Standard rate for teaching English?

[musician]

Hi there,

I'm a 31-y-o female teaching English to a lady for two hours every few days.

I don't have teaching qualifications, however I taught music for 7 years privately in my home country.

I am being paid 12 euros per hour, but I'm not sure what the going rate is, especially since I am going to her home.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[askgabriel]

The price depends on what people are ready to pay, and what you are offering.
But even if you are only giving her yourself as a native speaker to chat to (i.e. no instruction, material or structured work on her language skills), 12 € still seems low.

[IrishmaninVienna]

€12.00 is a bit low, even without teaching qualifications (TEFL, CELTA etc.). You might ask for more next time, but in my experience you'll probably find a lot less work if you go much higher.

It's really based on what people want to pay, what you offer and where you see yourself in the marketplace.

[goldfish]

I agree 12 euros seems a little low.

Here are some basic points to consider when setting a rate for yourself.

What is the min. rate you are prepared to accept and never go below this
How desperate are you for money?
Is your client a child or an adult?
Are they coming to you or do you have to travel to them? (if you minus the cost of getting there from 12 euros then you are probably getting paid less than a cleaner)
Do you have to teach them grammar or are you just helping them with homework or having a conversation?
How much preparation do you have to do?
Do you know them eg are they a friend or a friend of a friend?


People will pay you as little as you allow them to. One of my friends who is a qualified Austrian teacher was offered 7 euros an hour to tutor a child, I thought this rather insulting. I tend not to do one to one tutoring as there is very little money to be made. I only do one to ones with people I know and as a favour. I charge a min. of 20 euros for 50 mins and they have to come to me.

[blueorange]

It is always amusing to see people paying 20 euro per meal, or 10 euro for a cleaning lady, and then being grudgy about paying 15 or 20 for a language tutor, which requires so much knowledge! Amazing. I think people just dont value the language knowledge. Too many people speak foreign languages, albeit incorrectly, and that creates an illusion of simplicity and easyness. Too bad and i feel for poor teachers. But at least they enjoy it, while bankers don t

[pam]

To be honest the rate always depends on if you are doing the work on a free lance contract or employee's contract.

According to the Kollektivvertrag of the Chamber of commerce, a teacher should not earn less than 1085,48 per month for 40 hours per week on an employees contract, otherwise you can report it. If you are working freelance, then its up to you to make the price.

Here are the guidelines of how much you are allowed to earn minimum per month according the chamber of commerce Kollektivvertrag page 74. (Employees contract)

http://portal.wko.at/wk/suche.wk?AngID=1&SbID=0&ChID=0&BrID=0&DstID=0&reiter=internetaktiveinhalte&itemoffset=0&pagesize=20&themenfilter=&details=1&Sortierung=TopInhalte&init=1&SuchbegriffText=kollektivvertrag+

[blueorange]

Do you realise that it is 6.25 per hour?!

[pam]

Yes, I do realize that the rate is very low, but I did not make the laws, I was only directing where you can find the legal kollektivevertrag rate for an employees contract.

Of course its up to the teacher to negotiate the rate, and it also depends on the Verwendungsjahr if you have checked the link

[kavin]

Yes, 6,25€/hr was one of my- 'also ran' as 'teacher_trainer' role was payed with proper contract (for reputed firm!) as mentioned in above link; was more of 'consulting_tr' really.

[pam]

Oh and another thing one should not forget by working on an employees contract,

You get paid leave twice a year, (25 days for a normal average job)
You get paid sick leave
You get paid for all the public holidays even though you don’t work
You are entitled to full insurance coverage including unemployment money (after working for a certain amount of months).
Your pension gets paid in ……, and now.... it is only obvious that you would have to ask for a higher rate if you are on freelance, as you would have to cover the above mentioned costs yourself, unless you are not paying them in and working under the table!

So one should really consider under what circumstances you are working. Oh and usually when you are on an employee's contract and you have to commute to other places, you also get paid or should get paid something called "Fahrtkosten" or "Reisespesenkostenabrechnung".

And the above mentioned costs for an employee cost a company a fortune, as they have to pay extra taxes for the health insurance and "Finanzamt" too, apart from what has already been mentioned, so I would really look at it from both sides.

[blueorange]

kavin, y'r nglsh 's 2konfuzin

pam, what do they do with two paid leaves without any serious money? go to Burgenland or camping to the lake? the more money you have, the less time and vice versa... another problem...
anyways, i just wanted to say i sympathize with them, that's all. and with many schools as well, as this business is so unprofitable, if those schools don't know how to build their brand and differentiate from others. Those that learned how to market themselves, those can command a premium. Like Berlitz, or like some private schools...

Otherwise, you are a commodity and it is never a good business.

[pam]

Dear blueorange,

I totally agree with you regarding the paid leave on such low wages, and that the businesses in schools are generally unprofitable, actually because people do not want to pay, only the few.

I think the main problem is that because education is for "free" in Austria, many are unwilling to pay and take the system for granted. From where I come from;- not one single school, college or university was for free and I could not believe that many are so unwilling to spend just that extra more to get a better education. I have heard from so many that they say that Language schools are so expensive and could not believe it.

Most of the language courses are paid by renowned companies who have the money anyway and you have to do targeted marketing to be able to reach the single people on the market who are willing to pay, and I think that is the challange for language schools.

In addition I just wanted to add that I am not saying that it's better to have an employees contract, I was just pointing out the difference so musician can work out his hourly salary

[blueorange]

I think musician is a she :))

[krismathoera]

15 was a normal rate

[kavin]

add inflation, it moved from €18 to 21 to 25 to 28 where applicable.

[walmsley]

Lots of namby pamby waffle on here.
Anything less than €20 hour is insultingly low. Mrs Landtmann pays €50.
If any rich UN worker or diplomat needs English charge them accordingly.

[kavin]