Lessons learned from the National Tutoring Programme
Emily Yeomans
Friday, September 24, 2021
Setting up a national tutoring programme, enrolling over a quarter of a million kids, and playing a crucial role in the education catch up has been as all consuming as it has been rewarding.
The Education Endowment Foundation, in collaboration with others, designed and set up the Tuition Partners element of the National Tutoring programme (NTP), creating a massive programme from scratch and delivering this over the last academic year. And last month we handed that solid foundation over to Randstad to continue the programme in Year 2.
We’ve now had time to reflect on that first year and, given we’re in the business of education, we’re keen to share the lessons that we learned along the way.
National Tutoring Programme
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) started as one of many ideas in the early months of lockdown, when the lasting impact of school closures was being highlighted by many in the education sector, and evidence was suggesting particularly negative impacts for our disadvantaged pupils. Our concern was that any initiative needed to be evidence-based and sustainable. Tutoring is armed with a strong evidence base, a cost-effective way to boost attainment and supporting disadvantaged pupils.
This is how the NTP came into being, designed by the EEF alongside the Sutton Trust, Impetus, Nesta and Teach First. Set up at pace, the aim was to widen access to high-quality tutoring for those children most affected by the pandemic, by setting quality standards for tutoring that were in line with the evidence-base and offering this tutoring at a subsidised rate to schools.
In the space of nine months, and in the face of challenges we could not have anticipated, we exceeded our top projection of enrolling 250,000 pupils on the Tuition Partners part of the programme. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved. Along with the Academic Mentors pillar, managed by Teach First, the NTP reached over 300,000 pupils in its first year.
But the last year was not simply about numbers and hitting targets. Key lessons were learned along the way as set out in our Reflections report.
The lessons in our Reflections report
We grouped our findings into five key themes that can apply across programmes and challenges: Pace and timing; Communication; Partnerships; Scale and complexity; and Continuous Improvement.
Pace and timing. One vital lesson was that it is not always possible to wait for a perfect set of conditions to begin delivering and testing an intervention. In fact, simultaneously delivering, testing and adapting supports continuous improvement so that a programme ultimately better meets the needs of users. And feedback from users and stakeholders should be prioritised as much as possible throughout—not just during the design phase but during delivery too.
Communication. The changing circumstances over the last year presented a particular challenge around communication. We found using lots of channels was useful. Schools need good information, backed by evidence, and as much time as possible to digest and consider how to make an intervention work best for them.
Partnerships. A simple clear mission helps fuel successful partnerships, something that was vital to our success. In the case of the NTP the mission was to ensure schools had access to high quality tutoring to support pupils that needed it. Making sure relationships were built on improvement and support, not just finance, is also vital to make those partnerships as robust as they need to be to cope with the change and challenge that the pandemic presented.
Scale and complexity. The NTP was an entirely new project with no roadmap or benchmark to work from. We had to have a good handle on data. That allowed us to identify ‘cold spots’ in tutoring availability or take up and then question and address what was happening in those places. Inevitably there were many moving parts to the scheme that made projections about what was achievable difficult so expectation management was important.
Continuous improvement. The NTP’s design was grounded in the evidence of what works best for pupils, and it was important that this remained at the core of delivery. However, flexibility was required in order to respond to schools’ needs and feedback and a rapidly changing environment. Programme delivery is not the end point: there is huge value to be gained from the process of learning and adapting, which, when captured and shared, can be applied to future interventions delivered at scale.
The vital role of schools in what we achieved
Last but by no means least the success of the programme involved incredible work from schools who, despite a very challenging year, have gone the extra mile to provide additional support to their pupils. Best of all however is hearing from schools across the country, from Bodmin to Bridport, Newcastle to Norwich, on how they’re utilising tuition accessed via the NTP. From running weekend sessions, dressing up as Willy Wonka and providing specialist support to pupils with SEND, schools used the flexibility built into the programme to meet their pupils’ needs.
The NTP was never intended to be the only solution to mitigating the effects of the pandemic. This was always one part of a range of measures needed to address any gaps in learning that have arisen, and it is encouraging that the Department for Education will continue the NTP for another year, alongside a new school-led tutoring element.
The work we put into getting the NTP off the ground, the admirable buy-in from schools and the lessons learned that we’re sharing now combine into a recipe for success. We hope the NTP continues to support recovery for the children who have missed so much during the pandemic.
Emily Yeomans is director of NTP Tuition Partners