How to Hire a Private Educator to Help with Virtual Learning
Balancing safety with socialization and sanity is easier said than done these days. Many families privileged enough to work remotely escaped New York City in March and April. With schools offering virtual learning options, some people feel there isn’t a compelling reason to head back to the concrete jungle until at least 2021. Even for families that don’t have two working parents, not everyone is cut out to be a teacher for their kids, and not every kid wants their parent overseeing their day to day education.
Being a kid in virtual school is a new kind of complicated. It’s fair to assume that it’s not just that you don’t have a teacher bone in your body holding you back from becoming the homeschooling mom or dad of the year. Especially when hiring a private teacher, tutor, or college educated babysitter or nanny is on the table. But how do you go about hiring a teacher to help your children with virtual learning?
Decide Who Will Be in Your Group
Are you looking for a private teacher just for your children? Do you have a neighbor or friend with children in a similar age group? who are also participating in school virtually this year? If you can navigate the nuances of social distancing, find a like-minded family to join your pod. Then, hire one teacher to facilitate virtual learning for 2-4 children. If you can find a way to include a child from a family in your area that may not have the same access, we highly encourage doing so! Determine how many children the teacher will be responsible for, their ages, and how many different virtual curriculums they’ll need to manage. This is important information you'll need to build your job description.
Clarify the Responsibilities and Schedule
A teacher, a nanny, and a housekeeper are three different jobs. If you’re not careful, you’ll be looking for a new one every few weeks.Determine if other care providers will be involved, or if your new hire is going to be expected to be some sort of hybrid wonderperson. Whatever it is, be sure to include all of your expectations in the job description. Any teacher who reads the description will be able to quickly tell you whether the job description is achievable on a day to day basis. Having a reliable schedule is desirable in any situation. This gives your private teacher or educated nanny facilitator a way to manage their own responsibilities outside of their working hours.
Offer Generous and Competitive Compensation
Many parents are scrambling to figure out alternative schooling plans. This puts private educators and teachers for in-home virtual schooling in high demand. Professional, experienced nannies typically earn $25-$30/hour and private tutors charge close to $200/hour. Your private educator will probably be somewhere in between. Consider offering health insurance stipends, travel reimbursements, and paid planning hours that can be done remotely. These are all ways to make your position more attractive to potential candidates.
Post a Job and Screen Candidates Carefully
Go to your favorite job hunting website, your Facebook page, your LinkedIn, wherever else you’d like, and post your carefully detailed and well compensated position. When candidates start to respond, be sure to screen them carefully to make sure they are able to do what you need them to do. Never ever hire someone without speaking to at least 3 references and conducting a background check. Look out for red flags like inconsistent communication and flaky behavior.
Sign a Contract
While it can be tempting to go with the flow, it’s best to clearly outline an agreement and sign a contract with contingency plans in place for the changing landscape of education. Determine if you are looking for a full-year arrangement or if you’re going on a semester by semester basis. Include how much notice is needed from both sides to terminate or change things up. Finally, pay legally and take all the steps necessary to professionalize the employment arrangement.
Ask a Babysitting or Nanny Agency for Help
Simply put: our agencies have got the market on this one. Many educators have worked in other child related fields and we have the contacts. If you need help or have questions, just give us a ring! We’ll connect you with someone already in our network or help manage your search so you can enjoy the rest of summer.
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