Child Safety Policy

1. Our commitment

Most people who use TeachMusic are children, or the parents of children. That fact shapes the product more than any other.

We are committed to the safety and wellbeing of every child who finds a teacher through this platform. We have no tolerance for child abuse or for behaviour that grooms, exploits or endangers a child. This policy is written to align with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, published by the National Office for Child Safety, and it describes what we actually do rather than what we intend to do.

Where this policy makes a promise, the mechanism behind it is named. Where we fall short of what we would like to offer, section 9 says so.

2. Who this applies to

• Us, as the operator of the platform.
• Teachers and schools who list, and anyone they engage.
• Families and students using the directory, the booking flow and the parent portal.

Teachers accept this policy as part of the Terms of Service. Breaching it is grounds for removal.

3. Credential verification, and what it really means

Every Australian state runs its own child safety scheme, and they are not interchangeable. A clearance issued in one state does not cover a teacher in another.

Before a listing can accept a student under 18, the teacher must hold and give us a current credential for their own state, and we must have verified it.

A National Police Check is not a child safety clearance and we do not accept one in place of a credential above. This is the single most common misunderstanding we encounter, and we refuse it every time.

How we verify. No state offers a verification API. Every credential is checked by a person, against the issuing authority's own public register, before any badge appears. We record the number, the name, the date of birth and the expiry. We do not take a screenshot or a teacher's word for it.

We gate the transaction, not just the badge. Unless a listing states that it teaches adults only, the platform refuses to create a booking against it while the credential is unverified. That refusal lives in the database rather than in the booking screen, so it applies to every way a booking can be created, including our own admin tools. Removing the badge and leaving the booking path open would be theatre.

Expiry. The badge is withdrawn when the credential expires, and the booking gate closes with it. Re-verification is scheduled ahead of expiry, and the renewal periods differ by state.

Correction, 2026-08-12. For a period this policy and our Terms described that gate while it did not exist: verification drove the badge only. We found it auditing our own claims and built the gate the same day. We are leaving this note here because a platform that quietly fixes a child-safety overstatement has not really fixed it.

Adults-only listings may operate without a credential. They are clearly labelled and cannot accept anyone under 18.

4. Contact stays on the platform

First contact between a family and a teacher runs through our messaging, which means there is a record. We never publish a teacher's phone number or home address in the directory.

Exact teaching locations are shared by the teacher after a booking, not before. On the map, teachers are pinned to a suburb centre with deliberate jitter, never to a street address.

5. What we ask of teachers

• Hold and maintain the correct credential for your state, and tell us promptly if it is suspended, revoked or expires.
• Keep first contact and lesson arrangements on the platform where you can, so there is a record.
• Follow the child safe practice expected of anyone teaching a child: visible teaching spaces, a parent able to be present, no unnecessary one-to-one contact outside lessons, and no private messaging of a student outside the platform.
• Report a concern about a child's safety to the police or your state child protection authority. Reporting to us is not a substitute for that.

6. Raising a concern

If a child is in immediate danger, call 000.

To report a concern about anyone on this platform, email safety@teachmusic.com.au. Put "Child safety" in the subject line.

• A person reads it. It is never handled by an automated queue.
• We acknowledge within 1 business day.
• Where the concern is serious we suspend the listing while we look into it, before deciding anything. We would rather inconvenience a teacher than take a risk with a child.
• We report to police or the relevant state authority where the law requires it, and often where it does not.
• We will not retaliate against anyone who raises a concern in good faith, and you can raise one anonymously.

You can also report directly to your state's child protection authority at any time, and you do not need to tell us first.

7. Listening to children and families

A child's own account of what happened matters, and we will take it seriously and record it in their words rather than an adult's summary.

Parents can see who teaches their child, what credential that teacher holds, and when it was verified. That information sits on the profile, not behind a support request.

8. Governance

This platform is operated by a sole trader, so the accountability is simple: Eric Kuang is responsible for child safety on TeachMusic, personally handles every credential verification, and is the contact for any concern raised under section 6.

This policy is reviewed at least annually and whenever a state changes its scheme.

9. What we do not yet do

A trust document that only lists strengths is not trustworthy. Three honest limits:

1. Verification is at application and at renewal, not continuous. A teacher verified in March whose clearance is revoked in July keeps the badge, and therefore the ability to take bookings, until expiry or until someone tells us. Commercial services provide revocation alerts and we have not yet bought one. This is now the biggest gap in this policy.
2. A verified credential is a floor, not a character reference. It means the state found no disqualifying record. It is not a recommendation, and it is not a substitute for meeting the teacher, sitting in on a first lesson, and continuing to sit in if you want to.
3. We do not supervise lessons. The teaching relationship is between the family and the teacher. We verify, we keep a record, and we act on concerns. We are not present in the room.

10. Contact

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