Short answer
Check the licence first — tutors are not licensed in Australia, so check qualifications and public liability insurance instead. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 1,221 Australian tutors in this directory, only 16.5% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 7.8% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Tutors handle school and university subjects, exam preparation, literacy and numeracy support, in person and online. This is what to check before you leave your child with someone for an hour a week, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
There is no tutor licence — so check something else
Tutoring is unlicensed. The one credential with legal force is the Working With Children Check, which every state requires of adults in paid work with children, and a tutor working one-on-one with your child must hold one. Beyond that, the questions are the tutor's own results in the subject, how they will measure progress, and who else is in the room.
The Working With Children Check is issued by each state and can be verified online by an employer or parent. A tutor who cannot provide the number should not be alone with your child.
What 1,221 Australian tutors actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For tutors:
| What we checked | Tutors | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 16.5% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 47.3% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 7.8% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 83% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 81.8% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 25 | 39 |
What goes wrong with tutors
- A tutor without a current Working With Children Check
- Progress nobody measures, so you pay for a term and cannot say what changed
- Online sessions with no record of what was covered
What to ask before the work starts
- What is your Working With Children Check number, and may I verify it?
- What are your own qualifications in this subject?
- How will you report progress, and how often?
A tutor who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median tutor in this directory has 25 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the tutors are
Sydney (154), Melbourne (99), Brisbane (44), Perth (39), Cronulla (37), Parramatta (33). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best tutor in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do tutors need a licence in Australia?
- No. Tutoring is unlicensed. The one credential with legal force is the Working With Children Check, which every state requires of adults in paid work with children, and a tutor working one-on-one with your child must hold one. Beyond that, the questions are the tutor's own results in the subject, how they will measure progress, and who else is in the room.
- How do I check a tutor's licence?
- The Working With Children Check is issued by each state and can be verified online by an employer or parent. A tutor who cannot provide the number should not be alone with your child.
- What percentage of Australian tutors have a verifiable ABN?
- 16.5% of the 1,221 tutors in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a tutor have?
- The median tutor here has 25. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare tutors near you
1,221 tutors, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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