How Tutoring With Apex Actually Works

What is the arrangement, in one paragraph?

That is clause 2 of the Tutor Terms and Conditions, and Apex states the same thing publicly on its booking app: tutoring is delivered by independent tutors contracted to Apex Academic Centre, not by employees.

The rest of this guide is what that means in practice on an ordinary month.

What does Apex actually do for you?

Clause 2.1 describes Apex as the tutor’s agent, commissioned by the tutor to represent and support them. Four things sit inside that.

The trade is straightforward and worth stating honestly: Apex deducts its agency fees before paying your tutor fees over to you. You are buying access to clients and the removal of the administrative half of self-employment.

What does it not give you?

Clause 2.2 is unambiguous, and it cuts both ways.

• You are not an employee or partner of Apex.
• You are responsible for the manner and method of providing the lessons.
• You are not entitled to employment benefits.
• You prepare your own lessons and source your own materials. Apex does not prepare lessons, does not provide lesson plans, and does not undertake to supply teaching material.
• If a lesson runs over, the fee is not increased, and you may not shorten future lessons to compensate.

The upside of the same clause is real professional independence. Nobody dictates your teaching method, your explanations or your materials. You are engaged as a professional in your own right, and the Terms treat you as one.

How does a booking actually reach you?

Two routes, and neither involves negotiating with a family directly.

Apex advertises available lesson packages with the scheduling, subject, tutor fee, location and student details, and you may confirm interest where you are suitably qualified and available. Separately, once a client has completed and paid for a booking and Apex has reviewed it, the selected tutor receives the request through Apex’s Custom LMS.

What arrives with the request

The subject and curriculum, the grade, the delivery mode, the schedule, the location for in-person lessons, relevant student information, and the tutor fee for the lessons. You see what you are being asked to do, and what it pays, before you accept it.

Confirmation

A booking is confirmed only once Apex has confirmed it and you have accepted. Lessons do not start before that. Once confirmed, a class is created on Apex’s Custom LMS and both sides are notified.

Each booking is an independent, one-to-one arrangement: one tutor, one student, one subject, one scheduled time slot. Where a family has more than one child, each child is a separate booking and a separate session.

How and when do you get paid?

Apex collects the client fees directly from the client on your behalf and deducts its agency fees before paying your tutor fees to you. You must not accept payment directly from a client, and you must tell Apex about any attempt to pay you directly.

The date

Tutor fees are paid monthly in arrears, on the 2nd day of each month, for lessons delivered during the previous calendar month. Where the 2nd falls on a Saturday, Sunday or South African public holiday, payment is made on the next business day.

What unlocks it

You are paid for lessons evidenced by confirmed lesson schedules and the required progress feedback reports. Each month you submit a request for payment showing the number of lessons per client, the tutor fee per lesson per client, your banking details, and a copy of each confirmed lesson schedule.

How it reaches you

Tutor fees are paid by electronic transfer. Tutors paid locally are paid by EFT in South African Rand. Tutors paid internationally are paid through PayPal. Where payment is required in another currency or into an account outside South Africa, it is made net of bank charges and exchange-rate costs.

What are the boundaries you should know upfront?

Three, and it is better to read them now than discover them later.

Non-circumvention

Clause 11.1 is worth reading properly, so here it is in full effect. During the agreement, and for 12 months after it ends, you may not provide private tutoring, paid or unpaid, to any client Apex introduced to you. Breach it and Apex may cancel the agreement immediately, and you would be entitled only to fees for lessons actually completed.

The logic is simple enough to state plainly. Apex carries the cost of finding, vetting and converting the client. If tutors could take those clients private, that investment would not be recoverable, and there would be no clients to introduce.

Communication stays on the platform

Contact details are kept private on every tutor profile, and Apex coordinates introductions and bookings. Lesson-related communication runs through Apex’s Custom LMS, where it is logged and may be reviewed by authorised Apex personnel for quality assurance, safeguarding and resolving disputes.

Reliability is contractual

If you are late you must inform the client and Apex and record the times, and the client is credited with the lost time in five-minute increments. Rescheduling needs at least 6 business hours’ written notice.

Is this arrangement right for you?

It suits a qualified educator who wants to teach without running a business: no marketing, no invoicing, no chasing, no price negotiation, and a predictable monthly payment date.

It suits you less if you want to build your own private client base from Apex introductions, because clause 11.1 closes that off, or if you need the security of employment, because clause 2.2 is explicit that this is not employment.

If it does fit, the route in is short. Prepare your police clearance certificate, your South African Council for Educators (SACE) registration and proof of identity, then apply to tutor with Apex. You can also look at the current tutoring opportunities and the subjects offered to see where you would fit.

Frequently asked questions