Schülerhilfe is the number one provider of after-school tutoring in Germany and Austria.
In our latest CEO series, Dieter Werkhausen tells us what’s driven the company’s tremendous growth, the challenges of pivoting the entire business model to remote learning during COVID, and his ambitions plans to expand Schülerhilfe. Watch the video to hear more.
Dieter Werkhausen
CEO — Schülerhilfe
Students
125,000
Tutors
10,000
Tutoring centres
700
Every year, over 125,000 school children across Germany and Austria use Schuelerhilfe’s after-school tutoring service to improve their grades and get their education back on track. Secondary schools across the DACH region are required to pass exams to advance to the next school year and avoid being held back. Schuelerhilfe’s in-person tutoring in small groups is highly effective: 94% of its students improve at least one grade. Today, the Group has more than 700 learning centres with 10,000 tutors.
Oakley invested in Schuelerhilfe in 2017. Our investment in the business built on the Firm’s track record backing successful education groups, including Inspired which at exit comprised almost 30 premium schools around the world educating 20,000 students. Oakley was attracted to after-school tutoring because of growing non-cyclical demand from parents and their children. The investment also demonstrated Oakley’s key strategy of working with outstanding entrepreneurs, in this case Dieter Werkhausen, who invested alongside us in the business.
Schuelerhilfe’s track record and reputation have driven the company’s tremendous growth, along with a buy-and-build programme in the fragmented market for after-school tutoring. While the business has prided itself on offering in-person tutoring, Schuelerhilfe was forced to change tack during the Covid pandemic. Lockdowns across its key markets kept children at home and froze education programmes as the exams it helps prepare students for were put on hold. Parents still wanted tutoring lessons to keep their kids on track and utilise state-provided education vouchers. In less than two weeks, Oakley worked with the management team to pivot the entire teaching programme online. Three years post-pandemic, tutoring has reverted to Schuelerhilfe’s popular in-person provision while maintaining a hybrid/on-line offering. Enrolments are now above pre-2019 levels.
Dieter Werkhausen
In a highly fragmented market with growing demand for tutoring, Schuelerhilfe has ambitious expansion plans. The Group is opening larger centres and expanding into new regions where it doesn’t currently have a presence as it seeks to double its market share in Germany within the next eight years, and grow in Austria, where it opened its first centres in 2023. Management are considering further geographic expansion into new countries where it believes the Schuelerhilfe ‘concept’ will work. Diversification is also part of the growth strategy. In adult education, Schuelerhilfe’ teaches German as a foreign language and this business is growing 40% a year. Meanwhile, the Group is exploring opportunities to syndicate its highly-rated content with external tutoring providers to help even more children achieve their educational goals.
