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Tutor Doctor Review Summary
Tutor Doctor offers in-person and online tutoring in 16 countries. A post-secondary education is required, with pay based on experience, subject and location (e.g. $15-35 US, £14-25 UK). You may join multiple branches, though hours and subjects are limited by student demand, while prep/writing time is unpaid.
| Pay (per hour): | US$15-$35 CAD$17-$30 GBP£14-£25 AUD$28-$50 ZAR82-300 |
| Location / language requirements? | 16 countries* |
| Degree / diploma required? | Yes or enrolled |
| Teaching certificate required? | No |
| Teaching experience required? | No |
| Student age (Adults/Children)? | All ages |
| Class size: | 1v1 |
| Minimum hours (per week): | 0 |
Tutor Doctor Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Minimal qualifications and experience required
- Straightforward interview
- Build a long-term relationship with the same students
- Can theoretically tutor any subject/level/age (dependent on student demand)
- Highly-rated and postively reviewed by its tutors
Cons:
- Primarily in-person tutoring with fewer online opportunities
- Some subjects are more in-demand than others
- Hours and schedule largely determined by the students
- Sometimes lots of prep, depending on subject, level and student needs, which takes unpaid time (as does report writing)
What Is Tutor Doctor and Is It Legit?
Tutor Doctor is a legitimate tutoring business that originated in Canada and has been operating since 2000. It adopted a franchise model in 2003, and has since grown to 724 franchises across 16 countries. In that time, 28,000 Tutor Doctor tutors have helped over 300,000 students. Its legitimacy is reinforced by a Tutor Doctor Trustpilot score of 4.6 out of 5, and winning an ‘Innovation Award’ at the bfa HSBC franchise awards.
Below is a video introduction to the company:
How Does Tutor Doctor Work?
Tutor Doctor offers tutoring to students of all ages in any subject. However, realistically, you will only be able to tutor what there’s demand for, with core school subjects such as Mathematics, Science and English the most popular.
Students are either directly assigned to suitable tutors, or they are listed on a Tutor Doctor jobs board accessed through the company’s admin portal, Bang. Accompanying the student will be a consultation report that assesses their learning needs and goals to provide a customized plan for the tutor to base personalized sessions around.
After each session, tutors submit a report of what was covered as well as identifying work for the students to focus on ahead of their next tutorial. This report goes to the student or their parents once approved by the admin team.
Tutor Doctor Online Tutoring
While traditionally, Tutor Doctor has focused on providing in-person tuition, and this remains the core part of their business, the COVID-19 global pandemic forced the organization to cater more for online learning. Their platform of choice is Bramble, though tutors often may use an alternative platform, such as Skype or Zoom, if it suits their student better.
Below is a video demonstrating Bramble and its features:
And here is a Tutor Doctor online tutorial in action:
How Much Do Tutor Doctor Tutors Get Paid?
Tutor Doctor pay rates vary between franchises within and across the different countries they operate in. They are also informed by the tutor’s experience, qualifications, subject level and demand, and whether the tutoring will be in-person or online (the latter usually pays less). Below we have collated the Tutor Doctor hourly rate for some of its major markets:
- USD$15-$35 per hour
- CAD$17-$30 per hour
- GBP£14-$25 per hour
- AUD$28-$50 per hour
- ZAR82-300 per hour
Payment is made monthly via direct bank deposit.
Unfortunately, only actual tutoring time is paid for, not what is expended on prep and report writing.
Tutor Doctor Hours and Schedule
While tutors may choose their own schedule, the precise times they teach and the number of hours they receive will often depend on how flexible they are in accommodating student requests. There is most demand after school, and usually student families can be negotiated with regarding rescheduling in cases of illness or holiday.
Tutor Doctor Requirements
Here is the list of Tutor Doctor qualifications that are required of all applicants:
- Have completed, or are working towards completing, postsecondary education
- Strong subject matter expertise
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Compassion
- Patience
- A passion for helping others
- A mentor mentality
- The ability to build strong rapport and relationships
- Creativity
- Flexibility
Tutor Doctor Application Process
To lodge a tutor application, begin by visiting the relevant site for your country, e.g.:
Click on the ‘Become a tutor’ link located in the top menu bar, where you will either be taken straight to a contact form (for Australians and South Africans), or be given a box in which to enter your ZIP/postal code that will identify your nearest Tutor Doctor location. Click on this information and fill in the contact form (or email the local franchise directly) with your name, contact details, and message stating your interest, subject expertise, qualifications and experience.
It is important to note that, from personal experience, one can register with multiple Tutor Doctor branches, especially when tutoring remotely.
Alternatively, Tutor Doctor vacancies are usually listed on Indeed (again, specific to country):
- Tutor Doctor USA on Indeed
- Tutor Doctor Canada on Indeed
- Tutor Doctor UK on Indeed
- Tutor Doctor Australia on Indeed
Tutor Doctor Interview
If they are interested, the Tutor Doctor branch(es) you contact will set up an interview, either in-person at a local venue (e.g. a coffee shop) if you live nearby, or via telephone or video conferencing software such as Skype or Zoom. This will be relatively informal and last around 30 minutes, and you will be expected to undergo background checks before being hired.
Below is a list of Tutor Doctor interview questions that have previously been asked of candidates:
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why do you want to tutor?
- Describe your educational background and tutoring experience.
- How has your past academic classes prepared you for tutoring?
- What is your experience with children?
- What are your three best qualities?
- What courses and topics are you okay with teaching? / Which courses are you the most comfortable tutoring?
- What age range are you comfortable serving?
- How do you organize yourself?
- What is the most important skill to have as a tutor?
- How would you work with a shy student?
- What would you do if your student was not understanding the material being taught?
- How would you support a student who continuously achieves poor grades despite tuition?
- How would you go about teaching a student that isn’t interested in the subject?
- How would you handle a student that doesn’t focus well?
- Have you had any experience with children who have behavioral issues? How would you connect to a troubled kid?
- How will you provide individualized tutoring to each student?
- Describe a time you had to handle conflict at work.
- How do you handle feedback from parents? What would you do if you had disagreement with parents?
- What days are you available to tutor? How many hours are you available in a week
Tutor Doctor Reviews – What Is It Like Working for Tutor Doctor?
The Tutor Doctor Glassdoor page currently provides a respectable score of 4.2 out of 5, with 85% willing to recommend them. These reviews for Tutor Doctor have been summarized below, with lots of praise for the flexibility, students, and supervisors/management, though the pay rate attracts mixed comments, and there is criticism over the admin site (Bang) and part-time nature of the work which means it can take time to build up enough students:
The Tutor Doctor Indeed page provides a similar rating of 4.3 out of 5 (at the time of writing), with its users echoing aforementioned comments about good management and flexibility but limited part-time hours. It is important to filter reviews by your particular location, however, as the structure of the business means that franchise owners may run things slightly differently between branches.
Below is the featured Indeed review, for reference:
Conclusion – Is Tutor Doctor Good for Online Teachers?
Tutor Doctor is a name that can be trusted within the tutoring industry, having attracted positive endorsements from many of its tutors. Though online students are catered for, this is not their primary focus, and you will find greater success if you can conduct in-person tutoring too whilst also applying to multiple branches. Still, this should be considered a part-time opportunity at best, and the pay is less attractive when you consider the unpaid time spent preparing and writing-up reports.
Apply by visiting the Tutor Doctor website for your country and click on ‘Become a tutor’.
A full list of other online teaching companies can be found here.
