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How to set up a Tuition Centre

6/7/2013

15 Comments

 
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Quite often I receive enquiries from students or teachers about working for, or through, the Centre. I am always happy to respond. Sometimes a caller will be able to offer a specialist training or background which a student needing to draw on might find it hard to access at short notice -  for example  tuition in A-Level Sciences or Maths. I like to be able to refer a student with a specialised demand to a potential provider. It is more satisfying than professing ignorance and blankly apologising. So I try to maintain an up-to-date file of experts. 

Only occasionally do I have approaches from people thinking of setting up a tuition centre business for themselves, but this is what I want to consider in this post. What are the means to do it? What are the difficulties? The cost? 

The answers to these are various and could run to many pages. Serious prospectors  will need to enquire further - but by way of introduction, I will outline how I began.
 
I began the way  many independent tuition centre owners have begun - with a franchise. In my case the idea and the business model came from Kip McGrath Education Centres, which arrived in the UK from Australia in the 1990's and built up a considerable network of centres - about 250, eventually. Kip McGrath could offer teachers an alternative career in education to school or college, and this appealed to me in 2006, when, having returned from a teaching career in Singapore, I found myself  bemused and ill-at-ease as a schoolteacher, and eager to try something else.

The franchise did not provide an instant income, and was quite an expensive purchase - about £12 000, for the training  and the materials. A further £8000 or £10000 were required for set-up costs including the fitting and furnishing of 41b Dover Street. But Kip McGrath centres seemed viable in the long run, given good sense and hard work on the part of franchisees: and in the year that elapsed between hearing about Kip and opening the Canterbury centre I visited centres that were running successfully in other towns.
 
Four years later, up and running, but now well into the Recession, things looked different, both to myself in Canterbury, and 25 other centres across England, Scotland and Wales. The time we felt  had come to leave Kip McGrath and form an alliance of centres that would pool ideas, expertise and materials in a professional not-for-profit way. This was 2011, and  the Association of Professional Tuition Centres (APTC) came into being during the summer.                                         

Two years further on, as I write this, I think it fair to say that the APTC has survived its birth (there are now over 30 member centres) and is performing well its function of support. So far so good. What it has yet to do - or we collectively have yet to do - is set up an advice or training programme for would-be new proprietors who do not have previous experience running a centre. Such a programme could be essential for the long-term future of the Association, and should be good for the participants in its development, making them  - us - think more critically about what we do, and how we go about it.
 
But in the mean time, while this gets off the ground, if you do happen to be thinking of setting up for yourself, do approach an APTC centre - either me, or someone nearer your territory if not in the South East. A centre tour will cost nothing, and a little work experience could be arranged as an eye-opener.           
         
15 Comments
zeba
4/8/2013 10:49:10 pm

Hi I am private tutor and hoping to set up tuition center with minimum expenses.
what would be the basic requirements and cost involved.

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VIJAYA
21/2/2016 04:58:01 am

I WANT TO OPEN A TUTION CENTREWITH MINIMUM EXPENSES

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Peter Whisson
21/2/2016 07:22:32 am

The establishment cost will probably be in the region of £20 000. That's for furnishings, materials, computers, advertising etc.
Obviously it depends where you are, but your rent could be £9000 pa. DON'T start employing tutors until you have at least 20 or 25 clients!
You will need to get your numbers up to about 35 or 40 students per week (average over 50 weeks), which may take a couple of years to achieve. Thereafter you will be paying your way - and should keep growing unless something seriously amiss happens.

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dorjee
8/10/2013 04:36:58 pm

good to know about your success in setting up the tuition center.Here am from Bhutan,would like to set up tuition centre but no idea...

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Fatima
5/1/2014 06:55:02 am

Hello, I am interested in setting up a tuition centre. I've been looking at the possibility of purchasing a franchise but not sure if it's the right thing to do. I would also like to know more about the difference between the not for profit and a private business.

Reply
Peter Whisson link
5/1/2014 05:53:58 pm

Hello Fatima
The purchase of a franchise will equip you with some basic guidelines for setting up, some training, and basic resources (computer and paper) in Primary and Secondary English and Maths so that you can get going as soon as students contact you.
The drawback of the franchise system is that you will be obliged to pay a franchise fee of c£8000 per annum for as long as you continue to operate the franchise (and it can be difficult to get out without penalty!).
A couple of years ago a significant number of Kip McGrath Education Centres franchisees in the UK (including myself) felt that the franchise was not providing best value for money and left in a body to form the Association of Professional Tuition Centres. This is the 'not for profit' model for tuition centres who want, loosely, to stick together in order to liaise, keep up to date and make savings. It now numbers about 30 centres. The APTC exists to help member centres make a profit for themselves, not the distant owners and shareholders under the franchise model!
NB If you are interested I have recently posted on this website a blog on life running an independent tuition centre - January 2014
Best wishes, Peter Whisson, Canterbury.

Reply
Jude Zoradey
8/12/2014 09:42:31 pm

I am interested in setting up a tuition centre in an area of London that seems to lack the scheme. I am however not interested in a franchise but i am hoping that with training and guidance one could set up one.
To this end therefore i will appreciate if you can contacy me as to the way forward.

Oladipo Adewoyin
30/7/2015 06:21:51 pm

I want to set up a Tuition centre and join your association. My location is Medway in Kent

Reply
Oladipo Adewoyin
5/11/2015 01:58:35 am

There is already quite a lot of competition in Medway with Kip McGrath, (Maidstone and Rochester), Bright Young Things (Rochester) and Effulgent Learning Center (a member of the APTC) at Gillingham. So you would have to pick you area carefully. But since you are nearby you are welcome to come and see the Canterbury Centre and talk over your ideas.

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GUNJAN link
3/11/2015 04:07:15 am

hi, i want to start a tuition centre for maths and physic... from where should i start

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Simi
12/3/2016 04:00:35 am

Hi I would like to know the steps to opening my own tuition centre for Physics and English in London.

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Peter Whisson link
12/3/2016 09:32:23 am

Start by broadening what you intend to offer. A tuition centre can't afford to be narrow. So if Physics, why not all the sciences (to GCSE) - and Maths of course, as well as English? If you are narrow, you will be turning potential clients away - and never making a profit (tuition is not typically a high margin of profit industry).

You will need premises where you can cater to up to 10 students - in effect a classroom-sized room, which may also be your office and reception. Suitable toilet facilities of course.

You will need a provider or providers of purpose-made tuition-friendly computer programs for English and Maths - and plenty of regular textbooks and revision guides for back-up and homework setting etc.

You will need tutors or teachers who know all about education in the local area - the schools, the curricula, the issues etc. This is essential if you are to present yourselves professionally to parents.

You will need commitment of time - and to be prepared stay open 5 days a week until quite late (8 pm or beyond). Looking after a tuition centre is a bit like running a farm - you can't leave it to itself.

I could go on - but those are a few essential things to bear in mind at the outset.

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mr johannes aipinge
9/2/2018 05:14:04 am

hi, I'm in Namibia and I have my tuition Centre that is currently operating on different two towns, would you please give me some tips how to run a successful tuition Centre and more to that I need an additional advice how to overcome challenge that I'm currently facing in my business.

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Garry Selby
29/7/2018 11:34:14 am

Any one considering joining Kip McGrath may take care on unscrupulous fees they are now charging lets look at fee £30 and they charge you £6 of that so they cant increase percentage but increase the charge to £31 you then have to pay them more but probably cant pass on the new £31 fee you are supposed to charge ,gets better all new franchisee have to pay £30 week advertising on top not any more just put it up to £60 and if on old contract you had option to opt out not when you renew and they put pressure on you to sign up so they coin it in on your fees then expect you to pay to advertise the brand and not a small amount , its a money making machine they sent one young lady a new contract she said she could not afford new fee and opt out they sent new contract said it was the same as old one but had a error , signed it sent it back what she signed was she was locked into paying £60 week but do I feel sorry not sure she was supposed to be intelligent why would a unscrupulous company send new contract that was live unless they hid something and why would she sign it , another franchise got letter to say they had to pay the fee he was smarter gave it to solicitor he said read contract tell them to be polite get lost .
So it may be way into teaching but take care there not in it for you .
From what I can see its all about how much they can push the fees .

Reply
Michael Le link
18/3/2019 04:56:01 am

Really useful article about setting up, thanks. Making the first steps can seem daunting but once you're up and running it all starts to fall into place. Don't be afraid to offer a wide range of services and try and make sure that the students needs are considered at all times. Take advantage of social media correctly and your business will start to grow quickly enough.

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    Peter Whisson, owner of Tuition Canterbury. "I write this blog as a periodic 
    snapshot record of my 

    involvement in education - and hope that the posts may be of interest to others."

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