We’re building the standard we want for our own children
We’re Julia Silver and Odette Wohlman. We’re mums. We’re educators. And we’re tired of tutoring being treated like “a bit of extra help” when tutors are often the first safe adult a struggling child will open up to.
Qualified Tutor is the professional home we couldn’t find. It protects families and it protects tutors — creating safety, skill and support as the minimum standard.
Because tutoring is real work with real responsibility
We’ve sat with anxious learners, received 10 pm messages from tutors unsure what to do after a disclosure, and been the parents trying to work out who’s safe to bring into the house.
Tutoring can rebuild confidence and change lives — but it’s still largely unregulated. Qualified Tutor makes it professional, safe and supported for everyone.
• Keep children safe through DBS (checked daily), safeguarding training and a shared code of conduct.
• Support tutors with live mentoring, reflective practice, insurance and policies.
• Reassure parents and schools that their tutor is safe, skilled and never working alone in the dark.
When tutors feel supported, children feel safe. When children feel safe, they can learn.
Meet Julia & Odette
We built Qualified Tutor because we wanted what every parent wants: to know the adults helping our children are safe, skilled and supported. We’re educators, mentors and mothers — and we’re determined to raise standards with warmth and honesty.
Julia Silver
Founder & CEO
Former school leader and mum of five, Julia founded Qualified Tutor so parents could stop guessing and tutors could stop carrying it all alone. She wrote Love Tutoring to put empathy, belonging and professionalism at the heart of one-to-one learning.
Odette Wohlman
Mentoring & Coaching Lead
Odette is the steady voice tutors turn to when a session feels heavy. She helps tutors hold boundaries, process difficult moments and stay well while doing deeply human work. Her support is gentle, direct and quietly life-saving.
We didn’t set out to build an organisation. We set out to solve a problem.
In 2020, Julia – a former school leader and mum of five – said what lots of tutors were already whispering: “We are doing safeguarding, behaviour support and emotional containment for young people. Why are we doing that alone?”
Odette joined because tutors needed somewhere to take the emotional load. She brought calm, boundaries and reflective practice – the “you’re not on your own with this” space.
What began as a conversation between mothers, tutors and protectors of children has grown into a professional standard that parents and schools can actually recognise.
Qualified Tutor is born
Julia founds Qualified Tutor to stop tutors being dismissed as “just tutors”. The aim: elevate tutoring to the level of care and professionalism families deserve.
Foundations of Effective Tutoring
We launch core training so tutors can plan, teach and assess with purpose – not guesswork. This becomes the baseline for ethical, confident practice.
The Qualified Tutor Five-Point Check
DBS (with daily status checks), safeguarding, insurance, policies and verified practice become visible to families. Parents stop having to “just trust their gut”.
Emotional safety for tutors
Odette leads regular mentoring and reflective spaces so tutors can talk honestly about boundaries, behaviour and burnout. We normalise asking for help.
Inclusion and SEND support (ORA)
We introduce Observe · Recognise · Adapt — a respectful, tutor-friendly way to support neurodiverse and high-needs learners without labelling or shaming.
Safe, skilled & supported becomes visible
The Qualified Tutor badge tells families, schools and local authorities: this tutor is not just “good at maths”. This tutor is accountable, insured and backed.
Tutors deserve recognition, not permission
Every year we lead World Tutors’ Day to celebrate tutors as skilled, trusted adults in children’s lives – not “academic extras”.
We platform tutor voices. We tell honest stories. We challenge the idea that tutoring is casual or optional. It’s not. For many young people, it’s the difference between shutting down and coping.
This matters to us as educators. It matters to us as parents.
If you’re a tutor, you do not have to hold this alone
Behaviour, anxiety, disclosures, SEND, money conversations with parents, self-doubt, exhaustion. This is the part of tutoring no one trains you for. We do.
In plain terms: what is Qualified Tutor?
Qualified Tutor is the UK’s professional body for tutors. We provide safeguarding expectations, daily DBS status checks, CPD, reflective supervision and practical, human support.
For parents, carers and schools, the Qualified Tutor badge makes standards visible. You don’t have to guess. You can see who is safe, skilled and supported.
Our position is clear: tutoring is not “extra”. It’s essential. Children deserve tutors they can trust. Tutors deserve protection, pride and professional respect.
Impact & Partnerships
Qualified Tutor exists to raise standards in tutoring by helping tutors become safe, skilled and supported. We support tutors across the UK (and beyond) through safeguarding guidance, DBS checks, accredited training, ongoing mentoring and a shared code of conduct that families can trust.
From early-career tutors to experienced educators and ex-teachers, our CPD helps professionals turn evidence into everyday practice. Planning, assessment, confidence-building — not guesswork.
No tutor should work in isolation. We host ongoing group mentoring and reflective practice so you can ask real questions about safeguarding, SEND, pricing and parent boundaries.
Daily DBS status checks, Level 2 safeguarding training and the Qualified Tutor Five-Point Check mean families and schools can see who is safe, insured and accountable.
Working With
We collaborate with universities, schools, legal advisors and education organisations that believe tutoring should be safe, inclusive and professional. These partnerships help tutors gain credibility — and help parents find people they can trust.
“Qualified Tutor’s efficiency and genuine care made the whole process easy and stress-free. We are so grateful for their help and can’t recommend them highly enough.”
R Hakimi, Parent, London
“I can't imagine my journey as a tutor without this incredible organisation. The support, encouragement and sense of community it provides are truly invaluable.”
R Duke, Tutor, Manchester
“I have been a member of QT for around 4 years and I would struggle to be without this incredible organisation in my life as a tutor.”
A Oberoi, 11+ Tutor, Birmingham
Inclusion at the Centre
Our SEND with ORA training (Observe · Recognise · Adapt) helps tutors design accessible learning and respond to diverse needs with confidence and sensitivity.
Evidence into Practice
Courses, mentoring and peer dialogue turn research into everyday strategies: planning, feedback, study skills, behaviour, communication with parents — the real “how”.