An Indian start-up that offers schoolchildren unlimited “offshored” tutoring for £50 a month will unveil a tie-up with HarperCollins, the publisher, this week.

TutorVista, based in Bangalore, will face competition from Pearson, the world’s largest educational publisher, which said that it is “very close to launching a live tutoring service”, which will be linked to its expanding online business.

TutorVista, which is backed by Sequoia Capital, the American venture capital fund behind YouTube and Google, is aiming to entice anxious middle-class parents with online, one-on-one access to Indian tutors at rates far below those of conventional British coaches, who charge up to £50 an hour.

Both players are aiming to tap into a rapidly growing market. British parents will spend an estimated £500 million on tutors this year in an effort to secure success in GCSEs and A levels, up from an estimated £450 million in 2006, according to Barnes, the market researchers.

TutorVista’s business echoes the outsourcing model that led to an exodus of financial services back-office jobs to India, where wages are lower and skilled workers plentiful. Students are coached via an online platform that is down-loaded on to a home computer and includes an interactive white-board, an instant messaging tool and an internet telephone system. Tutors, recruited from India’s massive pool of graduates, must have a good degree in the subject that they will teach and are given a six-week training course covering topics such as the UK syllabus and how to broach the “accent barrier”.

Under the deal with Harper Education, the publisher will promote TutorVista services on its titles. Content from Harper Collins, which is owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times, will be used by TutorVista for online learning aids in the run-up to the Easter cramming season.

Martin Baker, the head of TutorVista in the UK, said: “This is all about being disruptive in the education market. We are making tutoring available to everyone.”

TutorVista has also tested its technology in British schools and claims that its services fit with the Government’s policies to promote personalised learning and extended schooling outside classroom hours.

However, the group, which sold about 1,000 hours of lessons last month to about 150 students in the UK, will face heavyweight competition. Pearson has invested heavily online and operates a network of web-sites, such as MyEconLab.com, which link to its textbook content and allow students to sit tests that monitor their progress. It believes that subjects that do not have “hard-edged answers”, such as languages, would benefit from a “live tutor” service on top of such a structure.

Pearson recently announced a partnership with Google, by which content from Pearson Higher Education will be made available for a fee through Google Video.

TutorVista also operates in the United States, where it has signed up 950 students. It offers sessions covering every subject offered at A level and GSCE in Britain. However, 80 per cent of lessons that it has sold so far have been in mathematics.

Companies in internet learning are expected to receive a boost after the BBC was told to scrap its online education service after rivals complained to the European Commission that it was anticompetitive. The BBC Jam service, in which the Corporation had invested £76 million, was used by more than 170,000 students.

Log on to learn

— TutorVista recruits Indian university graduates

— Graduates’ references and qualifications checked as part of six-week training

— Tutors learn company's technology, UK curriculum and given guidance on how to tackle “accent barrier”

— Parents register on company’s website, book sessions and download software

— Unlimited sessions cost £50 a month across all subjects TutorVista covers. Tailored packages designed to help children pass specific exams

— 15 minutes before a session, students click on live link to a teaching platform including interactive whiteboard and internet phone connection

— After the session, pupils fill out feedback form. The session can be recorded for later revision and to monitor tutors’ performances

— Students can remain with the same tutor or switch

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