Writing on the work.
Compliance, onboarding, and the quiet craft of running a private education business well. New essays roughly once a fortnight.
More from the whiteboard
Self-employed tutors are finally getting their own Enhanced DBS. The certificate they hand you was assessed against somebody else's job.
Since January, private tutors have become the single most common group applying for their own Enhanced DBS. That's genuinely good news. It also creates a problem almost nobody in the sector has thought about, because eligibility is judged against the role the check was requested for, and that role wasn't yours.
Matthew Curnier · 3 Aug 2026A DBS check is the start of safer recruitment, not the end of it. Here's what a spotless certificate doesn't tell you.
A clean DBS check doesn't mean a safe hire. Let me explain why that is, what you can do about it, and what you should be looking for.
Matthew Curnier · 1 Jul 202658% of schools have cut their tuition support since the NTP was defunded, and yet private demand has never been higher.
Around 58% of schools have cut back the tutoring they offer since the National Tutoring Programme was defunded. And yet 29% of secondary pupils in England and Wales now receive private tutoring, the highest figure on record.
Matthew Curnier · 1 Jul 202693% of Adults don’t realise private tutoring is unregulated, here’s how to keep your child, or your agency on the right track
The vast majority of us assume the industry is identical to teaching. It’s not.
Matthew Curnier · 1 Jun 2026AI tutoring is coming in 2027: Don't panic
Don’t worry though Arnie’s not coming for your classes just yet
Matthew Curnier · 29 May 2026