Community Guidelines

At Pocketnote, we are passionate about connecting people to dedicated tutors and mentors to help them achieve their personal and academic goals. We strive to build and uphold a community of likeminded individuals centred around growth and development. It is important that the community adheres to guidelines that are reflective of our standards of behaviour, to ensure that everyone has a positive experience on the platform.

We ask that users of Pocketnote comply with these Community Guidelines at all times, to help facilitate a safe environment. The Community Guidelines exist to protect you and our team is here to support you. If you suspect that a user has violated any of these Community Guidelines, please report the matter by emailing [email protected]

If a user is found to have breached the Community Guidelines, Pocketnote may take action to remove any content or suspend or terminate the user’s account.

1. Requirements for Tutors

Working With Children Checks

At Pocketnote, we take child safety and protection very seriously. As part of the verification process outlined in the Tutor Agreement, all tutors are required to provide a current and valid Working With Children Check (WWCC) or teaching registration for their State or Territory. Parents and students should ask to see tutor’s WWCC or teaching registration, to personally verify that it is current and valid.

Conducting Lessons

Lessons should be conducted in a professional manner and regular updates provided to parents upon request. In-person sessions should take place at the student’s home or in a public place in view of adults (e.g. a public library). In-person sessions should never be conducted in a closed room or the tutor’s place of residence.

2. Use of Pocketnote

Messaging

All communication should take place within the Pocketnote app, to ensure your privacy and protection. Pocketnote provides a messaging feature to enable users to connect with Tutors and discuss rates, learning requirements and scheduling arrangements. The messaging feature exists to protect you, do not share any confidential or private information.  It is essential that all users keep all communication within the platform to enable us to:

  • Ensure the safety of all users;
  • Maintain the integrity, safety and security of the Pocketnote platform and community;
  • Support you and resolve in issues.

Message content that appears to violate these guidelines will be moderated. Private messages should only be shared with other users if it is absolutely necessary in order to conduct an in-person session.

Responding to Messages

Tutors should respond promptly to any messages received from users. This includes to inform users that they are note available or not appropriately skilled to provide the tutoring services requested by the user. Responding promptly ensures that users have ample opportunity to find an alternative tutor and reduces the stress or anxiety that the user may be feeling if they require support quickly.

No Duplicate Accounts

Each member of the Pocketnote community can only have one account on the platform. Duplicate accounts are not permitted. Any duplicate accounts identified will be removed.

3. Unsupported Practices

Taking Sessions Off-Platform

Organising sessions off-platform and seeking to exclude the platform is not permitted. Doing so creates an unfair environment and may result in your account being suspended or terminated. Taking sessions off-platform may seem financially beneficial, but in the long-run may result in increased fees for users due to the increased shared cost of maintaining the platform.

Additionally, taking sessions off-platform will result in losing the ability to:

  • Access secure payments and payouts via Stripe;
  • Receive customer support;
  • Be protected by our Terms of Service.
Prohibited Activities
  • Fraudulent or false tutor reviews
  • Using the platform as an unrelated discussion forum
  • Harvesting member information or data 
  • Lead generation activities
  • Marketing or promotion of other businesses
  • Alcohol or drug-related activities, promotion or discussion

4. Behaviour and Conduct

All users are expected to conduct themselves with courtesy and respect at all times. We will not tolerate any prohibited behaviours against members of the Pocketnote community or our team. Prohibited behaviours include:

Hatred or Violence
  • Comments or actions that promote hatred or violence against specified groups or people, including staff of Pocketnote;
  • Racist content or behaviour to incite racism;
  • Aggressive behaviour, including swearing, verbal threats, threatening language or actions and any forms of violence.
Discrimination
  • Comments that are derogatory towards another member or contain vulgarities used in the context of a personal attack or insult
Harassment
  • Comments or actions that may cause distress or jeopardise other members of the community. This may include repeated or persistent intimidation, torment or disturbance.
Trolling
  • Messages or reviews that are deemed to be trolling or inappropriate;
  • Messages or reviews that are considered to be inflammatory, vindictive or off-topic in nature to invoke other users.
Illegal Behaviours
  • Any illegal behaviours including, and not limited to, theft, vandalism, any other unlawful activity.

Violation of any of the above may result in your account being suspended or terminated.

5. Fees and Payments

Indicative Tutor Session Rates

The rates shown on a tutor’s profile are indicative only and may be subject to change due to a number of factors, including but not limited to, location, travel times, or the session time required. If this is the case, we expect that tutors will communicate this transparently with users during negotiations. 

Updating Tutor Session Rates

Tutors reserve the right to update their rates at any time. We recommend that tutors do not change their rates for current students, however, should they need to do so, it is expected that tutors will communicate with students and parents regarding the forthcoming rate change and the reasons why. We encourage tutors to be mindful that not all users will be able to afford sessions due to an increase in rates.

Accurate Payment Details

All users are required to maintain up-to-date payment details within their account, to ensure a seamless experience on the platform. For parents and students, this refers to card details held by Stripe. For tutors, this refers to bank account details held by Stripe to facilitate payment transfers. In some circumstances, Stripe routinely flags user accounts that require additional verification in order to comply with Stripe’s Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations. You can read more about Stripe’s KYC obligations here. To read more about how Stripe handles your financial data, visit the Stripe Privacy Center.

Making Payment

Cash, direct transfers to tutors or payment through any other means are not supported on the Pocketnote platform. Pocketnote uses third-party payment providers Stripe and PayPal to ensure payments are processed securely and privately upon conclusion of a session, being charged directly to the user (parent/student). Payment of Tutor Session Fees are remitted to the tutor’s nominated bank account following deduction of the applicable Service Fee. 

6. Eligibility, Accountability and Reputation

Eligibility

All members of the Pocketnote community must be 18 years or older. Pocketnote reserves the right to request proof of age for any user. For students who are under 18 years of age, a parent or legal guardian must create and use an account on the student’s behalf.

Cooperation

In the event that a user or Pocketnote staff member requests additional information, users are to cooperate with the request and respond in a timely manner.

Reliability

As a tutor, your students are counting on you for academic support and development. Ensure you uphold a high standard of reliability, by responding promptly to users, attending all confirmed sessions, avoiding rescheduling or cancelling sessions and ensuring that users are given reasonable notice if you cannot continue to provide tutoring services.

As a parent or student, the tutor has reserved time from their schedule specifically to provide you with tutoring services. Ensure you attend sessions on time and prepared. Should you need to cancel or reschedule a session, this must be done no later than 24-hours prior to the session as outlined in the cancellation policy outlined in the Terms of Service.

Accountability and Reputation

We aim to ensure that all users engage with the platform in a positive manner, ensuring a rewarding experience for all community members. In the interest of accountability and reputation, tutors are expected to carry out services professionally, to the best of their ability and in the interest of ensuring the student achieves their learning objectives as a result of engaging the services. Parents and students should ensure their expectations are not unreasonable and should not place unnecessary pressure on a tutor to achieve a particular outcome. 

Any users who are suspected of repeatedly providing a negative experience for community members may be removed or suspended from the platform, in the interest of protecting other community members. The decision to remove or suspend any user account remains the right of the Company, in its sole discretion, as outlined in the Terms of Service.