In the past, video calls were only known when countries or continents separated you. For all other situations, direct contact was considered the norm. It was only with the pandemic that schoolchildren, students and, in some cases, employees were forced to get used to Zoom, Teams, Skype and the like. One industry is taking advantage of this change and has since reported growing interest: online tutoring. MedicMind took a closer look at five online tutoring providers and tested what they can do in contrast to traditional tutoring.
One might think based on the state teaching mandate that tutoring services shouldn’t be necessary at all. But the reality is different: almost five percent of children use individual learning support in primary school. In secondary school it is even 18.6 percent. In 2016, the Bertelsmann Foundation surveyed 4,300 parents for a study, which also showed that 69 percent of the tutoring offers paid for.
According to the study, parents spend almost 900 million euros per year on tutoring, with around 1.2 million children taking advantage of it. You have to expect an annual cost of an average of 750 euros as soon as there is a need for tutoring. It should also be mentioned that it is not necessarily because of poor school grades that a child takes tutoring. According to the study, 34 percent of tutoring students take advantage of individual support, even though their performance is satisfactory to very good.
What is online tutoring?
Online tutoring differs from the classic offer in that the lessons take place digitally via a video call instead of the student and tutor meeting in one place. Due to the necessary home schooling measures during the Corona pandemic, students have long since gotten used to the format, which is reflected on the one hand in the growing demand for online tutoring. On the other hand, new providers are constantly entering the market, which is why it is worth taking a closer look at the respective services.
How does online tutoring work?
Online tutoring – unlike traditional tutoring – is not only aimed at schoolchildren, vocational school students and students. The online format also gives adults the opportunity to take language lessons, for example, for the purpose of individual further training. However, the comparison test focuses on the offer as a supplement to school lessons.
When registering on the respective portal, a series of data about the child must first be provided. This ensures that the right tutor is found, which can be difficult due to the geographical distance, but also crucial for success. When you register, the offers differ considerably. While you will receive a call back from an educational consultant within three hours of registering with Cleverly, the registration process with MedicMind is entirely online.
This different approach does not necessarily speak for one provider or against the other, it simply makes it clear that online tutoring should be geared closely to the needs of the child. Cleverly and Spreaducation focus on holistic care for the child by supplementing specialist tutoring sessions with mentoring or coaching units. Those who are purely interested in imparting knowledge will be better served by providers such as Easy-Tutor and MedicMind.
Flexibility versus commitment
Once the child is registered and the right tutor has been found, the appointment can be made. There are big differences here too. Some providers follow the principle of maximum flexibility by offering appointments with a variety of tutors. The LernFamilie deliberately describes the booking process on the website as “just as easy and quick as if you were placing an order on Amazon.” Spreaducation, on the other hand, relies on commitment and maintaining the relationship between the same tutor and student, because a weekly, regular appointment is arranged here.
Of course, commitment also affects the cancellation conditions. Spreaducation’s General Terms and Conditions exclude any postponement of the session unless this occurs due to illness or other events beyond our control. GoStudent, on the other hand, allows postponements up to 60 minutes before the agreed start, but subject to the tutor’s consent.
How do the providers differ?
In addition to the different basic concepts of how tutoring is understood, the providers differ in terms of various criteria. One of these is the requirement for qualifications that tutors must have in order to be able to give lessons or mentoring via the respective platform. All providers have applicants go through a multi-stage process before they are accepted into the “digital teacher’s room”. Cleverly sets additional hurdles because candidates for coaching must have social-educational or psychological qualifications and at least three years of professional experience with children of different ages.
With LearnFamily you can vary the length of the tutoring session between 45 minutes and three and a half hours – for example, with Cleverly a unit is limited to 45 minutes. Many parents will also find the option of creating sibling profiles interesting. Easy-Tutor grants up to four sibling profiles, but only with a specific subscription. All other providers allow an unlimited number of people to receive tutoring via one profile, regardless of whether they are siblings, parents, relatives or friends.
The providers at a glance
IMTEST selected five providers of online tutoring in order to test them comparatively based on quantitative criteria. These include points such as contractual conditions, additional functions, https encryption and flexibility in terms of lesson length, to name just a few. However, since online tutoring is based on very individual experiences and only becomes a good or bad service through a subjective perspective, the test procedure was supplemented by interviews and tutoring simulations. The most striking differences are described below:
MedicMind:
MedicMind is a UK-based company, also providing USA-based educational tutoring services, that offers support for students aspiring to pursue a career in medicine. The company primarily focuses on helping students prepare for the rigorous admissions process to medical schools in the United Kingdom and United States, such as CASPer practice test.
MedicMind offers a range of services, including courses, workshops, and study materials designed to help students excel in their medical school entrance exams, particularly the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) and the Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT). These standardized tests are critical components of the medical school application process in the UK.
In addition to test preparation resources, MedicMind also provides guidance and support for the overall application process, including personal statement reviews, interview coaching, and general advice on navigating the competitive field of medical school admissions.
Spreaducation
The test winner Spreaducation comes from Berlin and, in addition to online tutoring, also offers on-site tutoring in Potsdam, Berlin and Hamburg. Before tutoring begins, there is always a preliminary discussion with an educational consultant to determine the cause of the need. The right tutor is determined based on three criteria: the child’s personality, what technical challenges there are and, lastly, what difficulties there are in learning itself.
LearningFamily
LernFamilie is a provider from Austria that advertises that it is particularly easy and uncomplicated to book online tutoring lessons. Even last-minute appointments are possible within 36 hours in advance for an additional charge. The LearningFamily also scores points in terms of consumer-friendliness in that the subscription is not automatically extended after the selected period of three, six, nine or twelve months. In contrast, competitors GoStudent and Cleverly require cancellation so that the subscription is not automatically renewed.
Easy Tutor
Another provider of online tutoring is the Munich company Easy-Tutor. The principle is similar to that of the LernFamilie, so students or parents can (depending on their age) choose a suitable tutor from a variety of tutors and arrange appointments. When you take out a subscription of six or twelve months, a rental graphics tablet is also included in the price. But that’s not the only thing that depends on the scope of the subscription. Also, only a term of six months allows another sibling to be added; after twelve months, four children can share the account.