Over the years, media outlets have repeatedly stated that Australian education is failing our kids. In response to these reports, the country is seeing a rapid increase in demand for tutoring. Mohan Dhall, CEO of the Australian Tutoring Association estimates that about a quarter of families used tutoring services in 2019 (roughly 80,000 students across the country). These figures include private tutors, online tutoring, tutoring companies and group tutoring.
As students work to keep pace with expected educational milestones in the aftermath of the COVID-19 school disruptions, there is an increased demand for tutors of all sorts.
So, if you’re looking for a tutor or want to be a tutor, there are some ground rules you should know about pricing for tutoring!
The hourly rates for private tutoring in Australia range from $30 to over $90. These rates are affected by various factors, including the subject's complexity, the tutor's qualifications, and the location.
What to Consider When Setting Your Tutoring Prices
When you work for yourself, you have to make some important decisions. As a tutor, you'll need to determine one of these very early on: what is a reasonable fee to charge for tutoring? It doesn't matter if you're an experienced teacher, a musician or a student — you need to know whether to set your hourly rate at $25 or $75.
The dollar amount you put on your tutoring profile is so much more than an hourly rate. It can affect potential clients' first impressions of you. If your rate is too high, you won't get any students. The same will happen if it's too low. People will see you as being too good to be true or assume you’re bad at tutoring.
Your Hourly Rate Includes Time Spent Preparing for Tutoring Sessions
When setting your hourly rate, you need to consider all the other non-billable hours you spend on your tutoring work. The time you spend with your student is only the part of the job your client actually witnesses. In principle, each hour of face-to-face tutoring takes roughly another hour to prepare for. That's true whether you tutor online or in person, The amount of pre and post-lesson work you'll do will depend on your experience and your subject. For instance, preparation for writing tutors involves:
- selecting relevant resources, such as mentor texts
- writing and annotating examples
- reviewing progress and adapting lessons to suit
- developing homework exercises
- marking student work and providing comprehensive feedback.
If your 'hourly rate' is $40 per one-on-one session, but it takes you one hour of preparation, you’re effectively only getting $20 per hour.
Discover how to teach school tutoring jobs Sydney!
The Student's Level Determines Rates
In addition to considering your qualifications and experience, you should also set your rates according to the needs and levels of your students.
Younger children may need more attention and creativity from their tutors, which can drive your prices upward. Likewise, older students may be studying more complicated subjects, which can also cause increased prices.
Teaching easier subjects and/or the easier parts of those subjects means you will need to have more competitive rates. The more difficult the subject is, the more you can charge, since there will be fewer tutors who can help and you will need to have a more extensive history in the subject yourself.
Here are the average rates for general tutoring at the grade-school level.
| School Level | Average Hourly Rate |
|---|---|
| Primary Level Tuition (P-6) | $35.24 |
| Secondary Level of Tuition (7-10) | $29.90 |
| Senior Secondary Level of Tuition (11-12 or equivalent) | $38.44 |
Also consider the level and needs of students who have unique learning requirements, such as students with dyslexia or dyscalculia. You may be justified to charge a little more if you have the experience required to effectively teach students with these learning needs since you likely had to attend specialised training to gain that skill.
Regional Costing
Depending on where you and your students are located, you’ll need to set prices that make sense. Just because a tutor in Sydney can charge $75 per hour for maths tutoring doesn’t mean a tutor in Shepparton can do the same.
It’s a delicate balance if you offer your services online since you can feasibly find students in a much higher (or lower) income range than those around you. A safe bet is to keep your prices reasonable for where you live. But, you can also offer different rates for in-person and online sessions to try to cater to both demographics.
Your Experience Level
Private tutors in Australia charge anywhere from $30 an hour to $90 an hour or more. Any tutor charging over $70 an hour should have at least ten years of teaching experience. They should also have expertise in their field. It's important for potential clients to know that your fees reflect your level of service.
Qualifications and experiences that can boost your rates include:
- Being a native speaker or high-level speaker of a tutored language
- Having recognised credentials from a University or another certifying organisation
- Having many years of experience
- Winning awards for your subject
- Having work experience in esteemed settings for your subject
- Having many verified positive reviews from past and current students
How Much to Charge for Tutoring
Deciding how much to charge as a freelancer in any profession can feel daunting. The good news is that with tutoring, there are a lot of others to look to so you may justify your rates to yourself and your students with confidence.
Many people struggle with undercharging due to feelings of unworthiness and imposter syndrome. If you actually know what you’re doing, you should have no reason to fear. You’re providing a valuable (and optional!) service, so if your clients don’t like how you do business, they are free to move on. You’ll find a client who clicks in no time.
However, you also don’t want to overcharge and make your clients feel cheated in any way (and give tutoring a bad name).
Here’s how you can confidently set a fair rate for your services.
Evaluate the Market
It may seem like a surefire way to get more students, but setting your tutoring costs per hour of instruction lower than other tutors in your area is not recommended. Underselling the competition often means you end up undermining yourself and driving down the fair cost for other tutors. Plus, it often backfires because in clients' minds, super-cheap rates often equal poor-quality tutoring.
Remember that your clients want value, not a bargain. Thus, your tutoring prices should be reasonable; in line with other tutors in your area. Let your lessons be the value your clients willingly pay a reasonable price for.
Tutoring Prices for Academic Subjects
One of the first things you should do when you become a tutor is work out the average hourly rate for your particular subject. You can then use this amount as a benchmark as you take your experience and qualifications into consideration to set your fees. To start you off, Superprof has worked out each subject's average tutoring rates per hour:
| Subject | Average Hourly Rate |
|---|---|
| Economics | $27.10 |
| English | $29.97 |
| Geography | $30.26 |
| History | $28.85 |
| Humanities - Psychology | $29.65 |
| Humanities - Sociology | $30.58 |
| Law - Criminal | $36.84 |
| Law - Tax | $37.20 |
| Languages - Arabic | $29.94 |
| Languages - French | $31.56 |
| Languages - German | $30.39 |
| Languages - Italian | $30.69 |
| Languages - Mandarin | $30.82 |
| Languages - Spanish | $26.69 |
| Mathematics | $27.49 |
| Sciences - Biology | $27.47 |
| Sciences - Chemistry | $29.54 |
| Sciences - Physics | $31.42 |
The rates you charge must take into consideration multiple factors, including lesson format, location, your experience and qualifications, and your prospective students' levels.
Tutoring Costs per Hour for Specialised Subjects
You can charge more for tutoring a specialised skill such as singing or playing a musical instrument. For instance, the Music Teachers Association of NSW recommends its members charge a minimum fee of $92 an hour for private tuition. Of course, if you are the only bassoon tutor in your region, you could easily charge more. Piano teachers, on the other hand, will need to be more competitive since it’s a more popular instrument with more tutors available. This table shows the average hourly rate on Superprof for a few instruments:
| Instrument | Average Hourly Rate (private lessons) |
|---|---|
| Drums | $42.33 |
| Guitar | $37.80 |
| Piano | $43.87 |
| Trumpet | $49.53 |
| Violin | $47.82 |
Class Sizes (Individual or Small Groups)
Typically, tutors charge less per student when tutoring small groups. Keep in mind, though, that you still stand to earn more in your hour than you would tutoring one-to-one.
Keep in mind that preparing for group lessons will be more time-consuming.
Discover tutoring jobs in Brisbane here on Superprof.
Accounting for Travel and Supplies
Of course, if you need to provide the instrument or other equipment (like sheet music), or if you have to travel, you can likely charge more.
The same is true if you teach objects like yoga (yoga mats, blocks and music), cooking (ingredients and cooking tools) and pottery (clay, kiln, and potter’s wheel), for example. If you provide any type of extra equipment or materials, your tutoring prices should reflect the same.
Even academic tutors may need to consider their costs for things like flashcards, index cards, pens, printed materials, and textbooks.
Add $1-$10 (or whatever is appropriate) to your fee per lesson depending on how expensive your operating costs are.
Ways to Become a Tutor
How do you actually start to advertise your services and find students? There are a few effective ways to begin your tutoring career.
Work as an Online Tutor
Since the coronavirus pandemic, web-based private tutoring has grown significantly more popular. But even before COVID, online lessons were the fastest-growing corner of the tutoring market. And why not? Online lessons are convenient and fun.
Tutoring platforms that offer online access make it easier for students to find a tutor to suit their needs. The tutors' greatest advantage is a larger pool of students. Tutoring online, you are not limited to teaching in your geographic location. Nor do you have to worry about the logistics of travel.
Tutoring in Person
Sitting face-to-face with your student is the traditional tutoring format. It is easy to pick up on non-verbal signs of misunderstanding or disengagement when you're in the same room. On the other hand, in-person lesson delivery limits you to your geographic location. Not only does that cut into your time, but it also adds to your costs. And if you happen to live in a remote area, it may be harder to find pupils who need lessons.
Some subjects are best taught in person, like sports or certain instruments. It’s all about finding the right avenue for your subject and other dependent factors.
Tutoring on Superprof
Being a tutor and finding a tutor on Superprof is super easy!
Superprof’s tutoring platform allows tutors to create profiles and post ads for their various subjects. They can advertise for in-person and online tutoring and set their own rates.
Finding a tutor is just as simple; just search for the subject you want to learn and choose from the selection of qualified tutors!
Sign up today for tutoring jobs in Melbourne or wherever you’re located on Superprof.
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
Great information, thanks for uploading!
Hi I just signed up a tutor to tutor my 10 yr old for english and maths-the tutor is 12 and she does private jobs. She is inexperienced-this is her first tutoring job-she charges $20 per hour-how much should she charge per hour? Is $20 an inappropriate amount for an inexperienced girl?
From which platform did you choose that tutor?
I suppose your child is in class 4th or 5th.
Excellent, informative piece of writing. I wish I has read this before after being a Superprof member for several months. Any tutor starting out on this platform should have this article sent to them as mandatory reading as part of their ‘induction’, especially if they are new to this method of teaching.