Sheffield online tutoring firm booms as parents buy their children an education

Tutorful had 9,500 tutors on its books in February, today it has 11,200 teaching 5,200 lessons a week, up from 2,800 before the corona crisis.

The company has seen a surge in demand for primary school tutoring - triple in March what it was in February - while lessons for secondary school children have doubled.

And in March alone it saw a 248 per cent increase in people signing up as tutors.

The 30-strong firm’s website lists tutors in 300 subjects whose profile shows their charge - from £15 to £40 - as well as a rating, number of hours taught and number of repeat students.

The firm’s algorithm boosts popular tutors up its rankings while duds drop off the bottom.

Tutorful, based in Concept House, Young Street, in Sheffield city centre, was set up by long-time friends technology analyst Mark Hughes and teacher Scott Woodley in 2015.

Mark Hughes said: “Online tutoring used to make up just 20 per cent of our business, it is now 100 per cent - because of social distancing there can obviously be no face-to-face teaching in homes any more.

“The style of teaching has changed too. Tutoring is usually very outcome based, you’re tutored for an exam for example, but now the need is to keep kids engaged in daily learning as best we can.

“A couple of hours with a tutor whenever possible can really help to do that. It adds structure to the day and also takes the pressure off parents who are no doubt feeling stressed with the added pressure of trying to homeschool whilst working from home.

“We’re seeing teachers signing up, tutors who left the profession and are now returning, people completely new to tutoring, students who have found their semester at university has come to an abrupt end, and people with SEN experience which is much needed.

“We’re really pleased that we can keep these people earning money - switching lessons to online for however long the lockdown restrictions continue.”

Tutorful is also looking to help more parents by making Tutoring more affordable with more group sessions.

“I’m hearing from parents who have children with three different key stages under one roof - who are struggling to know where to start with home schooling.

“We’re working on a group classroom-style tutoring experience, where five or six children of a similar school age can be taught by one tutor.

“This gives children some of that peer-to-peer classroom experience and will make the cost of a tutor much more affordable to parents. We’re hoping it will cost around 60 per cent less than one-on-one tutoring.”

In November it received investment of £3.2m from NVM Private Equity to improve its online platform and reach more people.

In 2017 it raised £700,000 from more than 500 crowd-funding investors. The year before it raised £150,000 in just four days, also via a crowd-funding platform, allowing the business to begin creating new jobs and grow rapidly.

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