Session Safety 

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We are excited to help musicians  by conducting sessions virtually, but we also realize that this medium carries certain risks. We aim to do everything we can to keep learners safe so that students and parents can feel confident in their decision to participate. Here is a summary of our key safety mechanisms.

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Tutor Vetting, Training, and Monitoring

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• Application process - All volunteers must be approved through our application process before they can become a tutor. This ensures that they are serious about tutoring and helps us verify they are suitable to become a tutor.

• Safety training - All tutors must complete a safety training before they can run their first session, covering both our safety protocols and the fundamentals of tutoring. As part of this training, tutors must proactively reflect on how they would handle sensitive safety issues, should they arise.

• Peer observation - An experienced tutor will always be present to observe a new tutor's first session and provide them with targeted feedback. All tutors are encouraged to attend each-other's sessions to learn, share feedback, and flag any issues that arise.

• Session recording and review - All sessions are recorded and reviewed regularly by our tutor auditing team. Quality issues are escalated to our tutor mentor team, who step in to help coach tutors who need extra support. Safety issues are escalated to our safety team, who determine whether the behavior warrants a warning, an increase in monitoring, or full removal from the platform.

 

General Session Safety

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• Learner application process - To minimize trolling, all learners must pass through an application process in which they share about why they want to join the community.

• Learner standards of conduct - Before each session, learners are given a clear, simple code of conduct that they must follow, otherwise their access to FreeMusicTutors is revoked.

• Session management protocols - All tutors have the host privileges necessary to mute or remove participants if any disruptive behavior arises. Tutor training involves learning a detailed protocol for dealing with any potential issues that may arise during sessions.

• Instant suspension of disruptive learners - If a learner is removed by a tutor due to distracting or inappropriate behavior in a session, their account is  frozen to prevent disruption in additional sessions until our safety team is able to investigate the incident.

 

If you have any questions, suggestions or concerns, please email us at help@FreeMusicTutors.org.

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