Robert and his daughter
Tutoring has a reputation of being the preserve of only wealthy parents, resigned to paying upwards of £35 an hour and with enough time and energy to shuttle their offspring to and from sessions - but all that may be about to change.
Frustrated by his search for affordable, high-quality tutoring for his own two daughters, north London dad Robert Grabiner - a former City worker - came up with the idea mytutorweb.co.uk. The site enables children to receive private tuition at less than half the usual price - and from the comfort of their own homes.
Robert said: "Like most parents, I wanted my children to be tutored by someone excellent, but the cost can be prohibitive. It occurred to me that the advances in technology mean that this no longer has to be the case."
So Robert set up mytutorweb.co.uk - an online community which brings together the UK's highest-achieving university students with young people wanting to be tutored for GCSEs and A Levels. Personalised, one-to-one lessons take place in a state-of-the-art 'virtual classroom', accessed by both parties at the touch of a button.
"It started with my daughter's friends, many of whom are now thriving at various top universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Birmingham, Durham and Warwick,” Robert said. “These students are the future leaders in industry, government, finance, education and health. They were keen to use their significant skill sets to support others, gain experience and to earn some money whilst studying.
“It occurred to me that they are experts in their field and could provide high-quality tuition across the internet. The early sessions were very successful and since then it has snowballed."
The student tutors provide a more cost-effective service than traditional tutors, cutting the cost to parents by over 50 per cent. It also puts an end to time-consuming journeys in rush-hour traffic.
Uniquely, mytutorweb.co.uk also enables parents to view the study sessions after they've taken place at a time convenient to them in order to check their child's progress.
Key to the concept's success, Robert believes, is the quality of the students delivering the tutoring: “Our student tutors are all exceptionally high achievers who have themselves obtained A or A* star grades and who are continuing to study the subjects they tutor as a major element of their degree,” he said.
“They are also fantastic communicators and highly motivated to help others whose shoes they were in, in the very recent past.
"We've found that those being tutored often feel more comfortable being supported by someone who, being close in age, relates to them easily and faced the same academic challenges."
Families benefit from the opportunity to meet their tutor in the virtual classroom before deciding to progress with paid-for sessions, which accommodate most subjects.
For more information or to register, visit www.mytutorweb.co.uk
Tell us what you think of Robert's idea. Comment below or tweet us @FemaleFirst_UK
FemaleFirst
Tagged in internet Parenting Parenting Advice Education Parenting News