Online tutoring widened a parent’s choice from the tutors within driving distance to the whole country, and on published averages it costs a little less. The question is whether it works as well. This page gives the evidence that exists, which is thinner than either side likes to admit, and a practical guide to what makes an online lesson in science or maths work.
Is online tutoring as effective as in-person tutoring?
Online tutoring shows no clear disadvantage when the teaching is good, and the evidence does not show a clear winner either way. The Education Endowment Foundation’s review of one-to-one tuition reports that “studies involving digital technology show broadly similar effects”, and its 2020 rapid evidence assessment of remote learning, written for school closures rather than tutoring, concluded that “teaching quality is more important than how lessons are delivered”.
The gap in the evidence is real, though. NFER’s September 2024 review of the National Tutoring Programme for the Department for Education recommended that the DfE “should build and disseminate the evidence-base around best practice in tutoring”, listing “mode of delivery (online versus in-person)” among the questions still open. Nobody has run the definitive trial. What we have is the EEF’s “broadly similar effects”, plus what schools reported when they tried both.
What did the National Tutoring Programme find about online tutoring?
The National Tutoring Programme found that online tutoring was easier to arrange and harder to make children turn up to. In its first year, 2020/21, the programme’s 33 quality-assured Tuition Partners delivered “both face-to-face and online tutoring across England”, and the EEF’s summary of the evaluation reports that “overall, school leads felt that face-to-face tuition was more effective than online – due to better attendance and better perceived quality. However online tuition was perceived to give greater flexibility.”
The 2024 review heard the same thing in interviews. Low attendance “was particularly an issue when tutoring took place online with a TP, after school, where pupils were expected to log on at home”, and one leader had “only delivered tutoring in person, at school, to ensure equal access” because not every pupil had a device at home.
Two lessons for a parent follow from that. First, the problems schools described were mainly attendance and set-up, alongside a perceived quality gap; a child at home with a parent who makes sure they are at the desk at 5pm is less likely to have the attendance problem. Second, the perceived-quality gap was reported by school leads about tutors supplied through a programme. You are choosing yours.
What works online for GCSE science and maths?
Online lessons can work for GCSE science and maths when the tutor uses a shared whiteboard, works from real past papers, and marks against the real mark scheme in front of your child. Maths and the calculation-heavy parts of physics and chemistry suit a screen well, because every step of a working can be written where both people see it, kept, and sent home.
The set-up that works has four parts. A shared digital whiteboard, so your child writes the working rather than watching it. Past-paper questions on screen, with the mark scheme opened afterwards so the child sees exactly which words earned the marks. Camera on, so the tutor can see when a child has stopped following. A written note after the lesson: what was covered, what was wrong, what to practise before next time.
Priority Education, this site’s tutoring partner, describes its lessons as helping students to “understand key content, develop exam skills and practice exam questions”, which is the same core an online lesson should deliver. Its site says it teaches students “locally, Nationally and Internationally” but does not say which lessons are online and which are in person; that is confirmed on the free call. Pair any lessons with the free revision guides on this site between sessions.
The EEF’s remote learning review adds one more point: “peer interactions can provide motivation and improve learning outcomes”. A small online group of two or three can be livelier than a one-to-one, which is covered in small group tuition vs one-to-one.
When does in-person tutoring matter more?
In-person tutoring matters more for a younger child, for a child who will not stay at a screen without an adult in the room, and for anyone whose home does not have a quiet space and a reliable device. The EEF’s remote learning review lists “ensuring access to technology” among its key findings, and the National Tutoring Programme’s experience was that children expected to log on alone after school often did not.
Required practicals in GCSE science are one content area where a screen falls short. A tutor can explain a titration or a resistance experiment online and go through the exam questions on it, but cannot put the equipment in your child’s hands. Schools do that; a tutor’s job is to make sure the method and the evaluation questions are secure.
Some children also simply work better with an adult physically present. Teachers To Your Home’s parent guide, written by an agency that offers both formats, says face-to-face tuition can work particularly well for younger children and for pupils who benefit from having their teacher physically present. If your child is in Year 7 or 8, or struggled to sustain attention online during school closures, start in person if you can.
Is online tutoring cheaper than in-person?
Online tutoring is usually cheaper than in-person tutoring, typically by a few pounds an hour on published averages. Tutorful’s June 2024 marketplace figures put online tutoring at £37.45 an hour against £40.54 face-to-face, and Teachers To Your Home says most of its teachers start from around £40 online and around £46 face-to-face. The EEF noted the same in the National Tutoring Programme: costs “are lower for online delivery compared to in person tuition”.
The bigger gain is choice. Online, a parent in Teesside can hire a physics teacher in Bristol. In person, you are limited to tutors who can travel to you, which narrows the field in many areas. Full rate tables are in tutoring cost per hour in the UK.
What should I ask about an online tutor’s set-up?
Five questions tell you whether an online tutor has a real set-up or a webcam and good intentions. What do you use as a shared whiteboard, and will my child write on it? Which past papers and mark schemes will you work from? Will you send a note after each lesson? What happens if the connection drops? Can we have a short trial so my child can see the screen before we commit?
Then test it at home. Sit in on the first lesson. If your child is watching rather than writing, if the tutor’s camera is off, or if the lesson is a slide deck rather than questions, change tutor. The hub for this series is choosing and paying for a tutor, and Priority Education’s lesson formats are on the tutoring page, with the online or in-person question answered on the free call.
If you want to talk it through with a qualified teacher first, book a free call.