Application Process
How does the Owl Tutors Application Process Work?
Owl Tutors only recommend tutors that have met our standards. These standards are very high. If you are interested in becoming an Owl Tutor please do review how our assessment procedure works and follow our guidance precisely. We reject the majority of candidates that apply to Owl Tutors and a significant proportion of these rejections are as a result of not having followed this guidance. Owl Tutors will not provide feedback of any kind to failed applicants.
In order to be accepted as an Owl Tutor, your must successfully pass two stages. The first stage involves an online application to Owl Tutors. Upon successfully passing our application procedure you will be invited to attend stage two, the Owl Tutors Assessment Centre. Upon successfully passing the Owl Tutors Assessment Centre and completing all relevant checks you will be confirmed as an Owl Tutor.
Stage 1 – Complete the online application
In order for a candidate to be invited to interview they must meet our minimum requirements for interview. If you do not meet these minimum requirements please do not apply to be a tutor with Owl Tutors as it is highly likely that your application will be rejected.
Qualified Teacher Status
Our tutors must be qualified teachers. This means you will have been awarded (and be in possession of a certificate confirming your status of) “Qualified Teacher Status” (QTS), as being accredited by the General Teaching Council (GTC) for England (or the Teaching Agency, following the abolition of the GTC in March 2012). Qualifications for teachers are constantly changing and so please contact us to discuss your particular requirements if you are unsure about your eligibility.
We do accept equivalent qualifications from other countries where appropriate, but these must be fully certified by the appropriate body. The qualification that you hold must entitle you to be the sole teacher responsible for a class of children for an academic subject in the UK.
We will consider applications from teachers in Independent schools who do not have QTS, provided they can evidence a successful teaching career and display excellent knowledge of teaching methodology, pedagogy and current qualifications at interview.
Outstanding teaching experience
Our tutors do not only have to be qualified but also experienced. As a bare minimum, we expect our tutors to have a minimum of one year of direct classroom teaching experience. In this time we look for a record of outstanding achievement, and we will only interview tutors who can demonstrate a history of delivering exceptional results in the classroom.
Excellent academic achievement
We expect our tutors to have achieved a high level of academic achievement themselves. Our teachers are expected to achieve a 2:1 from a top UK university (or an overseas equivalent).
Ability to tutor a minimum of 5 hours a week.
We expect our tutors to give a reasonable level of commitment. This could be done by doing lots of tuition on a particular day, or spread out through the week.
Receipt of excellent references
Upon applying, you will be asked to submit three different referees. At least one of these must be a line manager from a school that you have taught at. We grade all of our references on a matrix scale from “Poor” to “Outstanding”, and any reference received that averages at less than a “Good” will be grounds for instant rejection.
Criminal records check
Criminal Records Bureau “CRB”/ Disclosure Barring Service (“DBS”) check. If you are not in possession of a certificate that has been completed within the last three years, Owl Tutors will perform one on your behalf. Please note that the cost of this will be deducted from your first payment for tuition through Owl Tutors.
Stage 2 – Owl Tutors Assessment Centre
If you successfully pass Stage 1, you will be invited to the Owl Tutors offices for the purpose of assessing your suitability to become one of our tutors. Applicants wishing to perform home tuition in London must attend our offices in London for the assessment centre. Applicants wishing to solely tutor online can be interviewed online. Please see here for further information on our online recruitment process.
The assessment centre will consist of the following:
1) Checking your documents:
Please bring all of the documents required. We cannot process your application without documentation and may cancel your interview if you arrive without them.
2) Review of your profile:
Upon being invited to interview you will be asked to complete a profile about yourself for the Owl Tutors website. You will be asked to complete this before your interview.
3) A face to face competency interview with one of our assessors:
Please review the competencies that are assessed at interview as you are likely to be asked for evidence of having displayed these particular attributes.
4) A planned tuition lesson to be taught to one of our assessors:
This will assess subject knowledge and the candidate’s ability to teach successfully, adapt to the particular circumstances of the student, build rapport and check for understanding.
It is company policy to not provide any feedback on rejected applications.
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I am currently working part time in an all through primary/ secondary school. My expertise is in the early years. Research is showing that poor speech and language skills and early reading skills have a long lasting and detrimental effect on children’s future success. I was wondering if you employ teachers who tutor the very youngest of our children.
Dear Rosalind
Please do feel free to submit an application.
Kind regards
Owl Tutors