... as we catch teachers moonlighting again with tuition at £40 an hour

STATE school teachers are moonlighting as tutors during the working day while their pupils are stuck at home denied an education, a Mail on Sunday investigation can reveal.

Dozens of teachers are offering tutorials for up to £40 an hour on video link Zoom, with some breaking rules that ban them from taking on private work in school hours.

This newspaper revealed last year how some teachers were exploiting the closure of schools by making extra money tutoring. Our exposé today shows the practice is still rife.

Several spoke of their availability during school hours to an undercover reporter posing as a parent, with one admitting: ‘I have a much reduced timetable at the moment.’

Another, who said she was the head of a maths department, said she would be able to tutor in school hours until lockdown was over because she had ‘free periods’.

Within minutes of logging on to TutorHunt, a website that connects tutors with parents, a reporter was bombarded with messages from maths and English teachers.

Most said they were only available to work outside school hours but many took a different approach. Adam, a maths teacher in Yorkshire charging £31 an hour for lessons, said: ‘Yes, I can do during school hours currently as I have a much reduced timetable at the moment. Following the lockdown, I’ll be available weekday evenings and weekends.’ He declined to comment once we revealed our investigation.

Another maths teacher, a department head at a London Academy school, charging £40 an hour for tuition, said: ‘When we’re in lockdown I can do school hours. When lockdown is over, I will be able to do physical lessons but outside school hours.’

She said she could tutor from 9am to 10am on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, plus Wednesdays from 1.30pm to 2.30pm. When we approached her for comment, she said she would face ‘a disciplinary’ if she was exposed – before deleting her TutorHunt account. In Birmingham, Rashida, a teacher charging £ 25 an hour, said she would be able to do private tuition during school hours on Monday and Thursday. A request for comment went unanswered.

Last night, Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign For Real Education, said moonlighting in school hours is ‘immoral’.

He added: ‘ For some teachers, there is clearly a financial incentive in keeping schools closed but it is the poorest children who lose out because their parents will not be able to afford this kind of tutoring.’

A Department for Education spokesman said last night: ‘Teachers can’t take on additional contracts of work for any time they are required to be available for work with their school.

‘We would expect head teachers to appropriately manage their teachers’ workloads while they are working from home.’