Fo√ne…tic √Ēng…lish Parent Safeguarding Notice

This Notice is for parents and guardians whose children will use Fonetic English (FE). It is a help document, not a list of rules. It gathers what we have learned about safeguarding children in tutoring, and offers it for your consideration.

You are responsible for the safety of your child. FEPL provides FE, the Tutor Code of Conduct, and structural protections (such as not collecting any contact details for any child). You make the decisions about who tutors your child, how, and on what terms. Treat the tutor selection like you would treat hiring a babysitter — get to know them, ask questions, trust your instincts, and remember that you can change tutors at any time.

How to use this Notice. Read it once when you sign up. Come back to it when you are about to engage a tutor for the first time, or when you want a checklist of questions to ask. The Notice is structured so you can find what you need quickly.

1. How FE is designed and the role of the tutor

FE is designed to support independent learning. After an introduction, a child or adult can learn the Fonetic English system on their own, at their own pace, working through the materials in the eReader and the practice tools.

Many parents engage a tutor to teach their child using FE, particularly in the early stages. The role of the tutor is not just to deliver lessons — it is to teach both the child and the parent how to optimally use the FE website, so that the parent can support the child’s practice between lessons. As the child becomes more independent and the parent becomes more confident, tutoring time can be reduced. The aim is to give the child a competent tutor, an engaged parent, and a path toward independent reading and learning.

You contribute to the teaching itself. You know things about your child that the tutor will not — what they are interested in, what they find difficult, what has worked for them before, what is happening at home, what motivates them. Share these with the tutor. The lessons get better when the parent is in the room contributing what only the parent can contribute.

We recommend that the parent and child both attend tutoring sessions, particularly in the early weeks. This works for most online tutoring and for many face-to-face tutoring arrangements. There are situations where a different approach is appropriate, and we cover these in section 4.

Two protections built into the tutor’s contract with FE

The tutor’s agreement with FE includes two commitments that exist independently of any arrangement you and the tutor make about lessons. They are not rules FE imposes on the parent-tutor relationship; they are obligations the tutor owes to FE. If a tutor breaches either of these commitments, FE can terminate the tutor’s access to Fonetic English.

No harm. The tutor commits not to cause harm to any person they are tutoring or to anyone connected to that person through the tutoring relationship — including siblings, parents, and other family members.
No initiation of contact outside lessons. The tutor commits not to initiate contact with the person being tutored, or with their family or friends, outside scheduled lessons. Communications about tutoring go through you, the parent.

Historically, when harm has happened to children in tutoring or coaching relationships, it has often started with contact initiated by an adult outside formal lessons. The no-initiation commitment exists because of this pattern. We do not assume that any individual tutor would behave this way — almost all tutors are professional and committed to their students. But the commitment is structural: it removes the most common pathway for harm before it can begin.

You do not have the power to vary these two commitments — they are between the tutor and FE, not between the tutor and you. If you become aware that a tutor has breached either of them, please tell us. The contract can only be enforced when breaches are reported.

2. What FE provides and what you decide

FE provides several things to support the safety of children using the system:

A Tutor Code of Conduct that every tutor using FE has agreed to follow. The Code covers credential requirements, professional conduct, and recording requirements for online lessons with minors. The Code is publicly available on the FE website.
Tutor Terms that include the no-harm and no-initiation commitments described in section 1.
A structural protection: we do not collect contact details for any child. No email, no phone, no home address. All communications about your child’s learning go to you. This means a tutor cannot reach your child through FE.
A safeguarding email address — safeguarding@foneticenglish.com — where you can raise any concern.
A planned tutor directory, which you will be able to use to find tutors who match what you are looking for — country, languages, subject expertise, availability, and cost. The directory is being built; we will tell you when it is available.

What FEPL does not do, and does not claim to do:

We do not employ, supervise, recommend, or vouch for any tutor.
We do not verify tutors’ identity, credentials, or background checks. Tutors warrant their own credentials. You verify what matters to you.
We do not observe lessons. The recording requirement for online lessons with minors is between the tutor and you — the tutor records and provides the recording to you.

You decide who tutors your child, how often, where, and on what commercial terms. You are the person who can act in real time to protect your child. The information in this Notice is to support those decisions.

3. Choosing a tutor: checks you might consider

Different parents will reasonably do different amounts of checking. A tutor recommended by a trusted friend or your child’s school may need less independent verification than a tutor you find cold through an online directory. You decide what makes sense for your situation.

Practical fit

Sort out the practical fit first. A tutor who is wonderful but unavailable when your child has time to learn is no use. The same is true if their fees do not work for your family.

Availability. Hours that match when your child has time to learn. International tutoring across very different time zones can mean lessons fall in awkward hours — a tutor available 8 to 10 pm in their country may be 2 to 4 am in yours. Confirm hours that work for your child.
Commercial terms. Hourly fee, what it includes, payment arrangements, cancellation and rescheduling terms.

Is the tutor a good match with the child

The connection between your child and the tutor matters more than any qualification on paper. Some children connect with some tutors and not with others. This matters even more for children with autism, ADHD, sensory differences, anxiety, or just particular personalities, who may respond very differently to two tutors who look similar on paper.

Things to think about when assessing fit:

Your child must be able to understand the tutor speaking English. A familiar accent is usually preferred — your child will pick up the tutor’s accent over time, so an accent close to what your child hears in everyday life often works best.
A tutor who shares your child’s native language can be valuable. A child whose native language is French may be better served by a tutor who speaks French as well as English — because the tutor can explain things in French if needed, and because shared language often helps the child relax.
Subject background can matter. A student wanting better English to study economics may be best served by a tutor with an economics background — the lessons can use economics texts and vocabulary the student needs.
Your child’s reaction is real information. After a few sessions, watch how your child engages: are they comfortable, do they come willingly, do they talk about lessons afterwards, are they making progress?

Personal preferences

Both you and your child will have personal preferences about who teaches your child. These are reasonable considerations and FE does not take a view on which preferences are right. Some examples:

Country, region, or time zone. Some families prefer a tutor in their own country, or in a particular region.
Cultural, religious and gender preferences: for example a young girl may be more comfortable with a female tutor who comes from the same cultural background. Families of any background may prefer a tutor who shares their cultural or religious context, or they may want someone from a different background so they can familiarise themselves with people of other cultures.
Anything else that matters to your family.

Look for tutors whose profile matches what matters to you, and feel free to ask about anything not visible in their profile.

Verification

Things parents commonly verify:

Identity. Photo ID confirming the tutor is who they say they are.
Working With Children Check or equivalent. In Australia, a Working With Children Check. In the United Kingdom, a Disclosure and Barring Service check. In the United States, the relevant state-level check. In other countries, the equivalent child-safety clearance, or a recent police clearance certificate. Tutors who teach minors are required by our Tutor Code of Conduct to hold a current check — you may ask the tutor to show it to you.
Academic and teaching qualifications. Whatever they describe in their profile or claim in correspondence.
Tutoring experience. How long they have been tutoring and what kinds of students they typically work with.
References. Names and contacts of previous parents or students. If you receive references, follow them up.

4. Lesson formats and what to agree with your tutor

The Tutor Code of Conduct sets out the professional standards every tutor follows. Most of those standards are firm. A few practical matters — recording of online lessons, whether and how the parent attends face-to-face lessons, and certain communication arrangements — are for you and your tutor to agree. This section discusses those matters to help you think through what you want.

Whatever you agree, write it down. A quick email between you and the tutor is enough. Having things in writing protects everyone if a question comes up later.

Online lessons

FE supports recording of online lessons. Recording lets you see what happens in a lesson and review it later — many parents find it useful and many tutors offer it as standard practice.

Some children may be uncomfortable being recorded — for example, a child who stutters or who is self-conscious about hearing or speech difficulties. Discuss recording with your tutor and agree what works for your situation: whether to record, how the recording is stored and shared, and how long it is kept.

If you do record, reviewing recordings is one of the most useful things you can do. Things to look for: did the tutor stick to teaching, was the tutor patient and professional, did the tutor try to develop a personal relationship with your child beyond what teaching needs, did the tutor ask anything personal about your family.

Face-to-face lessons

Many parents engage tutors who teach face-to-face — reading specialists, dyslexia tutors, learning-difficulty specialists, and tutors who simply prefer in-person teaching.

FE recommends that parents attend face-to-face lessons with their child, particularly in the early weeks. Attending fits the cooperative-learning model, lets you see what happens in the lesson so you can better support your child between sessions, and is one of the most effective ways to know your tutor. Whether you attend, and how often, is a matter for you and your tutor to agree.

Closed-room sessions for some specialists. Many reading specialists teaching struggling readers prefer to take the child into a separate room so the child can focus without distraction — a parent in the room, however well-intentioned, can be a distraction. This is a legitimate professional practice. If you are confident in your tutor and comfortable with the approach, closed-room sessions are a reasonable arrangement.

Other matters to agree

The Tutor Code of Conduct sets out further defaults that you and the tutor can agree to vary in writing where you have reason. These include:

Direct contact details between the tutor and members of the family. The default is that the tutor and the child do not exchange personal contact details (phone numbers, personal email addresses, messaging-app contacts). In a long-running engagement, you may agree that direct contact between the tutor and a family member is reasonable — for example for scheduling.
Social media connection. The default is no social media connection between the tutor and the child. In some specific cases this may be a reasonable thing to vary; think carefully before doing so.
In-person meetings outside scheduled lessons. The default is no in-person meetings outside scheduled lessons. Where the tutor is involved in your child’s broader educational life (for example, at a school, club, or community group), in-person contact in that other context is governed by that context’s own norms; you and the tutor can agree how the tutoring relationship handles in-person meetings outside lessons.

Some of these defaults exist to protect against patterns of harm. Think carefully before agreeing variations. The two protections in section 1 — no harm and no initiation of contact — are not matters for you and the tutor to agree; they are firm contractual commitments by the tutor and you cannot vary them.

Where the tutor has a separate professional relationship with your child — such as being your child’s school teacher, coach, or family friend — that other relationship has its own professional norms. The matters above apply to the tutoring relationship, not to the other one.

5. Questions you might ask the tutor

Most parents engaging a tutor for the first time do not know what to ask. Asking these questions is normal and tutors expect them. The list below is a starting point — use what is useful, ignore what is not, and add your own.

When the planned tutor directory is available, the parent contact form will include a "suggested questions" button that pre-loads these questions into your first message to the tutor. You can edit them, add to them, or remove any you do not want to ask before sending.

Qualifications and experience

What are your academic qualifications? What teaching credentials do you hold?
How long have you been tutoring?
What kinds of students do you typically tutor — age range, level, particular needs?
Do you hold a current Working With Children Check (or equivalent)? May I see it?
Can you provide two or three references from previous parents or students?

Fit with your child

Describe your child to the tutor briefly: age, native language, current English level, learning goal, and any particular issues or learning differences. Then ask:

Is this a good fit with your skills and experience?
Have you taught students similar to my child before?
What approach would you take with my child specifically?

How lessons will work

What does a typical lesson look like? How long? How structured?
How do you communicate with parents about progress and homework?
Where will you teach from? Will it be a quiet, professional environment?
For online lessons: how do you record lessons and how do I receive the recordings?
For face-to-face lessons: where would lessons take place? How do you suggest I supervise?

Commercial terms

What is your hourly fee? What does it include?
What hours are you available, in your time zone and in mine?
What are your cancellation terms? What happens if I cancel a lesson with short notice? What happens if you cancel?
What is your policy on rescheduling?

Anything else

Anything you feel is important about working with you that I have not asked about?

6. Changing tutors is normal

Tutor selection is not all-or-nothing. You may not know what you want from a tutor before you have tried one. After a few sessions, you and your child often discover what works for you. That is the right time to think about whether the current tutor is the right one for the longer term.

Reasons parents reasonably change tutors include:

The teaching style is not a good fit for the child.
The tutor is fine but the time-zone scheduling has become difficult.
The child has progressed and now needs a tutor with different skills.
The parent’s circumstances have changed.
Something does not feel right — the parent does not need to be able to articulate exactly what.

You can end an engagement at any time. You do not need to justify the decision to FE, to the tutor, or to anyone else. End it on your own terms, in line with whatever cancellation terms you agreed with the tutor, and look for a different tutor if you want one. The freedom to change tutors is itself one of the most important safeguards you have.

7. If something feels off

Because parents are often present during lessons in the cooperative-learning model, the space for things to go wrong inside a lesson is small. The structural risks are mainly around the tutor trying to extend their relationship with your child beyond the tutoring itself.

Things that should concern you:

The tutor initiating contact with your child outside lessons through any channel. FE does not hold any contact details for your child, so the tutor cannot reach your child through FE. If a tutor asks your child for personal contact details, or asks you to share your child’s details, that is a breach of their commitments to FE.
The tutor pressuring you to step back from supervision before you are ready, or before any reasonable cause for it.
The tutor asking personal questions about your child or your family that go beyond what teaching needs.
The tutor making exaggerated promises about your child’s future, or claims that only their teaching can produce particular results.
Anything that does not feel right, even if you cannot say exactly why. Trust your instincts. Parents often pick up on things long before they can articulate them.

Reporting helps FE protect other families

The tutor has contractual commitments to FE — not to harm anyone connected to the tutoring relationship, and not to initiate contact with the child or family outside lessons. These commitments have force only when breaches are reported. The tutor will not report their own breach, so we rely on parents to tell us. Reporting protects your family and, importantly, protects other families who may engage the same tutor in future.

What to do

Your options, in roughly increasing seriousness:

End the engagement. You can do this for any reason, including reasons you cannot articulate. You do not need to justify the decision.
Talk to the tutor first if you feel comfortable doing so — some concerns turn out to be misunderstandings. Use your judgement about whether this is appropriate.
Email FE at safeguarding@foneticenglish.com if you believe FE should know. We will acknowledge your report within 24 hours and respond. We will treat what you tell us seriously.
Tell the tutor-matching platform if you found the tutor through a platform such as Preply or iTalki — platforms have their own safeguarding processes.
Contact local authorities if you believe a person is at risk of harm. In Australia: police on 000, or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 for confidential advice. In the UK: police on 999, or the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000. In the US: 911 or the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline on 1-800-422-4453. In other countries: your equivalent.

You do not need to choose only one of these options — you can do several. You also do not need to escalate to the most serious option to be heard. End the engagement first and take the other steps as you see fit.

8. How to contact us

Safeguarding concerns or questions: safeguarding@foneticenglish.com. We aim to acknowledge within 24 hours.

General questions about your account or about FE: hello@foneticenglish.com.

Privacy questions: privacy@foneticenglish.com.

9. Your acknowledgement

At sign-up, we will ask you to confirm that you have read this Notice. The acknowledgement records that you are aware of the information in it. It is not a list of obligations you are taking on — the substantive obligations of tutors are set out in the Tutor Terms and the Tutor Code of Conduct. What this Notice does is help you do your part well.

You will be asked to tick a box at sign-up confirming: "I have read and considered the Parent Safeguarding Notice."