26th April 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The new ISA (Independent Safeguarding Authority) regulations regarding registration for a background check have been criticised in a survey of private tutors. In a report on the Telegraph’s website, approximately a three quarters of the tutors asked said that they were against the plans.
The new regulations will be phased in from July 2010, and will replace the current system where tutors have to apply for a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Disclosure, which currently costs £36. The ISA will charge almost double this amount, £64, and will ask the CRB for the information that would have been displayed on the Disclosure. Some tutors may consider this to be an unnecessary ‘tax on teaching’.
Tutors are not required to register with the ISA, but the government has suggested that they might still choose to do so, stating that they may wish to “provide reassurance to the people you work for and with”. However, many of the tutors surveyed said that, in their experience, parents prefer to rely on recommendation, and their own assessment of a tutor, than on security checks. Unfortunately there is the worry that not registering with the ISA could arouse suspicion among parents, and tutors say that they feel ‘bullied’ into registering, despite considering the changes to be unnecessary, and over-priced.