How we teach. How we treat people.

Everyone who interacts with Hikmah Tutors deserves to be treated with dignity.

Respect is not dependent upon somebody’s religion, level of religious practice, race, age, skin colour, culture, background, ability, position or personal circumstances. Staff should respect one another, clients are expected to respect our team, and our team must respect every student and family we serve.

Nobody should consider themselves better than another person because of who they are or where they come from. Allah reminds us that humanity was made into peoples and tribes so that we may know one another, and that true honour before Allah is based upon righteousness. — Qur’an 49:13.

Respect must operate in every direction: management to staff, staff to management, colleague to colleague, tutor to student, student to tutor, and between Hikmah and families.

Mocking, humiliating, degrading, swearing at or deliberately belittling another person crosses the line. Friendly humour and joking can be part of a positive environment where everyone involved is comfortable and appropriate boundaries are maintained.

People will inevitably disagree. Differences in religious, educational or personal views do not justify hostility. Adults should be capable of disagreeing without creating unnecessary personal conflict. Where somebody has a serious concern about another person’s behaviour, they should raise it with management rather than allowing it to develop into personal conflict.

Hikmah should be an environment where students and staff do not feel constantly judged.

People come from different backgrounds and are at different stages of their educational, personal and religious journeys. Someone should not be mocked or treated as inferior because, for example, they do not wear hijab, are less practising than somebody else, struggle academically, have made mistakes or come from circumstances another person does not understand.

No judgement does not mean no advice.

We can advise one another, correct mistakes and offer constructive criticism. However, we should consider the person receiving that advice. Some people are comfortable with direct criticism; others may be more sensitive. Good advice considers both what needs to be said and how it should be said.

Position does not determine somebody’s worth. Management should be willing to receive constructive criticism from staff just as staff are expected to receive appropriate feedback from management.

When someone makes a mistake and it has been appropriately addressed, we do not continually bring it back up to embarrass them, win future arguments or permanently define their character. We forgive and move forward.

This does not prevent Hikmah from retaining appropriate records. Safeguarding concerns, complaints, conduct matters and other relevant incidents may need to remain documented so that patterns can be identified and the organisation can fulfil its responsibilities. Forgiveness does not require us to abandon responsible record-keeping.

Genuine concerns should be raised with the appropriate people rather than becoming gossip among those who have no legitimate reason to be involved.

Kindness should be visible in the way we teach, manage and communicate.

Tutors should remain calm with their students, speak to them with kindness and create lessons that students can enjoy. We want tutors to be approachable. A student should be able to ask questions, admit that they do not understand something and, where appropriate, seek advice without fearing humiliation.

However, warmth never removes the distinction between teacher and student. Professional and safeguarding boundaries remain clear at all times.

When a student misbehaves, the response should still be controlled. Tutors should correct behaviour firmly but respectfully rather than losing their temper. Where behaviour continues, parents or guardians may need to be contacted and incidents appropriately documented and escalated.

Compassion also applies to our staff. People have lives outside work. Illness, family responsibilities and unexpected circumstances occur. Where a member of staff is struggling or needs time away, Hikmah should handle the situation professionally while providing reasonable support wherever possible.

As Hikmah grows, we aspire to develop stronger systems of staff support and appropriate benefits.

Allah commands justice and good conduct. — Qur’an 16:90.

Fairness at Hikmah means decisions should be based upon relevant circumstances rather than favouritism, prejudice, personal relationships or stereotypes.

Nobody should receive preferential or worse treatment simply because they know management, have been with Hikmah for longer, pay more money, hold a particular position, or because of a protected or personal characteristic.

However, fairness does not always mean treating everybody identically.

Different students have different needs. One student may require additional explanations, another may require reasonable adjustments, and another may need a different teaching approach entirely. Equality means giving people a fair opportunity to succeed while recognising individual circumstances.

Complaints, disciplinary matters and disagreements should therefore be considered proportionately, consistently and based on the available evidence.

We expect honesty from ourselves as well as from everybody who works with us.

People make mistakes. What matters is how those mistakes are handled. Accountability should be proportionate. A genuine one-off mistake should not automatically be treated in the same way as deliberate misconduct or repeated behaviour.

We consider what happened, its seriousness, whether it was intentional, whether it has happened previously and what needs to happen to put the situation right.

That standard applies to management too. Being a director, manager or senior member of the organisation does not place somebody above accountability. Where management gets something wrong, we should be prepared to acknowledge it and correct it where appropriate.

Integrity means doing the right thing even when doing so is inconvenient and even when nobody is watching.

We want our students to achieve excellent results, but grades are not everything.

Education should develop understanding, confidence, independence, curiosity and the ability to use knowledge. A student who moves from struggling with a subject to understanding it and believing in their own ability has achieved something meaningful, even if they do not ultimately receive the highest grade.

Excellent teaching means understanding the individual student, preparing properly, adapting where necessary and continually looking for ways to help that student progress.

We do not measure every child against exactly the same standard. We aim to help each student move forward from where they began.

Trust must be earned through actions and protected through professionalism.

Parents trust us with their children’s education and welfare. Students trust tutors to treat them properly and listen when something matters. Tutors trust management to support them and deal with concerns fairly. Management trusts staff to maintain Hikmah’s standards even when nobody is watching.

We maintain that trust through honesty, consistency, reliability and responsible conduct.

Trust does not mean secrecy. Where information creates a safeguarding concern, appropriate procedures must be followed. Nobody should promise confidentiality that they cannot safely or professionally maintain. Likewise, legitimate concerns should never be hidden merely to protect Hikmah’s reputation.

Where trust has been damaged, the circumstances should be considered individually. Some relationships can be repaired through honesty, accountability and changed behaviour. In more serious circumstances, continuing the relationship may no longer be appropriate.

Hikmah Tutors is open to people from all backgrounds.

We are proud of our Islamic foundations and will not hide the principles upon which the organisation was built. At the same time, we do not expect every student, parent or member of staff to share the same beliefs.

Our values should be known, demonstrated and respected — not forced upon somebody.

Muslim or non-Muslim, practising or non-practising, everybody who comes through Hikmah should be treated with dignity. People can disagree with one another and still learn, work and communicate respectfully.

Inclusivity does not mean abandoning our identity. It means being confident in who we are while making sure that people who come to us are welcomed and treated properly.

Every student learns differently and at a different pace.

A student should not be written off because they take longer to understand something, repeatedly get something wrong, lack confidence or need an idea explained in several different ways.

Tutors should remain composed, adapt their approach and continue trying reasonable methods to help the student understand.

Patience does not mean ignoring poor behaviour or removing expectations. It means responding to difficulty without unnecessary frustration and recognising that meaningful progress sometimes takes time.

Hikmah aims to have a warm, friendly and approachable culture without becoming unprofessional.

Tutors can build rapport, joke appropriately with students and make lessons enjoyable. Staff should also feel comfortable speaking openly with management.

However, being relaxed is never an excuse for becoming overfamiliar or crossing professional boundaries.

The teacher-student relationship must remain clear. Safeguarding, confidentiality, appropriate communication, punctuality, reliability and professional conduct continue to apply regardless of how comfortable people become with one another.

We can be human without losing the standards expected of us.

Safeguarding is a responsibility shared across Hikmah.

The safety and welfare of students and staff take priority over grades, money, reputation, convenience or keeping a client happy.

If raising a legitimate safeguarding concern creates an awkward situation for Hikmah, that concern must still be raised and dealt with through the appropriate procedure.

Safeguarding also includes our staff. Tutors and other team members should not be expected to tolerate unsafe, threatening, abusive or inappropriate situations simply because somebody is a paying client.

Our safeguarding policies explain the procedures that must be followed. This value explains the principle behind them: people’s welfare comes first.

Hikmah should never become an organisation that says, “This is how we have always done it,” and refuses to consider a better way.

Policies, systems, teaching methods and management decisions can all be improved.

Staff are encouraged to suggest better approaches and to respectfully challenge something they believe is not working. That includes disagreeing with management.

Constructive feedback should not be viewed as disloyalty. Where there is a better, safer or more effective way of doing something, we should be willing to listen, reflect and change.

Continuous improvement also applies individually. Management, tutors and students should all be willing to learn from mistakes and develop.

Although Hikmah is a professional organisation, we want our team to have a genuine sense of community.

The Prophet ﷺ compared the believers in their mutual love, compassion and care to one body: when one part suffers, the rest of the body responds. — Sahih Muslim 2586a.

That principle inspires the culture we want within Hikmah.

Our staff should not operate as isolated individuals who simply complete their own work and leave everybody else to deal with their problems. We should support one another, share knowledge, celebrate each other’s successes and care when another member of the team is struggling.

This principle applies primarily to our staff, but students should also experience that sense of belonging. A student should feel that the people teaching and supporting them genuinely want to see them succeed.

Being one community does not remove professional roles or boundaries. It means recognising that we are working towards something together and that the strength of Hikmah depends upon how we treat and support the people within it.