In partnership with Nextshoot, The Tutor Pages has now officially launched the UK’s first video ads for private tutors.
These tutor videos, shot by professional filmmakers to a specified format, are already proving popular with tutors eager to take advantage of the latest trends in online advertising.
Click here to read our press release on the subject, or take a look at our sample tutor video.
It’s Friday, and as a musical counterpart to last week’s post about The Little Algebra Book, I’m pleased to say that another tutor registered with us, Trixi Field, has recently created a new book for the recorder. Called Twenty Totally Tootable Tunes, it is (in Trixi’s words) ‘more of a repertoire book to supplement teaching books, and book 1 of the series is for kids that are able to play between one and 7 notes’.
You can check it out on Trixi’s Lulu page – perhaps a good stocking filler?
As an aside, I also recommend that tutors have a look at Trixi’s own page on The Tutor Pages: it’s a really great example of using our site’s features to the full. In fact, Trixi wrote to me to say that she ‘enjoyed putting all my extra bits and pieces on the site. It works very well and there are lots of different spaces to put various resources. Well done for a very user-friendly site’.
The Tutor Pages is to appear in next year’s Good Schools Guide, under its recommendations for tuition companies.
The Good Schools Guide only usually recommends tuition agencies, and so to feature in the Guide is a strong endorsement of the quality service we provide and our unique approach to private tuition.
So, how exactly do we differ to tuition agencies?
Simply put, The Tutor Pages is a high quality advertising platform where tutor profiles are manually checked before being posted on the site, and where students or parents are able to contact tutors free of charge. Unlike an agency, The Tutor Pages doesn’t perform background checks on the tutors listed, and it is the parent’s responsibility to do so.
Why do we work it this way? The result of this shift in responsibility is the potentially huge cost saving for both student and tutor. As our Safety Advice explains, working independently (i.e. without an agency) is ‘the method of choice for many well-qualified and experienced tutors. This way of working has always worked for private music tuition, and we’re simply extending the principle to academic and other types of tuition.’
What did The Good Schools Guide review have to say about The Tutor Pages, then?
For the full report, you’ll need to wait until the new year, but we can say that The Good Schools Guide is not known for mincing its words (it’s not for nothing that the TES reported how, ‘It is just as untroubled by the sensibilities of schools and as cavalier in the face of squawks from those it has offended.’).
The Tutor Pages did not come out of the assessment unscathed: for example, its coverage of the whole of the UK was described as ‘patchy’ and ‘wonderfully quirky’.
On the other hand, the review did state that ‘The Tutor Pages is impressive … a clear zealot for quality in this industry in which there are all too many free-loaders’. It went on to say, ‘The site is worth a visit, whether or not you want a tutor’ and that:
If you want a tutor and don’t want to employ a posh and expensive agency, take a look. Trust your judgement, interview potential tutors carefully and you could get a real bargain.
We’re certainly pleased with The Good Schools Guide assessment, since it reinforces our belief that The Tutor Pages is unique in the kind of service it provides. The positive endorsement from The Good Schools Guide cannot fail to be of benefit to all those who use our website.
Henry Fagg is the founder of The Tutor Pages, an advice and information portal which includes a directory of UK tutors. He blogs on anything that impacts the world of private tuition.
