The following data was collected by a Toronto-based tutoring academy during the 2005/2006 school year and provides a summary of 169 students and the subjects in which they were being tutored. These data provide a good summary of the relative demand for tutoring in different subjects in a large North American city. Although this is not a perfectly representative sample and the demand for different subjects can vary by city, it still provides information that can be useful in determining which subjects and grades to offer.
Students:
The split between male and female students is almost even, with 49% male and 51% female. Students are spread across grade levels, with 25% in K-6, 15% in grades 7-8, 57% in grades 9-12, and less than 3% in college.
Subjects:
Below is a list of the most demanded tutoring subjects and their relative incidence in this group.
Mathematics… 77 students (45.6%)
English… 37 students (21.9%)
Mathematics and English… 27 students (16.0%)
Mathematics and Sciences… 18 students (10.7%)
Sciences… 7 students (4.1%)
French… 3 students (1.8%)
Results:
Mathematics is by far the most popular subject, with 45.6% of students requiring tutoring in Mathematics only and another 26.7% requiring tutoring in Mathematics and another subject.
English is second, with nearly 30% requiring tutoring in English and another 16% requiring tutoring in Math and English.
Science ranks a distant third, with just 4.1% requiring tutoring in science alone and another 10.7% requiring tutoring in math and science.
The demand for tutoring in French is almost negligible, with less than 2% requiring tutoring in this subject.
What is the meaning of these data?
These data may provide a useful example of the relative demand for tutoring subjects in a typical small to medium-sized North American tutoring academy. Anyone considering starting a tutoring academy should research the demand for subjects as well as the grade level of tutoring students for their relevant market. You should carefully consider this information before deciding which subjects and grade levels you will offer with your tutoring service, so that you can make the best use of a scarce resource…your tutors.
For example, if you choose to tutor all subjects and grades, you will need to have many more tutors available than if you only offer Mathematics for grades 7-12. And based on the numbers, you could probably attract enough students to run a profitable academy by offering only Math for grades 7-12. On the other hand, an academy specializing in English tutoring for grades K-6 would probably not attract as many students as the example above.
Therefore, deciding which subjects to teach is a balance between grades and subjects you can comfortably handle and what you need to offer to maintain a profitable business.
