- 08 Sep, 2026
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In-Person Tutoring Safety: A Tutor in Your Home
Safety and trust
In-Person Tutoring Safety: A Tutor in Your Home
Letting someone into your home to teach your child is a different decision from booking an online lesson, and it is treated differently. This is what is required of the tutor, and what is worth arranging at your end.
For parentsWhat is required before a tutor comes to your home?
A valid police clearance certificate is required for in-person tutoring, on top of the identity and qualification checks every tutor goes through. The Tutor Terms also require the lesson to happen in a visible, common area with a parent or another responsible adult present or nearby, never behind a closed door and never alone with a student in a private space, and a tutor may not transport a student.
Those are not house rules you have to negotiate. They are conditions the tutor has already agreed to, which means you can hold them to it without it being awkward.
Why is in-person tutoring safety held to a higher bar?
Because the risk is genuinely different. An online lesson runs on Apex’s Custom LMS, is logged, and a parent may view a recording of their own child’s lesson; the oversight is built into the platform. An in-person lesson has none of that, so the protection sits in who is allowed through the door, which is why police clearance is required, and where in the house the lesson happens, which the Terms set.
An online lesson runs on Apex’s Custom LMS. It is logged, messages may be reviewed by authorised Apex personnel, and a parent may view a recording of their own child’s lesson. The oversight is built into the platform.
An in-person lesson has none of that. A tutor and a child are in a room, and no software is watching. So the protection has to sit in two other places: who is allowed through the door, and where in the house the lesson happens.
| Online | In person | |
|---|---|---|
| Identity and qualifications | Verified | Verified |
| Police clearance | Not required | Required |
| Lesson recorded | Yes, parent may view | No |
| Rules on the room | Household choice | Set by the Terms |
The rules a tutor has agreed to
Three, and they are worth knowing precisely because they are yours to enforce.
A visible, common area
The lesson must happen in a visible, common area with a parent or another responsible adult present or nearby. The dining table, the lounge, the kitchen. Not a bedroom, and not a study with the door shut.
Never alone behind a closed door
A tutor may not be alone with a student in a private space. If a lesson is proposed somewhere out of sight, that is not a working preference to accommodate. It is outside the Terms.
No transporting the student
A tutor may not transport a student. However convenient a lift to or from a lesson might seem, it is not permitted, and a tutor who offers is either unaware of the Terms or ignoring them.
Why this helps the tutor too. A tutor working in the open, with an adult nearby, is also protected from any allegation about what happened in a closed room. Good tutors welcome these rules rather than tolerate them.
What to arrange at your end
Five practical things, none of which take long.
- Pick the room before the first lesson. Somewhere with a table, decent light and normal household traffic passing through.
- Be home, at least at first. You do not have to sit in on the lesson. Being in the house is the point.
- Agree the times in the app. Keep the schedule and any changes on the platform, so there is a record of what was booked.
- Introduce yourself properly at the first session. A tutor who knows the parent is present and engaged behaves accordingly, and you learn more in five minutes than from any profile.
- Ask your child afterwards, specifically. What did you work on, what did you find hard, did you understand the explanation.
The warning sign that matters most. Pressure to arrange lessons or payment directly, off the platform. It removes the booking record, the Terms and any recourse you have. It is the most common way an in-person arrangement goes wrong.
What the tutor commits to beyond the first lesson
Verification is not a one-off gate.
Under the Tutor Terms a tutor warrants that they are not listed on the National Register for Sex Offenders or the National Child Protection Register, and must tell Apex immediately if that ever changes, or if their police clearance status changes. If a tutor is entered on either register, Apex may terminate the agreement with immediate effect and they may not provide any further lessons.
Apex may also re-verify documents from time to time and tutors agree to co-operate, so a police clearance certificate that has lapsed does not quietly stay on a profile.
Personal contact details are kept private and Apex coordinates introductions and bookings, which is worth preserving even once a tutor is coming to your home each week.
Would online suit your child better?
Possibly, because in-person is not automatically the safer or better option. In person tends to suit younger children, easily distracted learners and anyone who works better with someone alongside them. Online tends to suit independent teenagers, families outside the big centres, and anyone who wants a specialist rather than whoever lives nearby, and it carries the recording and message log that in-person cannot.
In person tends to suit younger children, learners who are easily distracted, and anyone who works better with someone physically alongside them. It also avoids the technology failing at the wrong moment.
Online tends to suit independent teenagers, families outside the big centres where the choice of local tutors is thin, and anyone who wants a specialist rather than whoever lives nearby. It also carries the recording and the message log, which in-person cannot.
Many families use both: online through the term, in person before an examination. You can browse verified tutors and filter by online or in person, and read what to check for an online lesson or what verified means before you decide.
Frequently asked questions
Do Apex tutors need a police clearance certificate to come to my home?
Yes. A valid police clearance certificate is required for in-person tutoring, on top of the identity and qualification checks every tutor goes through. It is not required to tutor online, which is why it appears as a badge on the profiles of tutors who hold it.
Where should an in-person lesson take place?
In a visible, common area with a parent or another responsible adult present or nearby. The Tutor Terms are explicit that a tutor may not be alone with a student in a private space or behind a closed door. A dining table or lounge is ideal.
Can a tutor give my child a lift?
No. A tutor may not transport a student. A tutor who offers is either unaware of the Terms or ignoring them, and either is worth raising with Apex.
Do I need to be home during the lesson?
You do not have to sit in on the lesson, but the Terms require a parent or another responsible adult to be present or nearby, and the lesson must happen in a common area. Being in the house is the point.
Is in-person tutoring safer than online?
Not automatically. An online lesson on Apex’s Custom LMS is logged and a parent may view a recording of their own child’s lesson, which in-person cannot offer. In person is protected differently, through the police clearance requirement and rules about where the lesson happens.
Before you open the door
Cleared, checked, and in a room you can see.
Police clearance is required for in-person tutoring, and the Terms decide where the lesson happens. Filter for in-person tutors and read the profile before you book.