Find qualified GCSE Maths tutors

Start with the named qualification or teaching status. In England, qualified teacher status (QTS) is a recognised teaching status. A postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) is an academic qualification which can be awarded with or without QTS; teachers can also gain QTS without a PGCE. The Department for Education explains the distinction in its QTS guidance and PGCE guidance.

If you want a tutor with QTS, ask about that status explicitly. For a teacher qualified elsewhere, ask for the actual award and where it was gained. Then connect their background to the learner’s GCSE Maths needs:

A clear explanation should identify why a step works. Here is an illustrative original-price problem, a skill included in AQA’s percentage content for both tiers.

A jacket costs £48 after a 20% discount. What was its original price?

A possible mistake is to add 20% of £48, giving £57.60. That uses the sale price as the starting amount. The discount was taken from the original price, so £48 represents 80% of that original.

Divide by 0.8 to recover 100%: £48 ÷ 0.8 = £60. Check the answer by taking 20% of £60, which is £12: £60 − £12 = £48.

The useful teaching question is “Which amount represents 100%?” Once the learner can explain that, try a changed-number task: an item costs £68 after a 15% discount. Now £68 is 85% of the original, so £68 ÷ 0.85 = £80. Explaining the percentage base without a prompt gives you something specific to look for beyond a correct calculator answer.

For AQA GCSE Maths, completing the square is a Higher-tier method. Simple factorising of quadratics also appears in Foundation content, so the method being practised matters. See AQA’s algebra specification.

For this illustrative task, solve x² − 6x + 5 = 0 by completing the square. This method rewrites the expression using a bracket multiplied by itself.

Expanding (x − 3)² gives x² − 6x + 9. That is 4 more than the original expression, so subtract 4 to compensate:

x² − 6x + 5 = (x − 3)² − 4.

The equation becomes (x − 3)² − 4 = 0, then (x − 3)² = 4. Both 2 × 2 and (−2) × (−2) give 4, so x − 3 can be 2 or −2. Adding 3 gives x = 5 or x = 1. Both check in the original equation: 25 − 30 + 5 = 0 and 1 − 6 + 5 = 0.

Writing (x − 3)² + 5 would change the expression; keeping only the positive square root would lose an answer. These are different difficulties for a tutor to address.

For a follow-up, complete the square in x² − 8x + 7 = 0. It becomes (x − 4)² = 9, giving x = 7 or x = 1. Ask the learner to explain the constant adjustment and why both answers are needed.

Use recent work to choose a manageable starting point. The Education Endowment Foundation’s tuition guidance recommends identifying gaps, connecting tuition to classroom learning and monitoring progress. A practical way to apply those ideas is:

Latimer’s service is built around online one-to-one tuition. A free introductory meeting gives you time to discuss goals, teaching approach and arrangements before paid lessons. Use it to decide whether the proposed support suits the learner.

Each tutor sets their own hourly rate, shown on their profile. Standard lessons are invoiced after they take place on a pay-as-you-go basis. Compare the proposed lesson length and practice expectations alongside the rate, and agree cancellation or rescheduling arrangements with the tutor.