Choosing a Pharos Tutors Course

A flexible approach

There are many providers of online genealogy courses out there so how do you chose who to study with?

At Pharos Tutors we are all about flexibility. We offer online courses in family history, local history, genetic genealogy and related topics.

You may be looking for a structured programme of family history courses, in which case our certificate programmes will be ideal.

You may have come to this website thinking “I want to learn more about DNA testing” or “I want to learn more about Chancery records” and have a very specific goal. You can take any of our courses separately, even the ones in the certificate programmes.

Perhaps you are combining studies with multiple organisations. That’s fine with us – just pick the courses on subjects you are not covering elsewhere.

What do we love about Pharos courses?

No hidden fees. At Pharos Tutors you pay once. The lesson notes we send out each week are yours to download, print out and keep forever. 

Weekly tutorials. On Tutor-Led and Certificate courses you have the opportunity to interact with your tutor and fellow students every week. There is a course forum that you can add to at any time and weekly live tutorials. Distance learning can be isolating. We want you to be able to talk to others, share ideas and ask questions.

Our Tutors. Our tutor list reads like the Who’s Who of genealogy. We have some great names teaching our courses. Often they have published books on the subjects they teach.

Types of course

Anytime courses can be started at any time and you work at your leisure on your own. There is no tutor or student group for students on an Anytime course. You can simply buy and start your course immediately. We give you guidance by splitting these courses into “lessons”, each of which is equivalent to about a week’s work, but you choose your pace.

Example Anytime course: Parish Registers of England and Wales

Learn more about How Anytime Courses work

Tutor-Led courses are our most popular offering. They have a set start date and last 3-6 weeks. Lesson notes are sent out once a week, there are exercises for you to complete in the online course forum each week and you will have the chance to meet your tutor and fellow students and ask questions in the weekly tutorial (“chat”) sessions.

Example Tutor-Led course: Discovering more about your Agricultural Labouring Ancestors

Learn more about How Tutor-Led Courses work

Certificate courses are fixed programmes of Tutor-Led courses, that we developed and teach jointly with the Society of Genealogists. The difference to Tutor-led courses is that those taking the certificate programmes complete assessed work, submitted to your tutor for marking. Start with the Intermediate Certificate and then, if you pass with sufficient marks, move to Advanced Certificate. The Advanced Certificate is recognised by professional body AGRA, the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives as a route to professional genealogy.

If you want to receive a certificate then you must take the assessed option for all courses in the programme. However, at Pharos we are all about flexibility. You can also take any of our certificate courses in isolation if the subject interests you. You can then choose whether or not you want to be assessed.

You can read more about our Certificate Programmes here

Example Certificate course: Victorian Crime and Punishment - Courts, police and prisons

Learn more about How Certificate Courses work

Choosing your first course

If you are starting out with family history in England & Wales, then our two-part Foundations of Family History course is right for you. This is also a good course to choose if you want to be certain you have the right knowledge before moving to some of our more advanced courses. This is an Anytime Course which means that you study completely at your leisure.

If you are interested in really getting to know your ancestors while also learning in depth about a set of England & Wales records, then try our Anytime course, Parish Registers of England and Wales, or the Tutor-Led Wills and Probate course. 

If you have Scottish, Irish or Welsh ancestors then we have two levels of course for Scotland, while Welsh and Irish ancestry are covered by one specialised course each. All of these can be found in our Course Finder.

Interested in a researching a name or place in detail? Try these specialised Tutor-Led courses: Introduction to One-Name Studies course (the first of three courses we have on one-names studies, developed in association with the Guild of One Name Studies) or One-Place Studies (run in partnership with the Register for One-Place Studies).

For the experienced English researcher looking to move further backwards in time with their research, Medieval Genealogy, 17th Century Sources, and Before the Modern Census could be right for you. All these courses are from our certificate programmes, but you do not have to be part of a programme to take individual courses.

Want to find military records? Try Your Military Ancestors or Advanced Military Research.

Local and community history your area of interest? Our Getting Started with Local History, Discovering Your British Family and Local Community in the early 20th Century, Church & Community or One-Place Studies courses would be a good place to start.

Need extra help choosing? Contact us.