Tutorful Review Summary

Tutorful is a well-rated UK teacher marketplace that offers 1v1 and group classes for adults and children. No qualifications are required, though you must have 2 years of tutoring experience to apply. Most tutors charge £15-35 an hour, though Tutorful deducts 20-25% of this as a platform fee.

Tutorful Pros and Cons

Pros:

• No degree, qualifications or DBS background check required
• Tutors decide their pay rate and availability
• Choice of child and adult students, 1v1, group, online or in-person
• Lots of positive reviews from tutors

Cons:

• UK only
• Largely reliant on your profile ranking to attract bookings
• Tutorful commission/platform fee of 20-25%

Is Tutorful Legit?

Tutorful Ltd. is the ‘the UK’s fastest growing community of tutors’, having delivered over 2 million sessions since its founding in 2015. It utilizes over 10,000 tutors to teach 13,000+ lessons in 300 subjects every week to adults and children, from Primary to A-Level and above. The Tutorful headquarters is in Sheffield, England, and the company’s legitimacy is supported by being ranked #77 in 2017’s Startups 100 list and a Tutorful Trustpilot score of 4.6 out of 5.

How Does Tutorful Work for Tutors?

As a teacher marketplace, bookings are primarily secured through your Tutorful profile, which is listed on the company’s online platform. Prospective students are able to filter these listings according to their requirements, and if they are interested in taking lessons with you they will either message or request a free video call to discuss their learning objectives. Tutorful students are given a ‘First-Lesson Guarantee’ allowing them to change tutors should they not ‘click’ with you.

If you wish to be more proactive, there is also a Tutorful job board that can be accessed through your dashboard, which lists additional tutoring opportunities that can be applied for directly.

Tutorful tutors have full control over their availability and decide what rates they charge.

Tutorful classes can be conducted online or in person, one-on-one or in groups; you can decide how many students to accept in your Tutorful group lessons.

Tutorful online lessons are conducted through the Tutorful classroom, which is a browser-based platform that combines screen and document-sharing capabilities with an annotated whiteboard. A Tutorful online classroom demo can be viewed in this video:

Tutorful Cancellation Policy

If a student cancels a lesson within 24 hours of its start time, tutors may still collect either 50% or the full cost of the lesson, or choose to waive the charge entirely.

If a student does not show up to a lesson, tutors must wait at least 15 minutes in the online classroom and attempt to phone the student, providing evidence of this in order to enforce a 100% charge.

Tutorful Pay Rates

Tutorful rates are set by the tutor and tend to range between £15-£35 for regular classes, though the company suggests the following guidelines:

• £15-£20 for inexperienced tutors such as university students or recent graduates outside of London
• £25-£30 for experienced tutors outside of London
• £30-£35 for qualified teachers outside of London
• £35+ for experienced and highly-qualified tutors inside London

Tutors are often able to increase their rates once they have taught a few lessons and acquired positive reviews on their profile from several students.

Setting a reduced rate, as little as £5, is expected for a Tutorful trial lesson.

Additional income can be generated through the Tutorful refer a friend incentive program, which offers £25 for each new student you refer who completes a lesson on the platform.

Tutorful Payment Methods

Tutorful earnings are paid directly into a UK bank account 8-9 days following the lesson.

How Much Commission Does Tutorful Take?

As a teacher marketplace, Tutorful makes money by deducting a commission (what they call a ‘platform fee’) from the price of each lesson. The percentage for this Tutorful platform fee starts at 25% (with the tutor receiving 75% to begin with), though it drops to 20% (80% tutor) once 250 hours have been taught.

Tutorful Requirements

The Tutorful job requirements are that you:

• Be over the age of 18
• Live in the UK and possess the right to work there as self-employed
• Have at least two years of formal tutoring or teaching experience (including online)
• Possess excellent knowledge of the UK curriculum with a real enthusiasm for the subject
• Are prepared to plan and deliver sessions tailored to students’ needs

No formal teaching qualification is required, though you can often charge more if you have one.

A Tutorful DBS check is not mandatory, though if you can provide proof of a clean certificate conducted within the past two years you will receive a ‘Background Checked’ status on the site which may help with bookings.

Tutorful Hiring Process

There are 5 stages to become a tutor with Tutorful:

1. Complete your profile to a high standard using the onboarding video (below) as a guide
2. Present a lesson plan in a one-to-one interview
3. Attend training seminars
4. Receive a copy of the tutor handbook and seminar recording
5. Once your Tutorful references have been approved, go live on the site

To create an account, visit the Tutorful sign up page, agree to the following statements, and register with your name, email address, telephone number and password:

• I am 18 or older, live in and have the right to work as self-employed in the UK
• I do not already have a tutor account with Tutorful
• I have at least two years formal tutoring/teaching experience and have taught online lessons
• I understand that all lessons will take place online and have the equipment necessary to teach online
• I am willing to offer a quick free video chat with parents/students before they book lessons
• I agree to the Tutorful Terms and Conditions and to book and accept payment for all lessons through the website
• I agree to my lessons being recorded for safeguarding and sharing with my students for revision purposes

Once your account has been created, you must provide the following details, including a copy of your ID, proof of address and at least two references:

• Create profile (for help in writing your profile, consult existing Tutorful bio examples):
  • Tagline
  • Rate
  • Bio
  • Profile picture
  • Qualifications
  • Subjects
  • Background check (optional)
  • Qualified teacher status (optional)
  • Teaching preferences (optional) = online or online and in-person
• Set availability
• Account details:
  • Personal details
  • Identification
  • References
  • Payment details
  • Notifications (preferences)
  • Free video chat (notice period)

Your application will be assessed on the following criteria:

• The standard of your profile: see how to complete your profile here.
• The outcome of your one-to-one interview: you will be asked to demonstrate how you teach, with your interviewer marking you.
• Attendance at training sessions: If your interview is successful, you will be given two weeks to attend two training sessions: one on using Tutorful and the other on using the online classroom. 
• Your conduct when speaking to the Customer Support Team: Tutorful expects all users to treat their team with respect.

This onboarding video walks you through the Tutorful application process:

Tutorful Interview

Once your profile has been reviewed, you will be invited to book a 15-minute Tutorful interview for the company to learn about your teaching style, either on Skype or Zoom.

At the start, you will be asked a few Tutorful interview questions about your previous tutoring experience, which may include:

• Tell me about yourself
• What tutoring experience do you have?
• Why did you choose tutoring?
• What qualities do you have that makes you a suitable tutor?
• What subjects will you be teaching?
• What resources will you use?
• How would you present a lesson to a new pupil?

While you will not have to teach a Tutorful demo, you will need to prepare a lesson plan.

You will have 10-minutes to present your Tutorful lesson plan, which can be based on any topic or concept relevant to the subjects you teach. It should include learning resources and assessment, and be screen-shared in the form of a single (Word or PDF) document (not as a slideshow or the lesson itself), followed by a 5-minute explanation. If you run over time you may be cut off.

There is a chance to ask questions at the end of the interview.

Following a successful interview, you will have 2 weeks to attend two online training seminars on using Tutorful and their online classroom.

Tutorful Reviews – What Is It Like Working for Tutorful?

The Tutorful Glassdoor page gives the company an averaged score of 4.2 out of 5, with 91% willing to recommend them (at the time of writing). Here is the summary of these Tutorful employee reviews:

As one might expect, the most common complaint is over Tutorful’s commission/platform fee. Still, it is impressive that among 166 reviews of Tutorful that have been left to date, only a single 1* rating has been given by a tutor since 2018, and booking rates also appear to be decent despite the competition of the marketplace. We have included this and a few recent Tutorful tutor reviews below:

Conclusion – Is Tutorful Good?

Tutorful is a good option for tutors depending on your location and qualifications, as this determines how much you can charge and the amount left over once the company takes its cut. If you can afford their platform fee, then Tutorful is a well-established and rated company that seems to offer decent bookings despite the challenges of making one’s profile stand out amidst the market.

You can join Tutorful here.

A full list of online teaching companies can be found here.