I have been in the tuition industry since 2010. I’ve run centers, worked as home tutor, online tutor, and also taught in other centers. I’ve been running workshops to train tutors and create communities for tutors. Some of my good friends run tuition agencies.

So you see, I’ve been immersing in a tutors’ environment. This year I am starting to see that tutors need an Ecosystem to thrive.

Not that tutors are not thriving. Many tutors I know are doing very well. But many are not. They have challenges in many aspects: how to keep themselves motivated, how to get students, how to find a space to teach group classes, how to upgrade themselves, how to get recognized in the industry, how to find like-minded people to collaborate on exciting projects, how to automate their admin work so they can concentrate on teaching, etc. The list goes on.

That’s why, I believe that an ecosystem for tutors needs to be developed.

The key systems I can see now are as follows:

• Marketing System that allows tutors to find assignments and get discovered by centres and schools.
• Coteaching / Coworking System that offers affordable classrooms at accessible locations for tutors to rent by the hours. It also give tutors a physical space to hang out and network.
• Training System that offers programs dedicated to tutors to improve their crafts. It can have different tracks and specializations, eg curriculum design, pedagogy, leadership, entrepreneurship
• Automation System that uses IT, CRM and AI to take over the day-to-day Admin tasks that are not the core strength of Tutors. This will free up their time to do more profitable and impactful things like engaging learners, talking to parents and creating new curriculums.
• Accreditation System that certifies a tutor. It may keep track of how good a tutor is based on a holistic matrix. It’s like a industry wide rating system, that allows certified tutors to easily and quickly show where they are in their professional journey, and to allow parents and potential hirers to get a sense of at what level a tutor is.
• Last but not least, the glue that holds everything together, is the Community System. Tutors have social needs. We need friends, peers, and mentors, to keep on keeping on. It gives more richness and meaning to our tutors’ journey. It prevents burn-out.

As you can see, this is a huge project. I cannot do it on my own. I don’t even know whether I am the right person to bring this to fruition. But I know one thing – this idea exists in my head and my heart. I can – am almost obliged to – write about it. Let a conversation begin. That is how movements are started. Movements that changed the world.

There is a Chinese idiom “抛砖引玉”. It loosely translates to, putting my two cents forward to attract input from people who are much better than me. That is exactly what I hope to do with this.

I will continue to write about the Tutor Ecosystem when I can find time. (This was written when I got stuck in a faulty train lol)

Thank you for reading.

#tutorecosystem

PS A Community System for tutors is already being built right now. If you’re a tutor, enrichment teacher / trainer, or you have products and services that supports tutors, you’re welcome to join our community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/piecommunityoftutors.