Homeschooling website offering would-be teachers job opportunities
A website offering face-to-face classes in everything from maths to yoga has exploded, with one Melbourne woman saying her content — which includes popular social ‘talk’ classes — is in such high demand she’s working every day.
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A homeschooling website offering classes to students across the globe is calling for more Melbourne teachers to help meet demand after usage soared from 80,000 to 880,000 in one weekend.
Chief executive of the California-based Outschool platform Amir Nathoo said while numbers had been steadily growing since the site launched in 2017, the COVID-19 pandemic had “really sped things up”.
“Suddenly everyone seemed to need a form of learning that wasn’t just sitting your kid in front of a screen,” he said.
Described as a “market place of live online classes”, three to eight students can choose from about 10,000 classes each week, with subjects ranging from maths and science to guitar and cooking.
Mr Nathoo said while teaching qualifications weren’t necessary, all Outschool session leaders underwent background checks before being eligible to teach and classes were vetted to ensure they were appropriate before being offered to students.
He said there had been an influx of Australian kids signing up to classes and more locally-based teachers were needed to ensure classes were held at convenient times.
“We realised we need teachers all over the world because there’s parent demand all over the world,” he said.
Mr Nathoo said it provided a good earning opportunity for people who might be facing time away from work during COVID-19.
“Teachers earn about $63AUD per hour and have full control over the schedule and price of the class they run,” he said.
Jenni Harrison, from Lilydale, started teaching on Outschool in December 2018 after successfully homeschooling her children for a year.
The registered nurse offers wellbeing classes, including ‘Tween Talk’ and ‘Teen Talk’ social classes which she calls “recess”.
“Kids are feeling stuck at home, they’re feeling stressed, these social classes have become my most popular,” she said.
Ms Harrison also runs Australian history and Aussie accent classes and a session she calls Wondercat where she teaches history and biology from the point of view of cats and the role they have played in world events.
“I was teaching about two classes a week before coronavirus and now I’m teaching every day,” she said.
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“I’m seriously swamped, I’m offering content that teachers in the US can’t and there’s so much demand for it — my hours have just blown up.”
Ms Harrison said the site was “crying out for singing teachers” and Australian teachers who can teach English, science and maths.
“There’s a big difference between the measurements used and the way we spell certain words so it can be off-putting for Australian parents to enrol their kids in those classes if they’re taught by Americans,” she said.
She said teachers had control over how many hours they wanted to work but it “could really pay off”.
“Outschool is a way to contribute to make the world a better place, especially in these times,” she said.