A London-based family has made headlines by offering an annual salary of nearly $240,000 (£180,000) for a private tutor tasked with preparing their toddler for Eton College, one of the world’s most prestigious boarding schools and alma mater of Prince William. The job listing, which has sparked widespread attention, specifies the need for a tutor “from a socially appropriate background” to ensure the child is ready for the elite institution.
The listing, posted by Tutors International, a company that specializes in providing bespoke private tutoring services to high-net-worth families, underscores the lengths some parents are willing to go to secure a future for their children in top-tier educational institutions. According to the company, the family had previously started tutoring their older child at age five but decided it was “too late” to meet their educational goals, prompting the search for a tutor for their younger child at an even earlier age.
The Role and Requirements
The lucrative position requires an “extraordinary” tutor who possesses a posh Received Pronunciation accent, a reasonable knowledge of music theory, and experience in royal or embassy households. Additionally, the tutor must be capable of introducing a one-year-old to traditional British sports such as cricket, polo, and rowing. The overarching aim is to prepare the child for future success at an elite institution like Eton.
Adam Caller, CEO of Tutors International, explained the family’s motivations in an interview with Fortune, stating,
“The family are not British, and they enormously value Britishness.”
Lucrative Opportunities in Private Tutoring
This job posting highlights a growing trend where lucrative side hustles are emerging not only in corporate environments but also within the private lives of the ultra-wealthy. Tutors International, which has been in operation for 26 years, currently employs over 50 tutors worldwide. Caller notes that the demand for their services has surged, with client growth reaching up to 300 percent even before the viral nature of this job post.
According to Caller, the high salary and elite requirements are typical for their company, despite the young age of the child being a notable aspect of this particular listing. He remarked,
“Everything else about it is so remarkably normal for us. It might not be normal for other people reading it, but for us as a company, it’s such a common kind of request.”
Market Demand and Competitive Salaries
Caller revealed that the job posting has attracted around 140 applicants, a figure lower than the 320 applicants for a similar position advertised in June. He attributes this to the timing of the posting during the school year, which has made recruitment more challenging. Interestingly, Caller mentioned that the offered salary is on the lower end of the spectrum for their company, citing a previous job in North London with a £288,000 annual salary that went largely unnoticed.
He elaborated,
“In June this year, I posted a job not far away—physically, in another part of North London—paying £288,000 a year. Nobody noticed it. I’ve got jobs all over the world, typically in the two hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. £260,000 is not uncommon.”
Implications for the Future
The increasing demand for private tutors with specialized skills reflects a broader trend among affluent families seeking to give their children a competitive edge in an ever-complex educational landscape. As elite private schools and Ivy League admissions become more competitive, parents are investing heavily in early education to ensure their children’s success.
While the notion of hiring a tutor for a toddler may seem extreme to some, it underscores the lengths to which some families will go to secure a prestigious education for their offspring. As Caller aptly put it,
“How early is too early? And the fundamental answer to the question is, it’s never too early.”
As the job market for private tutors continues to expand, it remains to be seen how this will impact educational norms and the accessibility of elite education for families around the world.
