work with – particularly if you’re willing to take online tutoring jobs – practically speaking, you’re looking at a self-employed career.

That’s not to say you can’t make good money. Build up a strong reputation with a good base of clients and word of mouth will carry you far. What parents want more than anything else is someone with a proven track record, and they’ll often take recommendations from other parents.

This is another case where a teaching background can help massively. All that time you spent in class, doing parent/teacher meetings, and working hard to get those kids through their exams will now pay off massively in the form of networking.

This really is a job where trust can make a whole world of difference. Parents are much more likely to put their faith – and their money – in someone they’ve already built a rapport with and who knows the needs of their child.

Teaching Vs Tutoring

We’ve talked a lot about the benefits of tutoring over teaching, but when you stack the two against each other, the case is far from clear on either side.

In the short term, tutoring seems like the better option. It’s lower commitment and, once you build up a base of clients, the income per hour is often better than teaching. Furthermore, you don’t have to put in out-of-hours work or deal with stressful classroom environments.

But tutoring can be stressful in its own right. Like any self-employed work, it’s far from stable. You’ll have to be constantly networking and getting your name out there – even when you have a stable base of clients. Keep in mind that kids age, curriculums change, and the demand for tutors often shifts.

On top of that, while teaching may be difficult and stressful in the short term, it does offer some long-term career benefits. Teachers with experience often get promoted, become department leads and even head teachers. Some choose to leave the classroom altogether, focusing more on the management side of the education system.

So is teaching still a good choice? Well, ultimately, a lot of this comes down to your personal needs in a job. If you look at it as a long game to earn a good salary, then teaching wins out. If you want to minimise daily stress but don’t mind a little job instability, then you’ll enjoy being a tutor.

There’s also the entrepreneurial aspect to consider. For private tutors with their eye on long-term earnings, there’s a lot of appeal in shifting to an agency model. Once they’ve managed to fill out their working hours, they hire other tutors. Depending on your approach, these types of small businesses can scale quite well, leading to better stability in the long run.