Private tutoring in Amsterdam runs from about €20 an hour for a student tutor to €50 an hour for an experienced teacher working one to one at your kitchen table.
IB Diploma subject specialists and exam-season coaching sit at the top of that range and sometimes above it.
For an international family the question is rarely whether tutoring helps but which of four different things you are actually buying: subject tutoring, homework supervision, curriculum-specific IB support, or Dutch language catch-up.
They cost different amounts, run on different schedules, and the wrong one wastes a term.
Four Kinds Of Support, And Which One You Need
Subject tutoring is one-to-one help with maths, physics, English or whatever is going wrong, usually weekly and priced by the hour.
Rates across the Netherlands run roughly €20 to €50 an hour, and Amsterdam sits at the upper end of that band along with Rotterdam and Utrecht.
Huiswerkbegeleiding is the Dutch institution with no direct equivalent abroad - a supervised homework centre where a child goes two to five afternoons a week and works under a tutor’s eye.
It is sold as a monthly package rather than by the hour, and it fixes disorganisation and avoidance far better than a weekly subject lesson does.
IB support is a separate market, because the Diploma’s Internal Assessments, Extended Essay and exam technique need someone who has marked them.
Dutch language catch-up is different again, and matters most for a child entering a local school after groep 3, where the reading gap compounds quickly.
Work out which of the four you are buying before you compare prices, because a €45 IB specialist and a €22 student tutor are not competing for the same job.
Where To Find A Tutor
General marketplaces list the most people and the widest price spread, which makes them good for subject tutoring and poor for anything specialised.
MyPrivateTutor Netherlands, Apprentus and TeacherOn all cover Amsterdam, and Onderwijzen advertises from around €15 an hour at the entry end.
For the IB specifically, Axiom Academic and Think Smart both work with bilingual and international-school students on MYP and Diploma programmes.
Spires runs an online network used by students at the British School of Amsterdam and the International School of Amsterdam, and iTutorOnline teaches in both Dutch and English.
CuroHelp is built around relocation specifically, covering subject help and continuity for a child mid-move.
Whichever route you use, ask three questions before booking: which curriculum they have taught, what they charge for exam-season sessions, and whether the price includes preparation time.
What A Good Tutor Actually Does
A weak tutor does tonight’s homework with your child; a good one finds the pattern underneath it.
That is usually something structural - reading comprehension that cannot hold a long question, algebra steps skipped under time pressure, or subject vocabulary never properly learnt in English.
Ask for a written plan after the first month and a short update every two to four weeks.
Four lines will do: what was covered, what improved, what is still weak, and what to watch at school.
The early signs of progress are behavioural rather than numerical, and they arrive well before grades move.
Less resistance at homework time, better organisation of deadlines and a willingness to ask questions in class all show up within a few weeks; report marks lag a full term behind.
Scheduling And Cost Control
After-school slots between four and six fill first and are also when a relocated child is least able to concentrate.
Two forty-five minute sessions a week generally beat one ninety-minute session, and a Saturday morning slot is easier to book and often better attended.
Online lessons are worth keeping in the mix even if you prefer in-person teaching.
They survive illness, half-term travel and the January exam crunch, and they cost less than a tutor’s travel-inclusive rate.
To keep the bill down, buy a block with a review date rather than an open-ended weekly commitment.
Eight sessions with an agreed check-in at the end is enough to know whether it is working, and it stops a subject lesson quietly becoming a permanent line in the household budget.
If you want more of the practical side of family life here, the Essentially Amsterdam newsletter for international families runs daily.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a private tutor in Amsterdam cost?
Expect roughly €20 to €50 an hour, with student tutors at the bottom, qualified teachers around €30 to €50 for one-to-one lessons at home, and IB Diploma specialists at the top.
Amsterdam prices sit at the higher end of the national range, and travel to your home is usually built into the rate.
What is huiswerkbegeleiding and is it cheaper?
It is supervised homework at a centre, several afternoons a week, billed monthly rather than hourly.
Per contact hour it works out well below private tutoring, and it targets organisation and work habits rather than a specific subject gap.
What should I look for in an IB tutor?
Someone who has taught or marked the exact Diploma subject and level your child is sitting, not general secondary experience in the same subject.
Ask specifically about Internal Assessment deadlines and Extended Essay supervision, because those are where an outside tutor adds most and a school is most stretched.
Does online tutoring work for international school students?
It works well for subject teaching and revision, and less well for a young child who needs someone in the room to stay on task.
It comes into its own for families who travel, for the run-up to exams, and for subjects where no local specialist is available.
Can a tutor help my child move into a Dutch school?
Yes, and this is the highest-value tutoring an arriving family buys, particularly for a child joining after groep 3 when classmates are already reading fluently.
Look for someone who knows how Dutch primary schools assess reading and vocabulary, so the lessons track what the school is actually testing.
Is homeschooling allowed in the Netherlands?
Effectively no, and the Netherlands is among the strictest countries in Europe on this point.
The only route is an exemption under article 5b of the Leerplichtwet on grounds of a conscientious objection to the philosophy of every school within reasonable distance, applied for annually before 1 July, granted to around two thousand children nationwide, and unavailable once a child has been enrolled at a school.
