A home education tutor does a different job from a tutor who tops up a school course. In school, a child has a subject teacher covering the specification week by week, and a tutor fills gaps. At home, the tutor may be the only subject specialist the child sees. This guide explains what to look for, what to ask, what should worry you, and what you can and cannot check.
What should a home education tutor do differently from a school tutor?
A home education tutor should take responsibility for covering the whole specification, not just the topics a child finds hard, and should plan backwards from the exam entry date. A school tutor can assume the classroom teacher has taught the content once already; a home education tutor usually cannot.
Four things mark out a tutor who understands home education:
- Specification coverage. They work from the exam board’s published specification, tick off every topic, and can show you where your child is against it at any point. Ask to see the tracker.
- Exam-board alignment. They teach to the exact qualification and code your child is entered for (AQA 8464 Combined Science Trilogy is not Pearson Edexcel 4SD0 Double Award Science), use that board’s past papers and mark schemes, and know its command words.
- A plan for practical and spoken components. For GCSE science, Ofqual requires at least eight set practical activities and a centre statement that they were done; for IGCSE science, practical skills are examined on paper. A good tutor knows which route you are on and sets up safe home versions of the standard experiments so the skills are learned by doing. Our guide to IGCSE or GCSE for home education explains the difference.
- Pacing to the entry date. They know the boards’ entry deadline for the June 2027 series is 21 February 2027 and that centres close earlier, and they build the course so the content is finished with months left for exam practice.
How do you check a tutor is aligned to the right exam board?
You check exam-board alignment by asking the tutor to name the specification code, show you a past paper from that board and talk you through its mark scheme. A tutor who can do that fluently teaches the exam your child will sit; one who talks only about “GCSE maths” in general may not.
Three quick tests work in a first conversation. Ask which tier or paper route they recommend and why. Ask how the board’s grade boundaries moved last summer. Ask what the most common lost marks were in last year’s examiner report. None of these needs a long answer, but a specialist will have one.
What questions should you ask a home education tutor?
Before hiring a home education tutor you should ask about qualifications, experience with the exact specification, how they will cover and track the whole course, and how they handle safeguarding. Ten questions cover it:
- What teaching qualification do you hold, and where did you teach?
- Which exam boards and specification codes have you prepared private candidates for?
- Have you worked with home-educated students before, and what was different about it?
- How will you cover the whole specification, and how will I see progress?
- How do you handle the required practicals or the spoken language endorsement for this subject?
- How many past papers will my child complete under timed conditions, and who marks them?
- What happens if my child falls behind the plan?
- Do you hold an Enhanced DBS certificate for the children’s workforce, and will you show me the original?
- For online lessons, is a parent welcome in the room, and are lessons recorded?
- What are your fees, your cancellation terms and your availability through to the exam dates?
What are the red flags when choosing a tutor for a home-educated child?
The red flags when choosing a tutor for a home-educated child are vagueness about the exam board, promises about grades, resistance to a parent being present, and reluctance to show qualifications or a DBS certificate. Any one of these is a reason to pause; two together is a reason to walk away.
- No specification code, no past papers. A tutor who cannot name the board and code is teaching a subject, not an exam.
- Guaranteed grades. Nobody can guarantee a grade, and a professional will not pretend to.
- Lessons that only ever cover what the child asks about. That is school-style top-up tutoring. A home-educated child needs the full course.
- Discomfort with a parent present or with recorded online lessons. Good tutors welcome both.
- No written agreement. Fees, cancellations, lesson length and the plan to the exam should be on paper.
- Pressure to pay a large sum up front. Monthly or termly billing is normal.
Can a parent check a tutor’s DBS?
A parent cannot apply for a DBS check on a tutor, but can ask to see the tutor’s own certificate, and since 21 January 2026 self-employed tutors have been able to obtain an Enhanced DBS check on themselves. GOV.UK’s guidance for private individuals states that “as a private individual you cannot apply for a DBS check on behalf of the person you are looking to recruit”, and that they must apply themselves through an umbrella body.
What changed in January 2026 matters for tutoring. The DBS announced that from 21 January 2026 self-employed people can apply for Enhanced and Enhanced with Barred List checks through an umbrella body. Before that, a self-employed tutor working directly for families could only obtain a basic check, which anyone can request for £20 and which shows unspent convictions only. A tutor who tells you “self-employed tutors can’t get an Enhanced DBS” is now out of date.
When a tutor shares a certificate, the DBS’s guide for parents and carers says to check that you are viewing the original rather than a copy or photograph, that the name matches photo ID, the issue date, and that it is for the right workforce, meaning a children’s workforce certificate for someone working with under-18s. DBS certificates have no official expiry date. If the tutor is subscribed to the Update Service, you can run a free status check with their consent to see whether anything has changed since issue; GOV.UK’s guidance for private individuals suggests entering “private employer” where it asks for an organisation name.
Two limits to understand. The certificate belongs to the tutor, and it is their choice whether to share it. And the DBS itself says a certificate “is not a pass or fail test” and should sit alongside references, qualifications and your own judgement. A tutor employed through an agency or a tutoring company may have been checked by that organisation; ask the company to confirm the level of check and the workforce in writing.
Is online or in-person tutoring better for home education?
Online tutoring suits many home-educated GCSE students because it opens up specialist teachers across the country rather than whoever lives within driving distance, while in-person tutoring is better for younger children, students who struggle to focus on a screen, and hands-on science practice. The right answer depends on the child and the subject, and many families use both.
Online suits maths and the written parts of science well: a shared whiteboard, a camera on the child’s working, and a recording the child can replay. A parent can sit in without disrupting anything. In person suits a 13-year-old who needs a relationship before they will attempt hard questions, and it allows a tutor to set up and supervise experiments at your table. Whichever you choose, keep the lesson length to about an hour, keep it weekly, and keep the camera or the door open.
What does a home education tutor cost?
A home education tutor typically costs £30 to £55 an hour at GCSE level, according to a May 2026 rates guide from TutorCruncher, a tutoring-software company, which puts the overall UK average at £35 to £40 an hour and London 15% to 25% higher. Our guide to tutoring cost per hour in the UK breaks down what drives the price.
Our tutoring partner, Priority Education, is run by Louise Finn, a Head of Science, and Steven Finn, a Deputy Headteacher, who have taught science for over 15 years in the classroom. They offer one-hour weekly lessons, four-hour Revision Booster days before key exams and one-hour school-holiday sessions in Science, Maths and GCSE English, all suitable for home-educated students, who are entered for exams externally by the family. They are based in the North East and say they can point students to resources that complement the lessons. Use the revision timetable tool to set the weekly rhythm before lessons start.
If you want a qualified teacher alongside you for the science or maths, book a free call.
