How to become a psychology tutor

Congratulations! If you're reading this, it means you're considering becoming a psychology tutor. Psychology is studied at every level, from GCSE through to postgraduate research, and students at every stage are looking for tutors who can help them make sense of the theory, the studies, and the exam technique.

Because psychology touches on real, sensitive topics, mental health, human behaviour, cognitive development, among others, students and parents expect a certain level of credibility from the tutors they choose.

If you're truly interested in becoming a tutor, this guide covers everything you need to know, step by step, including the qualifications and skills that will help you stand out and attract serious students.

Why become a psychology tutor?

Private tutoring is one of the most flexible and rewarding ways to put your psychology knowledge to use. If you're weighing up whether to become a psychology tutor or not, here are a few reasons why it’s worth considering:

• Flexible hours: You set your own schedule, whether that's evenings, weekends, or full-time during term breaks,
• No commission: You're your own boss. On FindTutors, you keep 100% of what you earn, with no fees taken from your lessons,
• Freedom on rates: You decide what to charge based on your experience, specialisation, and the level you teach,
• Low barrier to entry: Creating a profile is free, and there are no upfront costs to get started,
• Genuine impact: Psychology can be a difficult subject to grasp on your own. One-to-one support often makes the difference between a student struggling with a concept and one who truly understands it.

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How to become a psychology tutor

Once you've decided tutoring is for you, there are a few practical steps to work through before you're ready to take on students. Here's how to become a psychology tutor, from choosing your specialisation to setting your price.

1 - Choose the psychology specialisation and level you'd like to teach

Psychology is a broad subject, so one of your first steps on the path to becoming a psychology tutor is identifying what exactly you want to teach. Some tutors focus on a specific level, others on a specific branch of psychology, and some are comfortable covering a wide range.

A few examples of what this could look like in practice:

• GCSE and A-Level psychology: Covering core topics like memory, attachment, and research methods for school-age students preparing for exams,
• University-level psychology: Supporting undergraduates with specific modules such as cognitive psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, or clinical psychology,
• EPQ and coursework support: Helping sixth-form students structure independent research projects with a psychology focus,
• Adult learners: Teaching adults returning to study, retraining, or simply curious about the subject.

Here are a few tips to help you decide on your specialisation:

• Match it to your own study: Think about which modules or topics you scored highest in, or found easiest to explain to others,
• Consider demand at each level: GCSE and A-Level psychology tend to attract the highest volume of student enquiries, while university-level tutoring often pays more per hour due to its complexity,
• Be honest about your depth of knowledge: If you studied psychology broadly, you may be equally comfortable across levels. If you specialised heavily in one area during your degree or postgraduate studies, it may be worth focusing around that,
• Start narrow, then expand: You can always add subjects, levels, or specialisations to your range of specialisation once you've built up enough experience.

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2 - Choose your lesson format(s)

Once you've settled on what to teach, you'll need to decide how you want to teach it: in person, online, or both. There's no right answer here, it alll comes down to what suits your lifestyle and the students you want to reach.

Teaching in person

In-person tutoring means meeting your student at an agreed location, their home, yours, or a neutral space like a library or any other location your own choosing or the students’.

Here are a few practical things to factor in to choose your lesson format :

• Travel time and cost: If you're travelling to the student, this comes out of your own time and pocket. So you’ll need to factor petrol, public transport fares, parking or any other personal factors into your rate,
• Your travel radius: Decide in advance how far you're willing to travel. Many tutors set a limit of 5 to 15 miles to avoid taking on enquiries that don't work geographically,
• Location logistics: If students come to you, make sure you have a quiet, appropriate space to teach. If you go to them, be prepared to adapt to different environments,
• Hands on materials: For psychology, this might mean bringing printed case studies, past exam papers, research summaries or any relevant materials you could need to teach properly.

Teaching online

Online tutoring takes place via video call tools like Zoom, Google Meet, or any other video platforms of your choosing. It removes the travel question entirely and opens up your potential student base beyond your local area.

Here are a few things to consider for online teaching:

• Tech setup: You'll need a stable internet connection, a working webcam, and a microphone. A shared digital whiteboard can help a lot when mapping out theories or diagrams,
• Screen sharing: Most platforms let you share documents and slides, which works well for talking through studies, models, or essay structures together with your students,
• Engagement: Psychology involves a lot of discussion and critical thinking, so keeping the conversation interactive matters more online than it might for more visual subjects.

Which format is right for you?

Here is a little table to help you better compare the requirements of each lesson formats before you make a decision. Remember, you can always choose to start tutoring in a given format, but later on change your lesson formats if you need.

Many tutors choose to offer both formats to maximise the number of enquiries they receive. You can specify your preferred format directly on your FindTutors profile so students know what to expect before they get in touch.

3 - Set your tariffs

Deciding what to charge is one of the trickier parts of getting started, especially if this is your first time tutoring. Rates vary depending on the level you teach, your qualifications, your experience, and your location, and possibly other personnel factors depending on your own situation. 

Here's what you usually have to take into account when setting your price:

• Research the market: Search for psychology tutors, on FindTutors or example or other tutoring platforms, as if you were a student, to see what others in your area or specialisation are charging,
• Factor in your qualifications: Tutors with a psychology degree, or postgraduate study in the subject, can generally charge more than those without,
• Account for preparation and travel time: Psychology lessons involve prep, reading up on a specific study or exam board, so build this into your rate as well,
• Consider your specialisation: If you teach a less common area, such as a specific university module, you may be able to charge a premium due to lower competition,
• Factor in results and reviews: Once you've built a track record of strong reviews or exam results from other students, you're in a good position to increase your rate.

4 - Announce your services around you

Once your specialisation, format, and rate are set, it's time to start spreading the word. Tell family, friends, and your wider network that you're now tutoring psychology, you never know who might be looking for a tutor, or know someone who is.

Before you do, make sure you're clear on the basics so you can answer questions confidently as soon as someone asks:

• What you teach: Which level(s) and area(s) of psychology you cover,
• Your rate: What you charge per lesson, so there's no back and forth,
• Your format: Whether you teach in person, online, or both,
• Your availability: Which days or times you're realistically free to teach.

Having this ready from the start means you can say yes to an opportunity the moment it comes up.

How to find students to tutor

Once your profile is ready, it's time to start finding students. Most tutors combine a few different methods rather than relying on just one.

Create an advert on tutoring platforms

Many online tutoring sites out there let you post an ad for free to help you find students to tutor. This puts you in front of students actively searching for a psychology tutor and cuts down the work you have to put in when looking for students. If you do decide to use a tutoring site to advertise your services, make sure your ad is detailed and includes a clear description of your specialisation, so the right students find you.

Post Your Free Psychology Tutor Ad

Spread the word

Word of mouth is still one of the most effective ways to find your first students. Let friends, family, and former classmates know you're tutoring psychology, you never know who might be looking, or know someone who is.

Build your repuation

Once you've taught a few lessons, ask your students to recommend you to other families and students. This is key to building a solid repuation in order to attract more students through word of mouth.

And if you’re actively searching for students via tutoring platforms, ask your students from there to leave a review on your profile. Increasingly, students and parents check reviews before making a decision, so a handful of strong ones can make a real difference to your enquiry rate.

Browse student ads on FindTutors

Students and parents also post their own requests on some tutoring platforms, like on FindTutors. Browsing these ads lets you reach out directly to students whose needs match what you offer, rather than waiting to be found.

Search for Students on FindTutors

Stand out from other tutors on tutoring sites

With psychology being a popular subject, it's worth thinking about what makes your profile different. Ask yourself:

• What can I offer that other psychology tutors can't?: A specific specialisation, exam board familiarity, or way of teaching,
• Does my profile give a clear, trustworthy first impression?: Check your photo and description read well from a parent's point of view,
• Am I highlighting the right qualifications and experience?: Make sure your strongest credentials are easy to spot,
• Is my rate competitive for my level and specialisation?: Compare your price against similar tutors on the platform.

How much can I make as a psychology tutor?

Money is often one of the biggest questions behind wanting to become a psychology tutor. Here's what psychology lessons typically cost for students on FindTutors, to give you a starting point:

And here's what you could realistically earn depending on how many hours you teach per week, taking the example of GCSE and University level tutoring for psychology:

GCSE psychology tutoring (£15–£22/hour)

A-Level psychology tutoring (£18–£25/hour)

University-level psychology tutoring (£22–£35/hour)

A few examples of what this could look like in practice:

• 10 hours/week, online only, GCSE and A-Level students: A good starting point if you're tutoring alongside another job or your own studies, with no travel time to account for, bringing in roughly £650–£1,080/month depending on level,
• 15 hours/week, mixed format, A-Level focus: A step up in commitment, combining a few in-person students locally with online lessons further afield, bringing in roughly £1,170–£1,620/month,
• 25 hours/week, specialised university-level tutoring: For tutors with postgraduate qualifications, focusing on a smaller number of higher-paying, specialised students at this level can bring in roughly £2,380–£3,790/month, often more time-efficient than a high volume of lower-level lessons.

Do I need qualifications to become a psychology tutor?

Yes. This is one of the most important questions to answer if you're serious about becoming a psychology tutor on FindTutors. Given the depth and sensitivity of the subject, psychology tutors are required to hold, at minimum, a university degree in psychology or a closely related field (such as neuroscience, cognitive science, or counselling). This isn't about creating unnecessary hurdles, it's about making sure students and parents can trust that the person guiding them through the subject genuinely understands it given thec copmlexity and sensitivity of the field.

Tutors with postgraduate qualifications, teaching experience, or a specific clinical or research background can use this to stand out further and justify a higher rate.

What if I don't have a psychology degree?

If you don't hold a relevant degree yet, you're not locked out of tutoring altogether. Many tutors start out teaching a subject they're already qualified in, and come back to psychology tutoring once they've completed their degree. 

In the meantime, you can look for other subject categories to tutor. This will also enable you to build more experience, reputation and online reviews if you’re using tutoring platforms to find students.

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Top 10 subjects to tutor

FindTutors recently ran a study of the most in-demand subjects to tutor in the UK, based on FindTutors internal market data. Based on the latter, here are some popular subjects on FindTutors you could choose from in order to get started. 

Top 10 subjects with demand higher than tutor supply (undersupplied), ranked by gap

Source: data compiled from FindTutors' 2025 platform statistics, Private Tutoring Statistics in the UK for 2025.

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What skills do you need to become a good psychology tutor?

Beyond formal qualifications, the following skills will help you connect with students and keep them coming back:

• Empathy: Psychology students are often exploring topics related to mental health and human behaviour, so being able to approach these subjects sensitively matters,
• Active listening: Understanding exactly where a student is stuck, rather than assuming, helps you tailor your explanations effectively,
• Clear communication: Being able to explain dense theory and research findings in plain, simple terms is one of the most valuable skills a psychology tutor can have,
• Patience: Some concepts, like research methodology or statistical analysis, take longer to click for some students than others,
• Adaptability: Every exam board, university course, and student has different needs, so being able to adjust your approach is essential.

Other requirements in order to become a psychology tutor

A full DBS check

A DBS check (Disclosure and Barring Service) isn't a mandatory requirement to tutor on FindTutors, but it's worth strongly considering, especially if you plan to teach under-18s. Many parents will ask whether you hold one before booking, and having a valid certificate ready to share can make your profile noticeably more reassuring. You can apply for your own basic DBS check directly via the official government website, at your own cost.

Confidentiality

Beyond this, it's worth keeping in mind that psychology as a subject can touch on personal or sensitive topics for students. Being mindful of confidentiality, and knowing when a topic falls outside what you're equipped to discuss as a tutor, is an important part of teaching the subject responsibly.

Ready to Become a Psychology Tutor?

You now have everything you need to become a psychology tutor: choosing your specialisation and level, picking a lesson format, setting your rate, and putting together an ad that builds trust with students and parents. From there, qualifications, the right skills, and a thoughtful approach to advertising yourself will help you attract the serious, motivated students you're looking for.

Ready to get started? Create your free profile on FindTutors today and take the first step toward tutoring psychology on your own terms.

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Frequently Asked Questions on How to Become a Psychology Tutor