Private tutoring safeguarding checks leave critical gaps, LessonWise warns parents

Private tutoring remains significantly less regulated than schools, leaving parents with limited visibility into safeguarding standards and gaps in child protection, according to UK-based education services company LessonWise.

London, UK, Feb. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As demand for private tutoring continues to grow – with an estimated 1 in 3 students receiving private tutoring support in the UK – safeguarding expectations have not kept pace with the sector’s expansion, particularly as tutoring increasingly takes place online.

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The majority of parents – 93% – are unaware that private tutoring is unregulated, according to a recent report, and most parents assume tutors must hold formal teaching qualifications or be DBS-checked.

While most tutoring providers conduct DBS or enhanced DBS checks, LessonWise says many parents are unaware that these checks do not automatically connect to teacher misconduct registers, prohibition orders, or regulatory disciplinary records – protections that exist within the school system.

“Parents often assume tutoring operates under the same safeguarding standards as schools,” said David St Croix, Director of Teaching & Learning at LessonWise.

“In reality, many protections families expect simply aren’t built into the tutoring model. Safeguarding too often relies on trust rather than enforceable systems.”

Uneven standards for a growing sector

Public concern about child safety in online environments has intensified in recent years, driven by rising reports from organisations such as the NSPCC and Ofcom, as well as the introduction of new child-safety duties under the Online Safety Act.

But unlike schools, the tutoring sector remains fragmented, with wide variation in:

• how tutors are vetted
• how lessons are monitored
• how concerns are identified, escalated or reviewed

For families, this can mean little insight into what happens during lessons beyond trust in an individual tutor.

“Checks at onboarding are important, but they are not enough on their own,” St Croix added.

“Safeguarding has to be continuous, visible and supported by clear standards – especially when learning happens online.”

Designing safeguarding into tutoring

LessonWise says its approach to online tutoring and learning, and its AI-augmented learning and progress platform (BrightPath), aims to close that safeguarding gap – and is built on the principle that safeguarding should be systemic rather than ad hoc. It should be consistent, auditable, and embedded at every level.

All tutoring on the LessonWise platform takes place within a secure, education-specific environment, with:

• enhanced background checks and ongoing tutor review
• lessons recorded for safeguarding and quality assurance
• communication kept within the platform
• recorded behavioural audit trails for boundary support and calm lesson handling
• AI-collated insights that provide early warnings of potential problems
• named safeguarding oversight and easy-reach escalation processes

But child safety isn’t entirely dependent on the support of technology. Tutor training, supervision and pedagogy are embedded in LessonWise’s professional culture. In practice, this looks like regular coaching and feedback loops on professional boundaries in 1:1 sessions, and guidance for managing sensitive expectations for trauma-informed and SEND-aware practices.

LessonWise Founder Manfred Olbrich said the company was created to address a gap he saw as tutoring became a long-term fixture in family life and safeguarding standards hadn't kept pace.

"Most parents assume a DBS check means a tutor has been fully vetted," he said.

"But DBS checks don't connect to teacher misconduct registers or prohibition orders — protections that exist in schools, but not in tutoring. That's a gap families don't know exists. If families are relying on tutoring for years, not just exam season, standards need to be designed into the system — not assumed."

The company's Family Plan service reflects this principle, combining enhanced DBS and TRA checks, deeper tutor vetting, and the continuous monitoring, processing, and secure storage of every lesson as standard.

Rising parental expectations

As tutoring becomes a longer-term feature of family life, parents are increasingly questioning whether academic support services are held to the same safeguarding expectations as schools and other regulated environments.

LessonWise believes clear safeguarding standards, professional oversight and transparency should be baseline expectations – not premium features.

“Parents shouldn’t have to trade peace of mind for academic support,” said St Croix. “They should be able to expect both.”

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Notes to editors

LessonWise is a UK-based education services company responding to a growing gap in the tutoring sector. As tutoring becomes more common, longer-term, and increasingly online, expectations around safeguarding, accountability, and visibility have risen – but standards have not always kept pace.

Designed to provide families with greater confidence and continuity alongside the school system, LessonWise operates a managed tutoring model built around six principles:

• safeguarding designed into the system
• visible progress over time
• technology that supports educators
• hyper-personalisation informed by learning history
• continuity for families navigating a fragmented system
• inclusion and accessibility as a baseline

Interviews with members of the LessonWise team are available on request.

Press Inquiries

Alexandra Eude
Press Relations
press [at] lessonwise.org

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