Where do you begin with group tuition?

Setting up group tuition may be on your to-do list, but is something holding you back?

I've had a few conversations recently with tutors in the Teaching Beyond the Classroom membership about group tuition.

It's something I have mentioned in my webinars as a great way of scaling your business, but where do you actually begin? 

In this edition of the Building an Education Business newsletter, I thought I'd share a few things that I think are really important to get right if you're considering giving group tuition a go:

1. Pricing. This is something that many tutors struggle with, which is understandable. A good rule of thumb for a group lesson is 40-60% of your hourly rate per student. So if your 1-2-1 rate is £40/hour, you could charge £16-24 per student per session.

2. Numbers. Set a minimum number and stick to it. Three students feels about right for the minimum viable number of students, and I would think about capping it at 6-8 maximum, especially for younger students. If you use the pricing structure above and have 3 students, you'll still be earning more than you would for a 1-2-1 lesson. And if you end up with 8, then you've tripled your usual hourly rate at least!

3. Session length. When I did evening classes for MFL teachers, lessons were 45 minutes and this was ideal. You will need to plan them more tightly than you would for a 1-2-1 session, and may need a few activities to keep the students on track. Always plan more than you think you'll need as running out of materials with 10 minutes to go in a group session is a lot more awkward than with just one student!

4. Promoting. You will need to promote group sessions more than 1-2-1, but don't worry too much if you don't have a huge audience. Contact past students, ask them to tell their friends, utilise Facebook groups and don't be shy about asking people to share far and wide on social media! 

5. Safeguarding. This is absolutely essential before you even begin promoting your first lesson. You need to have safeguarding in place, think about whether to record the sessions, have agreements for parents to sign, etc. 

These questions are a great place to start, and I could keep going with so many more! I've been asked a lot of other questions, from which online platform to use, to how to manage mixed ability and mixed age classes, to whether to have rolling groups or fixed dates to start and finish a course.

If you want to dive deeper into all things group tuition, this month's training call in the TBTC membership is on exactly this topic! It's at 8pm on Thursday 9th April and will be recorded so you can watch it back whenever you have time. 

If group tuition has been on your "I really should look into that" list for a while, this is your moment to actually do something about it!

Join TBTC here: https://www.katelanguages.co.uk/offers/R2rZ937C/checkout