The eight questions every parent asks before hiring a tutor

George Chantry 3 prizes in economics · my students scored 18 A/A* grades in the official 2024/2025 A-Level Economics exams All content in this article except parent/student review excerpts was voice-dictated by George Chantry · earliest file on record 13 January 2026 · may include colloquialisms in places

I (George Chantry) voice dictated every one of these articles to give my honest, transparent view on economics A-Level tutoring to answer parent questions, having worked in the tutoring industry for nine years. Please WhatsApp me if you want to discuss anything in the articles further or have any further questions.

These are the eight questions every parent asks before hiring a tutor. And here are honest answers to every single one.

Pricing and value

What should I expect to pay?

Quality A-Level Economics tutoring typically runs between £50 and £100 per hour. For new students, I charge £80 an hour.

Most students take one lesson a week, an hour at a time, through term. Some do a lot more in the school holidays — up to five hours a week when there is time and a real exam to aim at. A lighter arrangement — one lesson a week in term time — works out at around £2,000 to £3,000 across the year. A committed, long-term arrangement — roughly two hours a week right through the year, with heavier blocks in the holidays — comes to around £6,000 a year. I am not going to lock you into an annual contract. You book the hours you need, and the number is simply £80 multiplied by how many of them you use.

I answer this fully in what A-Level economics tutoring costs.

How do I get the best value?

Find a tutor who diagnoses first and teaches second. A tutor who spends the first session understanding your child's specific weaknesses will save you money in the long run compared to one who just starts lecturing from page one.

You're getting value by paying for a better tutor: you're getting faster results and less wasted time. Your best value for money is going to come from a tutor who has measured exactly what's wrong, and then fixed exactly what's wrong.

"He is an outstanding tutor who takes the time to thoroughly assess a student's current understanding and identify areas that require additional support."

Jo, parent

I answer this fully in how can I tell if a tutor is actually any good?

Agency or independent tutor?

Generally, independent tutors offer more experience and lower overhead. Agencies take a cut, which either raises your price or lowers the tutor's quality.

A repeated pattern I've noticed, working for more than ten top London tutoring agencies, is that the tutoring agency cared a lot less about the outcome than the parents did. As you add more layers of management on top of the tutor, you end up with a kind of Chinese-whispers problem. The person in charge gives instructions which are slightly different from what the parent actually asked for. This doesn't ever happen in direct tutoring. I now work exclusively for parents, because I find it more rewarding to work directly for the parent, directly for the client, than to work through intermediaries.

I answer this fully in what can go wrong in tutoring.

Problems and solutions

Why is my child not succeeding?

In my experience, it's usually two or three specific gaps — not a general failure across the board. Some students have missed things — maybe a teacher explained things too quickly and they lost something fundamental.

I've had several macroeconomics students from an economics college where the teacher missed the core thing: aggregate demand and aggregate supply. They're second-year students, but I still have to teach that material to them, because they don't know it. I saw it quickly in their notes, because they hadn't got any aggregate demand diagrams anywhere in any of their notes — and I fixed it in one or two lessons.

"He has been proactive identifying the gaps swiftly then tailoring each lesson to our daughter's specific needs."

Altina, parent

What are the typical problems?

Knowledge gaps, poor exam technique, and the inability to map questions to the right topic.

Some students struggle with knowledge: not knowing the diagrams, not knowing how to draw the diagrams, not knowing how to explain the diagrams. Some students struggle with exam technique: can they structure their answer? Do they know what the mark scheme rewards? Then you have students who have an okay knowledge base, but they read a question and don't know what topic the question refers to. If students are getting feedback on their essays that they haven't answered the question, that's a red flag that they probably need help with mapping the question to the right topic.

I explain how I find these gaps in how do you work out what my child actually needs help with.

How do you get students to actually practise?

Accountability plus showing them it works. When a student sees that targeted practice moves their grade, they start doing it voluntarily.

When students see their school test scores improve, that is often a great source of motivation. It is often possible in just a few lessons to get students a good result in their school tests, which can change their motivational frame to being far more constructive and positive. I have had many students get the best mark in their class in school tests after only a few lessons with me. That experience gives students a concrete example of themselves succeeding to build upon, so it can snowball motivation in the right direction.

"My son is very happy with George's teaching and he always comes out of the lesson, looking enthusiastic and motivated."

Jin, parent

I answer this fully in how to motivate your child to learn A-Level Economics.

Quality and proof

How do you compare to other tutors?

I've worked with over 145 A-Level Economics students — one-to-one, over nine years and more than 7,000 hours, entirely in A-Level Economics. 82% of my Edexcel students achieved an A or A* in the 2024–25 exams. A* was the single most common grade my students achieved in both 2024 and 2025. I'm Oxford-trained: I have a first-class degree in Economics from Oxford (PPE) and three prizes in economics, and I got the best mark in my year in Game Theory.

"George's structured approach, engaging teaching style and in-depth knowledge have transformed my son's comprehension and exam technique. Not only has his understanding improved but his grades have now skyrocketed and in his recent PPE mock he achieved an 'A'."

Julie, parent

How do I know it's working?

Grades go up, engagement goes up, there's a clear plan, and you can see measurable progress.

The school tests do give you pretty good guidance. The student's attitude towards the course gives you pretty good guidance too. I've had students who were despondent, because they'd got discouraging teachers at school. Then, after a few months of lessons with me, they're really passionate about the course, and they're explaining the course to their parents. Other clear signals are getting a clear diagnosis from the tutor and a clear action plan that's based on real data for the student.

"Her confidence in both parts of Economics has rocketed. She was really struggling in lessons and we had difficult feedback at parents evening but after just a couple of sessions with George, her tutors noticed her progress."

Gemma, parent

I answer this fully in how do I know when the tutoring is working.

What to ask when you interview a tutor

When you're interviewing a tutor, here's what to ask: How will you diagnose my child's specific needs? What does your lesson plan look like? Can I see evidence of results with similar students? And how will I know it's working?

If you're a parent paying for tutoring, always double-check: what has the tutor found out that your child doesn't know, and what have they fixed? A good tutor should be able to answer that question. They should be able to say: I found out this child didn't know x, and then I fixed x.

Great tutors welcome these questions. If a tutor can't answer them clearly, keep looking.