Tutor policy

1. Your relationship with RootedLearn

RootedLearn is an online tutoring platform that connects guardians and learners with tutors. Tutors provide their services as independent contractors. Nothing in this policy or your use of the platform creates an employment, agency, partnership, or joint-venture relationship between you and RootedLearn.

As an independent contractor, you acknowledge that:

• You are not an employee of RootedLearn and are not entitled to employee benefits.
• You are responsible for your own taxes, social contributions, licences, and any registrations required in your country or jurisdiction, where applicable.
• You control how you prepare and deliver lessons within the standards of this policy, but you must use RootedLearn's classroom, scheduling, reporting, and payment tools for all platform activity.
• You may teach on other platforms, but you must not use RootedLearn to divert learners, guardians, or bookings off the platform.

2. Application and required information

To be considered as a tutor you must create a profile and submit accurate information for review. Depending on the subjects and levels you wish to teach, this may include:

• Your legal name, contact details, and country or region of residence.
• Subjects, curricula, and education levels you are qualified and prepared to teach.
• A truthful bio, teaching experience, and an introduction or intro video where requested.
• Your genuine availability, so lessons can be scheduled reliably.
• Qualifications, certifications, and any supporting documents we ask for.

3. Verification and review

Before you are approved to teach, and from time to time afterwards, RootedLearn reviews your application to check you are a suitable, capable tutor. This includes:

• Certificate and qualification checks — we check the certificates, degrees, and subject qualifications you submit.
• Subject-based assessment — every tutor completes an assessment for each subject they claim to teach, so we can verify your knowledge of that subject before you are recommended.
• Profile and intro-video review — checking your bio, teaching experience, and introduction for accuracy and professionalism.
• Admin approval — a final review before you can be recommended to families.

You agree to cooperate with this review, to provide genuine information and documents, and to consent to reasonable re-verification. Approval may be declined, delayed, paused, or later withdrawn based on the outcome.

4. Accuracy of your information

Everything you submit must be accurate, current, and complete. You must keep your profile, qualifications, subjects, and availability up to date. Misleading credentials, false or exaggerated subject claims, forged or altered documents, inaccurate availability, or impersonation are serious breaches of this policy and may lead to immediate removal from lesson requests, account restriction, suspension, or permanent removal, in addition to any legal consequences.

5. Safeguarding obligations when teaching minors

Many learners on RootedLearn are children or otherwise vulnerable. Protecting them is a condition of teaching on the platform. You must read and follow our Safeguarding policy in full. In particular you must:

• Maintain appropriate, professional boundaries with every learner at all times.
• Keep all contact with child learners on RootedLearn's approved classroom and communication tools. Do not seek or accept private phone numbers, personal messaging contacts, social-media connections, or any off-platform 1:1 contact with a child learner.
• Never arrange to meet a child learner in person, send personal gifts, or ask a learner to keep secrets.
• Avoid any content, language, or conduct that is sexual, exploitative, discriminatory, frightening, or otherwise inappropriate for a child.
• Report promptly. If a learner discloses harm, or you have any concern for a learner's safety or wellbeing, report it immediately through RootedLearn's safeguarding channel at hello@rootedlearn.com. If someone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services first.

6. Online lesson conduct and professionalism

Tutors represent RootedLearn to families. You are expected to:

• Arrive on time, prepared, and dressed and presented professionally, in an appropriate and quiet environment.
• Use respectful, encouraging, age-appropriate language and treat learners and guardians with patience and courtesy.
• Deliver the subject and level you were booked for, adapting to the learner's needs.
• Use the RootedLearn online classroom and platform tools for lessons and required communication.
• Protect learner privacy during and after lessons, including in any recorded content where recording applies.

7. Punctuality, availability, and responding to requests

Reliable scheduling is central to the learner experience. You must keep your availability accurate, respond to lesson requests promptly, and only accept lessons you can genuinely deliver on time and to a professional standard. If you must cancel or reschedule, give as much notice as possible through the platform and follow our scheduling and cancellation rules. Repeated lateness, no-shows, or last-minute cancellations may affect your matching, earnings, and standing on the platform.

8. Lesson reports, materials, and record-keeping

You may be required to submit lesson reports, share teaching materials, upload resources, and record learner progress and context after lessons. Reports must be accurate, respectful, timely, and useful to guardians and learners. Keep records only within RootedLearn's tools, and do not retain learner information on personal devices or systems beyond what is necessary to deliver the lesson.

9. Data protection obligations

When teaching, you will handle personal data about learners and guardians (which may include information about children). You must handle this data lawfully and responsibly, consistent with applicable data-protection laws — for example the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (regulated by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, NDPC), the EU GDPR, and the UK GDPR, depending on where you and the family are located. In practice this means you must:

• Use learner and guardian personal data only to deliver and support the tutoring you have been booked for.
• Keep it confidential and not disclose it to anyone else without a lawful basis and, where required, consent.
• Not copy, export, sell, or reuse learner data for your own marketing, other platforms, or unrelated purposes.
• Not retain learner personal data longer than needed, and delete or return it when RootedLearn asks or when it is no longer required for the lesson.
• Report any suspected data breach or loss of learner information to RootedLearn without delay.

10. Earnings, payouts, and payout details

Your earnings depend on accepted requests, completed lessons, attendance, submitted reports, lesson status, and the platform's payout rules in force at the time. You are responsible for providing accurate bank or payout details and keeping them current. RootedLearn may withhold, adjust, reverse, or delay payouts in cases of disputes, refunds, chargebacks, suspected fraud, policy breaches, or where a lesson did not take place as recorded. As an independent contractor, you are responsible for any taxes due on your earnings where applicable.

11. Tutor levels and progression

Tutors progress through levels as they teach. Your level is earned rather than granted: it reflects the hours you have completed, the reviews families have left, and the average rating you have maintained. Your level affects your standing on the platform, including how you are presented to families and the share of the lesson price you keep. The rate attached to your current level, and to the next one, is shown in your tutor dashboard — we do not publish pay rates on this page.

The ladder currently runs:

• New Tutor — from 0 completed hours.
• Rising Tutor — from 100 completed hours, 10 reviews, 4.5★ average rating.
• Experienced Tutor — from 500 completed hours, 25 reviews, 4.6★ average rating.
• Expert Tutor — from 1500 completed hours, 50 reviews, 4.8★ average rating.

Progress is measured automatically as your lessons complete, and your dashboard shows how many hours remain before your next level. Levels can move down as well as up if your rating or standing falls, or following a policy breach. RootedLearn may add, rename, or adjust levels and their requirements; where a change is material we will reflect it here.

12. No off-platform circumvention

All lessons, required communication, and payment must happen on RootedLearn. You must not ask or encourage a learner or guardian to move lessons, communication, or payment off the platform — for example to avoid fees, safety checks, support processes, or record-keeping. Off-platform circumvention removes safeguarding and support protections for families and is strictly prohibited. It may lead to immediate removal from the platform.

13. Intellectual property in materials

You must only use teaching materials you are entitled to use, and you must respect the intellectual-property rights of others. Materials you create and share for lessons may be used by learners and guardians for their own learning. Where you upload or share materials through RootedLearn, you grant RootedLearn a licence to host, display, and deliver those materials for the purpose of providing the service. Do not upload content you do not have the right to share.

14. Reviews, quality monitoring, and investigations

RootedLearn monitors quality through learner and guardian feedback, reviews, lesson records, reports, attendance and completion signals, support cases, and admin oversight. You are expected to cooperate fully and honestly with any review or investigation, provide information when asked, and not retaliate against anyone who raises a concern. You must not attempt to manipulate reviews or ratings.

15. Prohibited conduct

The following are strictly prohibited and may lead to immediate account action:

• Harassment, bullying, threats, intimidation, or discrimination against learners, guardians, other tutors, or staff.
• Any sexual, exploitative, abusive, or otherwise inappropriate conduct, especially involving a minor.
• Sharing inappropriate, illegal, or harmful content.
• Falsifying documents, credentials, identity, availability, or lesson records.
• Misusing, over-collecting, or improperly retaining learner or guardian data.
• Soliciting or accepting off-platform payment, or circumventing platform fees and processes.
• Seeking private off-platform contact with child learners.
• Any behaviour that could harm learners, guardians, other users, or RootedLearn, or that breaks the law.

16. Suspension, restriction, removal, and appeals

RootedLearn may pause, restrict, review, suspend, or permanently remove tutor access where there are quality, safety, verification, payment, conduct, or policy concerns. Where a safeguarding or safety risk is possible, we may apply a precautionary suspension while we review, before reaching any conclusion. If your account is restricted or removed, you may request a review by contacting support and providing any relevant information; we will consider appeals reasonably and confirm the outcome. Some breaches — particularly those involving the safety of a child — may not be eligible for reinstatement.

17. Contact

For questions about this policy, your account, or to report a safeguarding concern, contact RootedLearn support at hello@rootedlearn.com. If someone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services first. RootedLearn, 254 Chapman Rd, Ste 208 #27251, Newark, DE 19702, USA.