A survey today showed that many private tutors will refuse to register on the vetting database. Three quarters of the tutors interviewed by the website thetutorpages.com said that they wouldn’t register: many said that they didn’t think it would stop paedophiles, and resented the implication that they were ‘assumed guilty until proven innocent’. Henry Fagg, director of www.thetutorpages.com, made the excellent point that tutors have close relationships with the parent of the child; they often go into the family home to give their lessons. ‘This scheme is in danger of undermining that bond of trust as it breeds the suspicion that every adult who works with children is a potential paedophile.’ And indeed, that bond of trust built up over time between parents, tutor and child is worth far more than any bureaucratic tick box.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/apr/16/home-tutors-reject-paedophile-database