How We Check and Recruit Our Tutors
Experienced UK Qualified Teachers
Principal Tutors recruits experienced teachers with recognised teaching qualifications and substantial classroom experience.
This is an important part of our service. Classroom teachers understand how pupils learn, how the curriculum develops across different year groups and how to explain difficult ideas in more than one way.
They are also accustomed to working within professional standards relating to:
- safeguarding;
- child protection;
- appropriate boundaries;
- pupil welfare;
- confidentiality;
- communication with parents;
- progress monitoring;
- educational assessment.
Our tutors support pupils across Primary, 11+, Key Stage 3, GCSE and A-level, covering subjects including Maths, English, Science, Humanities, Languages and Business Studies.
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Enhanced DBS Checks
Every Principal Tutors tutor must have an appropriate Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate.
Where a tutor is registered with the DBS Update Service, we check the current status of their certificate.
Where the tutor is not registered with the Update Service, we require a new Enhanced DBS check if their existing certificate is more than 30 days old.
This means that we do not simply accept an older certificate without carrying out an appropriate current check.
An Enhanced DBS certificate is an important part of safer recruitment, but it should never be considered a complete safeguarding process by itself. We therefore combine DBS checking with our review of each tutor’s identity, qualifications, teaching experience, professional references, right to work and overall suitability.
Professional References
We obtain two professional references as part of our tutor recruitment process.
References help us verify a tutor’s professional history and provide further information about their experience, reliability and suitability to work with pupils.
Where possible, references are obtained from people who have direct knowledge of the tutor’s professional work in education.
Qualifications and Teaching Experience
We review tutors’ teaching qualifications and professional experience before accepting them onto the Principal Tutors team.
We look for tutors who have relevant experience of:
- teaching the appropriate age group or Key Stage;
- delivering the required subject;
- working with the National Curriculum for England;
- preparing pupils for the relevant examinations;
- supporting different levels of ability;
- adapting teaching to individual pupils.
For GCSE and A-level tuition, we also seek tutors with suitable subject specialism and knowledge of the relevant course or examination requirements.
A Selective Recruitment Process
Meeting our basic qualification and DBS requirements does not automatically mean that an applicant will be accepted.
We consider the tutor’s professional background, communication, experience and suitability for one-to-one tuition. We look for teachers who can build confidence, explain ideas patiently and provide focused support while maintaining professional standards.
Only a small proportion of applicants progress through our full recruitment process and become available for matching with Principal Tutors families.
