Teachers on Call

What Teachers on Call Is

Teachers on Call is a Canadian tutoring service for elementary and high school students. Its About section says: "Since 1984, Teachers on Call has been providing personalized in-person and online tutoring services in Toronto, Ontario and across Canada." The home page describes the work as one-on-one tutoring "for elementary and high-school students throughout the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario and Canada," and calls it award-winning, with a menu section for awards and recognition and another for media coverage.

The service started in the Greater Toronto Area and now reaches students across the country, in person in many Ontario communities and online everywhere else. Its locations menu lists Aurora and Newmarket, Barrie, Burlington, Cambridge, Durham, Etobicoke, Guelph, Hamilton, Kitchener and Waterloo, London, Markham, Northern Ontario, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, Richmond Hill, Toronto, Vaughan and Vancouver, among others.

Who Teaches

Teachers on Call is built around qualified teachers. The online tutoring page says the team "is comprised exclusively of teachers certified by the governing body for education in their province, retired teachers, and teacher candidates completing their degrees in education," and that all tutors have direct classroom experience and are highly specialized in their subject areas. The home page adds that tutors hold official teaching certificates from their province or territory, for example Ontario Certified Teachers (OCT) through the Ontario College of Teachers, and teachers certified in British Columbia and Alberta.

Tutors are, in the home page's words, current with provincial curriculum and expectations across Canada. For online sessions, the site says tutors are certified teachers or teacher candidates "with current background checks."

How Matching Works

Every student starts with an intake. The online page explains that online tutoring "starts with the same comprehensive intake process as our conventional in-home lessons," an initial consultation to determine the student's specific academic needs. Tutors and students are then paired "based on a thorough assessment process" for subject needs, educational goals and personality fit.

The company calls this its "signature relationship-based" approach: the child works with the same tutor for all sessions, so a level of comfort and familiarity can build. The site explains the reasoning in plain terms. Over the years, it says, it has learned that "students learn best with educators they trust, and who understand their unique learning needs, style and interests."

Online, the site adds, the match is made from the whole team, so a child anywhere in Canada can be paired with the tutor whose skills and personality fit their goals.

What Students Get

Teachers on Call tutors students from kindergarten to grade 12 in all subjects. The online page names math, science, English, French, and reading and writing skills, and the menu adds special education tutoring and a reading program called Hooked on Books. The site groups students into primary (K-3), junior (4-6), intermediate (7-10) and senior (11-12) levels, plus independent and online learning.

Beyond subject help, tutors provide academic coaching in executive functioning, time management, organization and study skills, according to the online tutoring page. The approach is curriculum-based, so sessions follow what the student is learning at school.

In Person or Online

Teachers on Call presents its two formats as one service. The home page says online tutoring "gives students access to the same high calibre tutoring services we are known for in-person," and describes it as a convenient choice "when traditional home tutoring is not preferred or possible." The online page makes the same promise: online sessions keep the same relationship-based approach and the same intake as in-home lessons. In practice, a family in Toronto or Barrie can have a teacher come to the house, while a family in another province gets the same kind of match over video.

The company states its goals in broad terms: through both formats, it aims to help students "build academic skills, improve self-esteem, and achieve success in school and life." Its tutors, the home page says, also "understand school expectations, and relate well with families," which matters to parents choosing someone to work with their child every week. The menu links to student success stories and to a Join our Team page for teachers who want to tutor.

Online Tutoring

Online sessions run entirely over video conference and screen-sharing software. The site lists an online whiteboard, interactive video and sound communication, and screen sharing for resources and materials, and says the tutor makes sure the student has "a good handle on how these software tools work at the outset." It treats this as a benefit in its own right: "Digital literacy needs to be taught and practiced, just like any other kind of literacy," and online students get to practice screen sharing, digital tools and evaluating online resources with guidance.

All a family needs is a computer or laptop and a solid internet connection. Sessions can happen at home, at a local library or at the cottage, and the site notes that online tutoring keeps students on track during vacations, illness or bad weather.

Scheduling and Sessions

Scheduling is based on the family's preferred availability. Sessions are flexible with 30-minute minimums, which the site says are "especially popular with young primary learners with fixed attention spans, and older students looking for extra help in between scheduled sessions for challenging subjects." The site publishes no prices; families contact the company to get started.

What Families Say

The home page shows Google reviews. One client, Audrey Natale, writes: "My girls were having some difficulty with math. Their tutor is amazing and they have both increased their grades as a result." Another review on the online tutoring page praises "Excellent customer service" and the children's improvement at school. The site also runs the TOC Blog, with family learning features such as Doors Open guides for Ontario cities.

Who It Suits

Teachers on Call suits Canadian parents who want their child tutored by a certified teacher, a retired teacher or a teacher in training, with a careful match at the start and the same tutor afterward. Families in the Greater Toronto Area and the Ontario communities it lists can choose in-person or online lessons; families elsewhere in Canada can use the online service with the same intake and matching.

It is a good fit for students who need help keeping up with the provincial curriculum, for children with special education needs, and for teens who need support with study skills and organization as much as with a subject. Short 30-minute sessions make it workable for young children and for older students who only need help with one topic.