Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AIMS (Accessible, Impactful, Measurable and Socially responsible tutoring)

Teaser

Growing competition for top schools and highly qualified roles has driven growth in demand for tutors in the EU and globally (FT, 2013). However, tutoring remains unregulated, without mechanisms to measure performance, with over-reliance on referrals (NESSE, 2011), and with...

Summary

Growing competition for top schools and highly qualified roles has driven growth in demand for tutors in the EU and globally (FT, 2013). However, tutoring remains unregulated, without mechanisms to measure performance, with over-reliance on referrals (NESSE, 2011), and with high transaction costs which price many schools and families out of the market. Tutorfair has proven the concept of an open, disruptive and innovative platform for the tutoring sector in EU28 that makes it Accessible, Impactful, Measurable and Socially Responsible (AIMS).

AIMS makes it easier for tutors to start, build and develop their career, with opportunities for networking, training and observations; and for clients to find good tutors in a transparent and fair way, with lower intermediation costs. For the industry, AIMS opens up access to industry wide accreditation and collaboration; and for society, Tutorfair brings a one for one promise to give free tutoring to those who can\'t afford it.

So far, Tutorfair has achieved TRL 7 with 18,000 registered users and has helped 2,916 students for free through the Tutorfair Foundation. Following successful application of the technology in Central and Greater London, the platform was trialed using a high touch model in one adjacent UK territory (Birmingham) and is being trialed using a low touch model in several adjacent UK territories, with analysis of results incorporated into subsequent development of core features and strategy, and fed back into Tutorfair’s proprietary tutor ranking algorithm.

Work performed

With support from SME Instrument Phase 1, Tutorfair has demonstrated the technical feasibility and commercial viability of the AIMS platform across the largest six private tuition markets in the EU28. Phase 1 of the SME Instrument allowed us to undertake extensive validation of this technology to support our strategic exploitation plan and roadmap to commercialisation, validating market assumptions and anticipating regulatory, technical and commercial barriers to growth, developing a detailed business plan, assessing competitive and regulatory landscapes, providing an in depth risk assessment and mitigation strategy, and outlining strategies to protect IP and adapt the commercial offering as required to meet changing market needs.

We now seek support from Phase 2 SME Instrument to complete development of this novel technology and support commercialisation in the EU28. Results of this project will meet objectives for the Open Disruptive Innovation theme by creating a new paradigm on the fast-growing private tuition market, lowering barriers to entry, empowering local tutors and widening access to tutoring for those who can’t afford it.

Final results

Estimated growth in the target markets (including ongoing growth of the underlying UK operations) will improve educational outcomes for hundreds of thousands of students whilst helping young people finance their Higher Education and creative careers. Tutorfair forecasts indicate that helping students could result in €1bn of social benefit in EU28 by 2018. Finally, Tutorfair’s one for one promise will help broaden access to tutoring services for hundreds of thousands of children who couldn’t have afford it.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.tutorfair.com.