teacher

software engineer

senior engineering manager

counsel

accounts receivable manager

Outschool

There is little regulation for who can teach and little regulation to determine if a person is truly qualified. It doesn't seem to me like background checks are actually done often, if ever; there are people who have said they were approved to teach but claimed to have felonies and shouldn't have passed since they can't have contact with kids; I haven't determined if this is true, but it's disheartening to hear. The terms of service even says "Outschool may, but is not required to, conduct background checks on Teachers." This is scary and makes it sound like the claims could be true. Personally, I don't recall receiving a copy of my own background check even after I was told I would if I was approved. I've been approved to teach for a year and a half now. I wonder how long it takes to get the background check back? Shouldn't it be completed before we have contact with children?

It's my opinion that the company takes no responsibility for their own issues and instead passes them off as issues with a teacher. It has happened to so many of us and we are the ones who are held responsible by the parents even though we can't do anything. Parents lose trust in us and we are the ones who end up looking ridiculous. It destroys our relationships with our students and their parents, which makes it even more difficult to teach. Outschool has no problem stepping in and refusing to let parents/teachers resolve issues, then blames teachers for not resolving issues we didn't know existed prior to being disciplined for not responding. It's asinine. How do we fix things we don't know about? It just doesn't stop. Teachers are being removed left and right for asking questions. If you ask for clarification of policies, you're removed. 

Even though 30% of what teachers make is taken by the company, the company refuses to tell us when or if our classes are being advertised--but assures us they're somehow advertising equally classes for over 400 teachers. We aren't asking for a play by play...but why can't they tell us when or where we're being advertised, or if we are at all? It seems the ads we see on Facebook (I have honestly never seen ads anywhere else) are always for the same teachers and classes, so it appears the staff have their favorites, so the rest of us, among all the other things I have and will mention, are fighting that.

We are told to not work together and discuss things openly and instead individually approach The Team about issues...we are often told different things instead of having consistency. Outschool shut down a Facebook group teachers made, and instead tries to force us to use the one they created and moderate. Clearly, we can't be open with them without fear of retaliation, or I wouldn't be writing this. Outschool initiated a "Teacher's Forum" that seems more to be an ego stroke for the staff, since we are, as usual, given neutral answers to shut us up. There's really no point in attending a 30 minute meeting where we are grouped together and aren't honestly, openly given answers to our questions. The answers to your questions vary based on who you are, which is unfortunate. Most of us are given ridiculously neutral responses; sometimes, one person will be told one thing and another will be told, literally, the opposite. It's baffling! We have been trying for over a year to discuss these issues, but we are placated with generalized responses or he said/she said excuses as arguments for poor behavior and management, and forgotten. No real changes come. I honestly do not believe real changes will ever come. No one at Outschool seems to care about the teachers or succeeding long term; that's evidenced by the fact that the guys in charge admit to not having a business plan beyond the next few months...if even that long.

It also seems to me like at any point, a parent can come back and ask for a refund. The Happiness Policy is terrible, and is "insurance" for the parents. The parents don't have to have a legitimate reason for a refund, even something as simple as a parent scheduling a vacation after a course begins and then requesting a refund means the teacher doesn't get paid for the course. If the teacher refuses to refund (supposedly, it's at our discretion), the company gives the refund from Outschool's cut. Then, Outschool (Most often, in my experience, one woman on the team) comes after the teacher to reimburse the platform, whether it's 6 days or 6 months since the class started or ended. It's shoddy business practices. You never really know if the money you made is truly yours to keep since they can come just take it from you at any time, and if you don't give it willingly, it's worse. It's really hard to budget and make sure you can feed your kids when you know that the money you earned can be taken at any time. We should not even be asked to reimburse for ridiculous reasons, but we are, and it's held over our heads if we don't. We don't really have a choice: give up the income we earned, or know our heads are on the chopping block. We just have to wait and then they'll find a reason to pick at us, and either we leave willingly or we're forced to go. The issues with parents/refunds are vast, even more than I've mentioned, and too exhausting to fully talk about here. But, the main issue is that there is no support for teachers. At the end of the day, teachers can be replaced. Over 400 of us fighting tooth and nail to get enrollments, not being told where a third of the money we bring in with our enrollments goes, and then since this is a "free market", Outschool does nothing when one teacher copies another teacher's course. Look through the site and see how many eerily similar courses there are. They truly do not care about teachers; they care about parents, because education is a for-profit business for them, I think. We are just here to make them money and when we no longer do that they way they'd like, and if we ever decide to stand up for ourselves, and, what good are we? We're just teachers, I guess...disposable. 

If you thought teaching at a brick and mortar school was bad, come teach here where it's much, much worse and teachers are treated horribly and disrespected by Outschool, parents, and students at every turn. You know, so many of us left public school because we were so horribly mistreated, but still love, love, love to teach. This platform is robbing us of the positive experience we could have. Outschool's relationship with its teachers is one of convenience, it seems to me. Parents come to us with complaints and questions, and since we're not given adequate training (some of us had no training at all, and we had to rely on one another), we sometimes turn to the company. The company typically ignores us until the parents get involved with them. That's the only time we really seem to matter--are parents upset and taking it out on them? Are we making the company money? How can teachers be blamed for the shortcomings of the platform? Sometimes I truly wonder if this has been the plan all along: everything that happens, find a teacher, blame them, take no responsibility whatsoever; teachers are a dime a dozen, we will just get another and let them teach whatever classes that teacher taught!

The way Outschool has been conducting business has been on a fast decline unfortunately so not something to rely on, I would say. Keep looking for a good company that supports you and truly cares about you as a teacher and a person! There are other options out there! 

Start caring about your teachers! We are pushed to the bottom of the stack unless there's something you'd like to take out on us, it seems to me. We are not your punching bags. Good and great teachers are leaving constantly because of poor management. We are waiting days to weeks to get responses to serious questions, and sometimes, we get no response at all! Hold yourselves accountable and be transparent. Stop hiding things from us...like the nearly doubling of the fee increase that you knew about for awhile before it was announced (there is just no way you didn't anticipate raising this fee until the last minute--in fact, a small handful of teachers admitted they were told about the increase at least a month before you told all of us on the bottom).  It seems to me like there is a lot of dishonesty, favoritism, immature games, and underhandedness. This is worse than being in middle school or teaching it! While so many of us love the possibilities of what the site could be, we also know we are valuable even if Outschool disagrees. Many of us, including me, feel as if we have little to no value as human beings or teachers and we are nothing more than income. You really need to start valuing teachers instead of treating us like we're disposable. Parents are noticing the extremely high turnover. Independent contractors or not, this is a big deal. Parents want consistency and this seems to be one of Outschool's weak spots...one of many, unfortunately. Except, when it comes to consistently screwing over teachers. Perhaps asking us how you can better serve us and actually listening, making a plan, and seeking change would be a good place to start. Don't let this be another blowing smoke PR stunt. We see through it. We are teachers, so we are smarter than that and we've lived through this before and the good teachers left. Not feeling like we're being used as scapegoat would be really nice, too. I really wanted to like this, but I'll be leaving as soon as my classes finish as well.

As an educator, I do what I do for the sake of doing it, not for the money.  Any legitimate educator will tell you the same thing.  This company takes a whopping 30% of class fees from the teacher.  The services provided to the teacher from the company is marketing and a teaching forum (the virtual classroom).  The marketing part is very useful, but the teaching forum is something any skilled teacher can provide themselves.  That said, a 30% cut SHOULD cover not only the marketing and the virtual platform, but also support for teachers and a virtual platform with far less glitches than this one has (i.e., classes that don't meet the minimum enrollment are not cancelled so the hourly pay is severely reduced to as low as $8/hr., among other things).

With the ensuing pandemic, naturally all companies are scrambling to adjust.  But I have unanswered inquiries to their support team that have not been addressed in weeks - that is to say, at all.  In fact, there is not even a number you can call to speak with a human being.  So, one is left with a Facebook group, relying on the information of "experienced" teachers to guide them through problem resolution.  Of course, anyone can be on the other side of a Facebook profile.  And when a teacher does post an inquiry that in any way slights the reputation of the company, the post is removed.  I'm not saying that outright pettiness and insults should not be removed, but complaints such as these should not as they are legitimate and people have a right to know.  More importantly, this being the only means of achieving problem resolution, such posts should be left up so that other teachers experiencing similar problems can refer to the resolutions provided by other teachers seeing as how there is literally no support from OutSchool staff at all.

Anyway, I don't recommend teaching on this platform if you consider yourself a professional.  You are much better off teaching indepently, even though you would have to find your own students.  I am finishing up my lessons for the week and then unlisting my classes,.

I've worked as a teacher at Outschool for two years now and have amassed a following of over 4000 families without spending one dollar on advertising. If you are a creative teacher and can offer high quality education to a wide variety of learners, you will earn what you deserve.  I teach small classes and private students through the platform and I spend as much time prepping for classes as teaching.  I put a lot into creating high quality classes and delivering excellent customer service to my students and families and I get paid more than double what I would make in a unionized teaching job.  I also utilize the Outschool support team quite a bit to help me craft my classes, choose marketable titles and cover art, and just generally help me build my student base and product.  If you have a winning attitude and can deliver high quality education, the Outschool team is supportive and will absolutely partner with great teachers to sell their classes.  It can be a bit stressful to get reviewed and rated constantly by parents but it is also a fast indicator to let you know whether the job of "independent online educator" is right for you.  I work hard to continuously create amazing learning experiences for my students and I have complete control of my schedule and subject matter, while also making about  $70 per hour.  I could work full time and make more money but I enjoy the flexibility of scheduling myself and having the kind of job where I basically work exactly as much as I want.  I would (and have) recommend this to any highly skilled educator.

The glowing YouTube videos by teachers promoting Outschool gave me the impression I could create my classes and get students pretty quickly.  Maybe that was true in 2020 during the pandemic, or maybe those teachers chose a different age level or different subject matter than I've tried.  I DO enjoy, immensely, creating my own classes.  But the classes have to be something in demand.  Outschool sends emails with statistics on what age groups are signing up for the different topics, as well as the days and times they sign up; so, it's important to create classes for topics/ages in demand.  I worked on my first course for weeks, submitted it, and the course was not accepted for listing due to a reason I did not know about in advance.  I was crushed.  They gave the reason and said I could resubmit it.  I had actually created the PowerPoint slides and had the class ready to go.  But all I had to submit was their form with the description and details, not the actual course.  So, I've started to just write the description and make sure it gets approved before actually creating the slides or detailed lesson plan for the course because I can create the slides and put the course on my schedule any time after approval.  ALSO, learn to promote yourself on social media.  Look for teachers who are on Facebook and Instagram and follow them to see what they do.  It takes work, but I do love creating my own courses and teaching them.

I am quickly approaching my one year anniversary working as a contract online instructor with Outschool.  Wow! What an amazing year! I took on this job to gain a "student-teaching" experience as I was working towards a transitional teaching license. My expectations were to gain experience and make pocket money. I was so wrong! Working with Outschool has become my second-career path now that I've secured my transitional license. My year with Outschool has grown my teaching skills and provided a very sustainable income. 

My learners come from vast backgrounds and various parts of the world. The majority of my students are exceptional, bright, fun and engaged in our online classes. Outschool learners are by far among my most dedicated students who are loyal to teachers they connect within in the Outschool classroom. Dedicated students and the Outschool staff are the heart of my success on Outschool. 

The Outschool staff is top-notch, supportive, responsive and professional. I am even more excited working for Outschool now, as the company recently announced securing Series A funding. Each month (some times weekly) teachers and learners witness improvements with our platform, marketing, Outschool staff and teacher services. I look forward to Outschool's continued growth.

Let me first say that support from the Outschool side for teachers is swift and helpful. In general, the students and parents are wonderful. I teach an extracurricular and so the students tend to be students who *want* to be in class. Cons are that enrollment certainly ebbs and flows and can be unpredictable. Another con is that it is sometimes difficult to get the students to show up with the proper technology requirements (no matter how many notifications you have in place), which can make following your lesson plan impossible and it can be very stressful to come up with workarounds in the moment without detracting from the other students' experiences. 

The hardest parts of the job for me are feeling like I have to be "on" throughout the classes, doing classroom management virtually, and knowing when to schedule classes for max enrollment. 

The best parts of the job are wonderful support, great flexibility, ability to work remotely, students and parents are wonderful, income can be great. It's also wonderful to meet kids from around the world and to watch the kids make connections with each other and the material.  

My hourly income rate is $60-100, but it did take me a while to build to that point. I teach an average of 6 hours a week. 

Let me be analytical and straightforward. Outschool is not a non-profit organization -- it is a platform for freelancers. The freelancers are people who teach kids, and the customers are parents. (I've only been on Outschool for a couple months, but I think I went into it with open eyes and a clear understanding of the company.) 

Yes, Outschool is education-focused, and started as a home schooling resource. But it was always a start-up with venture capital and investors. 

So those who offer their services on Outschool are freelancers in the gig economy. They are similar to Uber drivers or Airbnb hosts. No job security, no benefits, pretty low pay per hour... but lots of freedom and flexibility. You have to compete for customers, reviews/star ratings, and enrollments. Some people are grousing about their 'bosses'... but no one has a boss or supervisor on Outschool. Each teacher is an independent contractor and sets their own curriculum and prices, and runs the class according to their own principles. 

Experienced, savvy teachers can do well and make money and support themselves. Some won't do well. It is what it is. A gig economy.

I have really enjoyed my Outschool teaching experience.  I have gotten to meet a lot of lovely families and connect with students across the globe while teaching topics that I am passionate about.  It has been a fantastic opportunity for me and I have enjoyed the journey.  

Please keep in mind, if you are looking for something to immediately replace your full-time job, this may not be the best fit for you. Teaching on this platform is not something that is immediately going to become a full-time venture for you, as (like with any freelance venture) it takes time and effort to get to that point.  It takes time to build up your enrollments and your reputation on the platform, plus there are lots of other classes you are 'competing' with. However, you set your own hours, pay, and the students are absolutely amazing!

Outschool does a very good job of listening to and supporting teachers, something they have genuinely worked hard on improving. They provide us with support via webinars, encourage our input, and are quick to address any issues that may arise.  I feel that we are very fairly treated and our suggestions are always heard. I think this is a great supportive platform to be a part of and recommend it.

Outschool isn't a conventional employer. It gives you a platform for build your own independent teaching business. Teachers who succeed on the platform view their teaching as an entrepreneurial venture, working over time to build a stable following.

To be successful on the platform, most people wind up devoting 5-10 hours a week to test out different ideas on the platform. Once you've attracted your initial student base, it's possible to grow full-time (if that's what you're aiming for). In my experience, the families are great and other teachers are great. I've been with the platform for over 2 years, and Outschool as a company has navigated significant growing pains. The company has made smart investments on the whole, and I think a lot of their policy shifts have paid off. 

However, if you're looking for a guaranteed income with opportunities for benefits, Outschool is not the platform for you. The most difficult part of the job is navigating the platform's seasonality. Summers tend to be slow where it's important to be creative while planning ahead.

What is the best part of working at the company?
First, this company does not hire teachers through Indeed. So, if you see a listing, it's a scam. Teachers are independent contractors and create their own courses and schedules. I find the flexibility and autonomy far better than working in the public school system. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Teachers are responsible for marketing and creating courses that bring in students. It can be difficult to fill seats with all the competition. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Since Outschool is an online platform, teachers are mostly isolated, but professional development opportunities include Zoom meetings. There are also very supportive Facebook groups. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You make your own day.  You teach the schedule you've chosen at the rates per student you've chosen. There is no "typical day."

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 4 salaries reported	$24.50 per hour
Software engineer 3 salaries reported	$186,000 per year
Senior engineering manager 3 salaries reported	$252,500 per year
Counsel 3 salaries reported	$267,000 per year
Accounts receivable manager 3 salaries reported	$152,500 per year

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