Monday23 March 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 13WORK & CAREERS
Out in the field:
A teacher in
China
livestreams to
her students.
Online lessons
need to be fun to
hold students’
interest
GettyImagesL
illy Wong, a primary school
teacher in Beijing, is bracing
herself for extra work as
China’s coronavirus epidemic
seems to be stabilising. The
increased demand is not extra hours in
her day job but her side hustle, as one of
the so-called “super tutors” who can
demand as much as $300 for 45 minutes
work.
“Some students do not have the abil-
ity to study by themselves, so in order
to catch up at school they will have to
hire super tutors,” she says through a
translator. The school semester has not
yet started, but because of the closure
during quarantine, Ms Wong says par-
ents will be seeking extra help so their
children can catch up for the Senior
High School Entrance examination, or
Zhongkao.
Lilly Wong is not her real name — she
is keen to keep her identity secretas the
practice is officially forbidden in her
state school. But by working eight hours
every weekend as a maths tutor, charg-
ing $80 per hour she earns almost as
much again as hersalary, allowing her to
save for her daughter’s own tuition fees.
One Chinese analyst says some tutors
bill up to $300 per 45 minutes, and
richer parents may spend more than
$10,000 per term in the build-up to the
pivotal Gaokao exam that determines
university admission. Before coronavi-
rus,Ms Wong taught face to face and,
during the worstweeks, she used online
platforms or WeChat.
According toUnesco monitoring, 107
countries have implemented nation-
wide closures, impacting over 862m
children and youth. A further 12 coun-
tries have implemented localised school
closures and, should these closures
become nationwide, hundreds of mil-
lions of additional learners will experi-
ence education disruption.
In place of class-based lessons, onlinetutors and e-learning companies have
filled the educational hole.Those who
usually deliver tutoring in-person, like
Ms Wong, hope for a fillip when the iso-
lation period comes to an end.
According to market research group
Technavio, the private tuition market
will grow in the US by $7.37bn by 2023,
at a compound annual growth rate of
almost 8 per cent. Some of the biggest
players are Chegg, Club Z and Varsity
Tutors.
Mark Bray, emeritus professor and
Unesco chair in comparative education
at the University of Hong Kong, says
that online tutoring companies have
experienced “much increased demand
while the face-to-face operators suffer
the same constraints as schools that
have been suspended”.
Ruth Benny, a Hong Kong education
specialist at Top Schools, says some par-
ents are coping with trying to keep their
children focused on home learning pro-grammes while also trying to work from
home. “Clearly there are some parents
who are losing their minds,” she says.
Hong Kong schools have been closed
since January, and Ms Benny says the
measures had been good business for
“the smart” tutors.
Otherwise parents had been trying a
number of measures, including putting
children together in small groups.
The best tutoring companies with
their own specialist platforms, Prof Bray
says, can do very well at sustaining
pupils’ interest. “The large ones have
specialist research and training teams,
and are more nimble and dynamic than
the schools.”
However, Wei Zhang, associate
researcher at East China Normal Uni-
versity’s computer science and technol-
ogy department, says not all online
tutoring is good. “Quite the opposite,
[companies] are very aggressive in mar-
keting, and the quality of service variesgreatly.” Some parents in Asia have
sourced tutors overseas. Nathaniel
McCullagh, the founder of UK-based
Simply Learning Tuition, says his com-
pany has had a big increase in inquiries
from China for online tuition.
One of his tutors, London-based
Romola Nuttall, says her workload has
increased. “I make sure that my lessons
are a bit more fun so that it’s not another
online lesson, keeping them doing stuff
that will hold their interest. It’s easier to
get bored the less you do. The older ones
[are] getting bored with not going to
school.”
She tutors English-speaking expats
and Chinese locals between the age of
seven and 18, who want an English edu-
cation. “Brits have cultural capital,” Ms
Nuttall says, which is something chains
of British schools, includingDulwich
College, have capitalised on by opening
outposts in China.
Some affluent parents have decided tohire expensive tutors to homeschool
their children. Adam Caller, founder of
Tutors International, which places
tutors with families, reports a sharp rise
in requests. “As a company we would do
12-16 placements a year and I could
comfortably do that this month.” Calls
have come from Portugal, Italy, Dubai
and Central America. “A couple of cli-
ents are planning to go on a yacht for a
few months, [they] think they can hide
away.”
Mark Maclaine, a London-based tutor
has had a “tonne of requests coming in
from overseas clients” recently,mainly
from families in Hong Kong and Singa-
pore. Many have asked him to fly over
and stay with them.
However, despite the offer oflarge
fees, he willremain in the UK because
he is afraid of letting his current stu-
dents down and getting stuck overseas
should flights be suspended. Money isno concern to these parents, he says.
One father told him: “This is the best
investment I can make so you tell me
what it would take to get someone here
to Hong Kong.” Some have “no problem
paying for private jets or more money
for unsociable hours tutoring”, he adds.
After the UK government announced
school closures and cancelled GCSE and
A-level exams, “there is a lot of confu-
sion as well as concern and anxiety in
students,” says Mr Maclaine.
Most clients have opted to keep going
— for now. But a few ofhis A-level stu-
dents have already decided to take a
year off and resit he following year.t
About two-thirds are not preparing for
exams. “Parents are mostly trying to
keep them occupied and also make sure
they don’t fall behind.”
Mr McCullagh observes similar
trends. As well as “a significant increase
in the number of teachers calling us
looking for extra work as tutors”.Global private tutoring booms as schools close
As Covid-19 keeps children
at home, rich parents offerhuge fees to ‘supertutors’.
ByEmma Jacobs,AndrewJack nda Primrose Riordan
Some tutors bill up to
$300 per 45 minutes.
Richer parents may
spend $10,000 per term
in the build-up to exams
Coronavirus
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coronavirusMARCH 23 2020 Section:Features Time: 22/3/2020- 14:49 User:alistair.hayes Page Name:CAREERS2, Part,Page,Edition:USA, 13, 1