Choosing a tutor is an odd purchase: it's important, personal, and most parents only do it once or twice, so there's little chance to learn from experience. Having sat on the other side of many first phone calls, here's what I'd genuinely want to know if I were hiring a tutor for my own child, including the questions that separate strong tutors from confident marketing.
Safety and credentials first
Two non-negotiables before anything else: an Enhanced DBS check, current and shown willingly, and some verifiable teaching background. Qualified teacher status isn't strictly essential for every tutoring context, but classroom experience matters more than most parents realise, because managing a child's attention, confidence and misconceptions is a craft learned with real pupils, not from an answer book.
Ask directly: "Are you DBS checked, and what's your teaching background?" A good tutor answers in one comfortable sentence.
Evidence over adjectives
Anyone can write "proven results" on a website. Useful evidence is specific: which schools have pupils actually gained, how recently, and from what starting points. Ask "Can you tell me about a pupil similar to mine and how it went?" The answer reveals a lot, including whether the tutor listens well enough to know what "similar to mine" means. References from current or recent families are worth requesting for a long-term engagement; any established tutor can produce one or two.
Be fairly sceptical of guaranteed outcomes. No honest tutor guarantees a school place, because no tutor controls the field of applicants.
How do they find out where your child is?
A strong tutor starts with some form of assessment, formal or informal, before promising anything, and can tell you clearly after two or three sessions what the gaps are and what the plan is. If the plan for every child is the same workbook from page one, you're paying private rates for something generic.
The follow-up question that matters: "How will you keep me informed?" You should expect a brief note after sessions or a regular summary: what was covered, what's improving, what needs work. Vague reassurance that it's all going well is not reporting.
Fit beats reputation
The tutor a friend's child loved may be wrong for yours. Some children need warmth and encouragement before they'll take a risk on a hard question; others thrive on brisk challenge. Watch the first session or two: does your child come out flat, or talking about something they worked out? The best predictor of tutoring success I know is whether the child looks forward to sessions, because a child who enjoys the hour works between sessions, and the work between sessions is where most progress lives.
Practicalities worth pinning down
Cancellation policy, holiday arrangements, whether sessions are in person or online, and what happens as the exam approaches, since good tutors' diaries fill up in the autumn term. None of this is awkward to ask; a professional will have clear answers.
The wrong reason to hire a tutor
One honest note: tutoring works best as targeted support with a clear purpose, whether that's exam preparation, closing a specific gap, or rebuilding confidence. If nothing is wrong and no goal exists, the money is usually better spent on books and time. A good tutor will tell you that too.
If you'd like to ask me any of these questions, I'd be glad to answer them. The easiest first step is a free 15-minute phone chat.