A student’s academic performance can dictate how successful they are in the future. It influences college choices and career, so many parents are looking to give their child an advantage with the use of tutors. As a tutor, you’re an independent contractor who decides on your own policies and payment terms. It’s important to have a contract to ensure you are getting paid.
Description of Services
As a tutor, you likely will have an area of expertise. This is the area in which you should focus when tutoring your students. You wouldn’t offer math tutoring if your focus is in English or science. It’s vital that the parents and students understand the scope of the work that you’ll be providing. When this is laid out in the contract they sign, there can be no misunderstanding. Misunderstandings lead to parents who don’t want to pay your fees.
Student Obligations
Your success as a tutor will hinge on the topics and goals of the parent and student. There might be testing that the student is preparing for, and that testing will determine whether the tutoring sessions are considered successful. For the student to be successful, he or she will need to attend tutoring sessions continuously, which means they can’t miss a class. If you put the student’s obligations in the contract, it ensures that the student is as responsible for their success as you are.
Tutor Obligations
In this section of the contract, it’s important that you list your plans for the student’s curriculum. It should include the topics you’ll teach, and how many lessons you believe will be needed for the student to succeed. It should list the start date as well as the completion of the classes you plan to teach. If the lessons are leading up to a test, the contract should include the tutor’s obligations in this area as well.
Cancellation Policies
With a cancellation policy in place, you can limit the amount of parents who will cancel without notice. It’ll give you more control over the amount of money you can expect to come in from your tutoring services each month and week. When you dictate the policy in which parents can cancel, you’re setting yourself up as a real business too. Parents will understand that you’re a private tutoring business and take your responsibilities seriously.
Terms of Termination
Along with your cancellation policy, you might decide to terminate the relationship between you and the student for a variety of reasons. It might be that the student isn’t taking the opportunity provided, or the parent’s have unreasonable expectations for you or the student. In these cases, you want to give yourself the option to terminate services. You’ll have to decide the terms based on the payment schedule you’ve agreed upon with the parents for private tutoring.
For some students, tutoring can have an incredible benefit while in others they don’t learn as well even with a tutor. As the tutor, you can have such a positive impact on children who are willing to learn, but having a tutoring contract in place protects you, the child and the parent from a child who isn’t willing or able to put in the effort.
