The Beanbag Blog

Online tutoring - what do you think?

2010-03-16 11:42:41 UTC

Beanbag was set-up back in 2007 to assist parents / guardians in finding face to face tutors for their children. Why - because as parents we struggled to find tutors for our children, and because we believe that this is an area where new technology solutions to old problems can make a real and lasting difference.

Our objective was always to increase the accessibility of tutoring, and as a technology business we have been thinking long and hard about other ways in which we could make this happen.

The problem as we see it, is that it's not always possible to find a tutor when you need one, particularly if you live in geographically remote areas for example. It can also be a problem finding one to one support when your child needs help with an assignment or piece of homework. Formal tutoring arrangements whilst valuable are not always the answer. Online tutoring could provide a more cost effective way of tutoring, or provide that bit of supplementary support just when it's required.

Yes there are alternatives. You can join a study programme online, e.g. themathsfactor.com, but this will not necessarily address the specific problems your children have when they need one to one support. Individual tutors sometimes offer skype (internet phone-call) based tutoring as well, but how do you know that they are who they say they are, and how does the tutor get paid?

Some of you may recall that Tutorvista.com entered the UK market in 2007, with a technology based offer providing unlimited online tutoring support by tutors based in India, but for a number of reasons this did not take off here. Why? Based on feedback from my children who used the service, there were dialect, and technology problems, this combined with low customer service levels made it unattractive to us. In spite of these issues, online tutoring is we believe a good idea, all you have to do is to see the number of online tutoring services in the USA, such as Tutor.com to understand the potential of online tutoring to address a wide variety of learning needs.

Our belief is that online tutoring would be attractive to parents in the UK, if it were delivered properly, using technology that children prefer combined with professional customer service. What if we could provide online tutoring direct to parents, using the large number of CRB / ISA checked tutors that we already have listed on Beanbag? Would this be a winner - we think so.

As I said at the beginning, the purpose of this blog is to get your views - as our customers, your opinions count. Please feel free to comment on this blog post below, or email me direct at jonellis@beanbaglearning.com.

Vetting & Barring: Implications for Private Tutors (Part 2)

2010-02-24 11:05:04 UTC

We welcome a guest blogger to Beanbag today - Ian Phillips. Along with Barry Clark, he is co-author of 'Vetting and Barring: A practical guide to the new CRB / ISA scheme'. Ian has helpfully summarised the impact of ISA registration on private tutoring.

Well, it’s nearly here. The much-trailed and, it seems, much-feared Vetting and Barring Scheme is moving into view. July 26^th is the key date, when its public-facing functions kick-off.

For tutors, the impact is fairly clear. Under the law, if you are hired by a family direct, it’s a private arrangement and there is no legal need to register. If you work through an agency, so that the deal is done between that agency and the family, then you will need to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority. The owner of your agency will commit a crime, as will you, if you don’t do this. And you’ll need to have a meaningful conversation with the agency as to who picks up the bill (around £80).

Even if you only tutor direct with families then you will still need to consider whether to register voluntarily. From the commercial perspective, if your competition is agency-led, then many families will inevitably be drawn towards those ads that carry the magic legend ‘ISA registered’.

It’s a new world, brave or otherwise. Make sure in plenty of time that you’ve decided what you want to do.

Thanks Ian! For Beanbag tutors, you will be relieved to know that we are not an Agency - so there is no need for you to get ISA registered. Be aware however that parents will increasingly look for ISA registration as a safety 'kite mark', so it may be worth getting registered in any case.

Panorama look at child safety and the ISA

2010-02-09 17:31:10 UTC

Some of you may have seen the thought provoking BBC Panorama programme last night entitled 'are you a danger to kids'.

With more than nine million people potentially effected by the vetting and barring scheme, it is something that will touch many people's lives. Certainly those who come into regular contact (more than once a week) with children and vulnerable adults will be expected to obtain ISA registration. We explained the impact on tutors in a previous blog post.

Inevitably the programme touched upon issues around how the ISA will evaluate people - they will be expected to cover not only criminal records but allegations, complaints, tip-offs and suspicions (whether proven or not). An interview with John Pinnington highlighted the distress that unproven allegations can have on an individual, their family and their career.

We will be very much in the hands of the ISA's two hundred strong team of case workers to make the right decisions. We will also be expecting them to safeguard potentially damaging personal data - no computers to be left on trains, please.

So what's our view at Beanbag? Well as parents we welcome anything that reduces the risk that those with evil intentions ever get access to our children. As individuals, we are equally concerned about the human rights issues posed.

The debate will run and run, and I am sure that we will be writing about this again.