At Blue Tutors we are often approached by charities or not-for-profit organisations asking for our help. Sometimes we're asked to give advice about how to match tutors and students, sometimes about our website and how we handle so many relationships, and also our ideas on how to teach. However, we also have people who ask whether our tutors would be open to providing a small number of voluntary lessons.
If we are happy that the organisation requesting the voluntary tuition are not seeking to make a profit for themselves, and that the lessons provide genuine value to students who otherwise would not be able to afford private tuition, then we post the requests under the voluntary tuition section of our website.
How does it differ from regular tuition?
There is absolutely no difference from a tutor's point of view compared to the paid tuition that you will usually undertake. You are still asked to keep us updated on the situation through the website, and Blue Tutors still provide the same monitoring and advice service to both you and the student. The only difference is that there is no lesson fee paid by the student, and obviously no commission charged to the tutor.
Why would any tutor do this?
We are very aware that many of our tutors decide to start tutoring because they need to support themselves through their studies, or generally to supplement their income. By no means do we expect any tutor to take on this role, and we wouldn't want to cause any offence to tutors who don't want to consider this. However, we know that many of our tutors apply to us because they love teaching, and would gladly tutor for nothing. This opportunity gives tutors the option of helping students who wouldn't otherwise have the chance to receive such a valuable service, and some of our tutors are very proud to do this.
How do Blue Tutors benefit?
We receive nothing from the voluntary organisations with whom we work, and certainly don't look for any remuneration from the arrangement. Obviously providing this service does require some extra work on our part, but we're happy to do this given the positive nature of the lessons, and we feel that helping with this tuition supports our reputation as an ethical tuition agency.