The Tutors’ Association has had a busy start to 2024, with a new Acting General Manager, Julius Goldthorpe, following Jon Corbitt’s departure to return to school leadership and a packed events schedule, with Regional Events across the UK (starting with London on the 22nd of February) as well as the National Tutoring Awards, National Tutors’ Conference and the brand-new Tuition and Schools Summit. We continue to support individual members to improve their practice, those starting out on the journey to creating a tuition business and more established businesses looking to grow and develop.
TTA has ambitious plans for 2024 to support the membership and (to an extent) the entire sector. This includes the development of our Spotlight CPD series, which is completely free for members, giving the members to discuss key issues within the tuition sector with distinguished experts, whether they are individual tutors with specialist knowledge or expertise or experienced tuition business leaders who can share tips and ideas for how to grow and develop your business. These CPD events are recorded so that you can access them at any time, and we will also be continuing to develop our CPD content and resources, with big future plans for working with a range of partners to provide further courses and training for those tutors that feel they will benefit from it.
This year is also going to be an election year. As many members will be aware, political engagement is one area where being part of TTA really does make a difference as we engage with politicians from across the political spectrum to advocate for responsible, safe and high-quality tuition. We continue to believe that it is important that minimum standards are maintained and upheld within the tuition sector but that competent professionals should not be subject to overly onerous requirements that are unsuitable or inappropriate for the nature of the work they do. TTA does not support a view that tutors should feel compelled or coerced into seeking accreditation where it is not relevant to their practice or the maintenance of high standards. We are aware of complaints from some people in the sector that some individuals/organisations have aggressive sales strategies and we want to reassure all tutors and business leaders that they should not feel pressured into buying any particular course or product in order to deliver safe and effective tuition.
We are delighted to be working with so many strong tutors, tuition companies and partner organisations to really champion the tuition sector, not only in the UK but increasingly around the world. We increasingly have members based abroad who are delivering innovative, high-quality tuition, as well as assisting UK members to grow their businesses and export tuition services. As an example of this, we are working closely with the Department for Business and Trade and we hope to be launching a tuition-focussed business development trade mission to China in September, funded by those members with an interest in that market. This is another one of the ways in which we are helping members to develop opportunities and add substantial value to the entire tuition sector.
An exciting new benefit we are able to offer members in the near future will be discounted devices from Easy4u with the additional benefit of a full 360 wraparound service and support. The offer includes a range of devices for purchase or rent, with a low deposit, no credit check, no interest rate over the rental term, as well as including insurance and a care plan against accidental damage, breakages and theft cover – with prices starting from as little as £10 per month. This is a great opportunity for members to upgrade their hardware with a fully supported technical package at a substantial discount from high-street prices. We expect to be launching this benefit for members very soon!