Tips from the Experts on how to keep your child safe with their private tutor.
When inviting teachers and tutors into your homes (whether physically or online), one of the key questions any parent should ask is, ‘is it safe to do so?’ After all, in whatever walk of life would you invite a stranger into your house and give him access to your children.
As reported, recently in the ITV and BBC news, there is a growing concern both in the education industry and amongst parents about how unregulated tutoring/teaching is in the United Kingdom, both with tutoring agencies and online schools (Concern over lack of regulation for private tutors – ITV).
Did you know that anybody can claim to be a tutor/teacher, without any checks at all? This can no longer be allowed to continue.
Parents need to do their research, thoroughly check the background and qualifications of tutors and use only reputable tutoring agencies; they also need to make sure tutoring agencies have clear policies and procedures around safer recruitment.
Clients need to know that these tutoring agencies have undertaken professional background checks before they open their doors to tutors/teachers; shockingly statistics show that the majority of parents fail to do so. Even more so, when they did not go through a reputable agency, but responded to an advert in the local newspaper or on the internet; or even came across the teacher/tutor by word of mouth. All professional tutors should be a member of The Tutors’ Association, as this provides a quality mark on professionalism in the industry; is your tutor a member?
Sophia supports the Tutors’ Association in lobbying the government to make sure all self-employed tutors in this country have a police check (known as a DBS) before they can offer private lessons to children in the UK. It is also something that children’s charity the NSPCC has been campaigning for, as they call for a tightening of the law to ensure every individual giving private tuition undergoes a check, saying the same rules should apply for self-employed tutors as for classroom teachers.
What we do at Sophia
At Sophia, we believe that the standards set out for private tuition and practices of tutoring agencies in the UK needs shaking up. It needs to become more professionalised, so that it is aligned with the teaching profession and expectations of Schools when they are educating children. Trust is everything.
Sophia does not charge parents registration fees to provide advice to parents when coming to us to find a tutor. We believe this is part of our onboarding process and level of service we want to provide to parents in order to provide them with the best educational support for their children.
All tutors who work for Sophia, undergo a face-to-face hour-long interview. These interviews are conducted by Melissa McBride (co-founder of Sophia) and David McCarty who have been in education for over forty-eight years, and have a wealth of educational experience behind them as school leader – both in the UK and within international settings.
In addition, as part of the vetting process all tutors take part in a telephone interview before having to supply Sophia with two current professional references, three documents that include proof of id and proof of address (which needs to have been within the last three months) plus evidence of the Right to Work in the UK and, more importantly, a current Enhanced DBS certificate.
We are also advising our tutors to register to the DBS update service every year, so that their DBS certificates remain updated in real time throughout the year. Any teacher/tutor who has been abroad for more than six months in the last five years also needs to supply Sophia with international police checks. Every teacher and tutor on the Sophia platform also must to sign the TTA’s Code of Ethics, ensuring they are prepared to operate under the professional standards of the Association.
“Sophia is striving for the high standards of safeguarding and professionalism within the industry and we believe every tutor who does so receives a gold standard of safeguarding.”
Whilst this is not a legal requirement, Sophia is striving for the high standards of safeguarding, training and professionalism within the industry and is proud to be working alongside the government, the TTA and the NSPCC, and leading from the front in this regard.
Tips for Parents from the Experts
- Check if your Tutor / Agency is registered with The Tutor’s Association.
Ensure your Tutor has a recent Enhanced DBS and can provide evidence of this. If they are registered on the DBS Update Service, are they happy to provide you with permission to check this online- Do your research – have you checked their ID, qualifications and followed on professional references?
- Does their experience as a tutor align with your child’s needs? For example, if you are looking for an 11+ tutor, do they have experience in this area and with this age range
- Trust your instincts. If you feel that the tutor isn’t suited to your child’s personality or learning needs, don’t wait! Find someone better suited. Your child will thank you.
- If you are choosing to use a reputable tuition agency – don’t be shy about asking them for their advice and guidance. They know their tutors better than anyone else and you know your child. If they are experienced experts who care about students, this will be part of their service. It shouldn’t be something you have to pay extra for.
- Question why you are paying registration fees with tuition agencies? What does this cover? How does this help you and what benefit is it to your child?
Ensure your Tutor has a recent Enhanced DBS and can provide evidence of this. If they are registered on the DBS Update Service, are they happy to provide you with permission to check this online
Looking for tutors you can trust?
Book Sophia Private Tuition at https://sophia.app/tuition
Or take a look at our other platforms at https://sophia.app and read more on what parents hate about the 11+ exam.
