How tutors help pupils to progress

Robbie Coleman, director, National Tutoring Programme

Over the last year, you may have heard of various ideas to help children and young people “catch up” on their education, from summer schools to longer school days. Tutoring is one of them, with the Department for Education committing £350m to a new initiative designed to widen access to tutoring to the most disadvantaged pupils.

The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) for schools was set up last June and founded through a collaboration of five charities – the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), Sutton Trust, Impetus, Teach First and Nesta. It provides high-quality tuition to pupils in years 1 to 11 to help counter some of the effects of the pandemic on children's education.

Tutoring is supported by an extensive evidence base. The EEF's Teaching and Learning Toolkit identifies tutoring as an approach that can improve learning by, on average, five additional months' progress over the course of a year. That research has informed the NTP's delivery at every step. Short, regular sessions over a set period of time appear to result in optimum impact and so were built into the design of the programme. Evidence also tells us tutoring is most effective when delivered on school grounds during the school day, which informed NTP strategy.

While the evidence on tutoring is clear, to date access to support has been limited with children from better-off families more likely to receive tuition, and provision differing between the North and South. The NTP aims to change that by harnessing tutoring provision in England and directing that resource towards disadvantaged children and schools who need it the most.

There are two core strands of the NTP through which schools can access tuition. First, schools can access subsidised high-quality tuition from an approved list of 33 external providers known as NTP “tuition partners”. The EEF is delivering this aspect of the scheme. Tuition partners were selected via an open funding round, having passed a set of quality, value-for-money and safeguarding standards. Online and in-person models have been funded to provide one-to-one and small group tutoring. Schools can search for providers in their region on the NTP website and make enquiries. Tutoring is subsidised by 75 per cent so for a block of 15 tutoring sessions costing £400, the cost to a school would be £100.

The second key strand involves “academic mentors”. Trained graduates are employed by schools in the most disadvantaged areas to provide intensive support to their pupils. Fast-track teacher training programme Teach First delivered the recruitment, training and placement of the first cohort of academic mentors. The salaries of academic mentors are funded by the government.

The NTP is designed to supplement, not replace, classroom learning with flexibility built in to the offer. Tuition partners work closely with schools so sessions are aligned with the curriculum. While most pupils enrolled are expected to be disadvantaged – as defined by eligibility for the pupil premium or free school meals – teachers are best placed to determine who needs the most support after a tumultuous year.

To date more than 210,000 pupils have been enrolled to receive tutoring from 5,000 schools. Teach First has placed 1,117 academic mentors across 446 schools serving disadvantaged communities, who have supported more than 40,000 pupils, meaning the NTP is well on its way to achieving its target of reaching 250,000 pupils.

It is not just pupils who are learning lessons. Evaluation and feedback is crucial to building our understanding of what works and what can be improved. The first year of NTP tuition partners is being evaluated by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to generate findings on impact, effectiveness and take-up, working with the NTP in real time to improve delivery. NFER is also working with Teach First to evaluate the academic mentor scheme.

The NTP is designed to support schools in providing a sustained response to the coronavirus pandemic and to provide a longer-term contribution to closing the attainment gap. But this needs to be delivered alongside other interventions and great teaching. The programme was never designed to be the sole intervention to help children with their education and won't close the attainment gap on its own.

The NTP's aim is to widen access to tutoring by building capacity across the country and reaching pupils who would not otherwise have been reached. For this to be achieved, it will take more than a year. The DfE has committed an additional £200m for tutoring next year as part of its education recovery package, an investment that will enable hundreds of thousands more pupils to benefit.

NATIONAL TUTORING PROGRAMME IN NUMBERS

• £100m funding for 2020/21
• 5 founding organisations
• 33 tuition partners
• 1,117 academic mentors
• 6,000 schools (target)
• 250,000 pupils (target)

TUTORING HAS HELPED FILL GAPS IN CHILDREN'S KNOWLEDGE POST-COVID

School West Walsall E-ACT Academy, West Midlands

Tuition partner CoachBright

Following the return of all students to the classroom, schools are facing multiple and wide-ranging challenges. As part of the move to remote learning during the pandemic, students at West Walsall E-ACT Academy (WWEA) followed a timetable of live lessons to support their progress while at home. Initially, a large proportion of students did not have access to laptops and wifi. This took some time to resolve using laptops provided by the school and the government. As a result, students have returned to school with a varied range of gaps in knowledge across all subjects due to the inconsistency of access, and in some cases, motivation when studying at home.

WWEA has worked closely with CoachBright for a number of years and pupils have participated in subject coaching, peer-to-peer mentoring and social mobility workshops. As a result, they were the first choice to be the school's tuition partner.

There are currently 40 year 11 students on the programme and their sessions take place weekly online. Tutoring works best when the coaches have specific guidance from heads of faculty on how to meet the requirements of a particular exam board and are given information about which areas individuals would most benefit from focusing on. Students have found the sessions useful and the school expects to see the difference the programme has made when they sit their assessments. WWEA will continue to invest in tutoring but feels the real gains for pupils will come once the sessions can take place face-to-face.

Pupils say the programme has helped them stay motivated and focus on areas they need to work on.

“Having the online support where we can talk with the coach on a one-to-one level and get the academic support we need is fantastic,” says one year 11.

Another, who has focused on English literature, hopes the extra support will stand them in good stead when it comes to assessment: “It has helped me develop skills in understanding the essay question and has motivated me to do the right analysis on each part of the question.”

By Laura Pitchford, assistant head

TEACHERS HAVE SEEN CHILDREN GROW IN CONFIDENCE DUE TO ONE-TO-ONE SUPPORT

School Woodlea Primary School, Durham

Tuition partner Pearson

Woodlea Primary School is an average-sized primary situated in Durham. Currently 17 per cent of pupils are eligible for the pupil premium while 13.6 per cent have special needs.

The individual attention provided by National Tutoring Programme (NTP) tuition has really helped students at Woodlea. The sessions have improved students' confidence and teachers have seen this shine through in lessons.

The NTP enabled the school to continue its usual one-to-one support for SATs tests without adding to teachers' workload. Subsidised costs were an opportunity not to be missed. Tutoring was so successful with year 6s that the school decided to take the opportunity to do some additional tutoring with year 5 to help prepare them for the following year.

Pearson is a well-established company which has already provided Woodlea with services and partnered with the school on reading comprehension projects. After attending an NTP webinar, the head teacher decided Pearson was the right company to work with. The standard has been exceptional and Pearson's selective recruitment of teachers to deliver the NTP really shows. The school met the tutors virtually for introductory sessions and they were very knowledgeable and extremely helpful.

Teachers have been delighted with the progress pupils have made. Children's confidence grew during the sessions and this is beginning to show in lessons too.

Key lessons learned include the need to be organised so it is as easy as possible for pupils to access online tutoring at school, and to have as many groups as you can afford and have space for because pupils really benefit from the individual attention.

Oliver says he finds tutoring easier than being in the classroom “because we can talk more about the work”, while Sophia finds “lots of things we learn with our tutor help with the work we are doing in class”.

“I have definitely improved since lockdown as I am getting more time with the subject,” says Matthew.

By Adele Key, deputy head


PUPILS OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE ABOUT ONLINE AND FACE-TO-FACE SESSIONS

School St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School, Knowsley

Tuition partner The Tutor Trust

St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School is a secondary school situated in Whiston in the Liverpool Borough of Knowsley and a member of the Archdiocese of Liverpool's family of schools. In all, 46 per cent of the school's intake would be considered eligible for the pupil premium. The biggest challenges faced over the last year were around the pandemic and pupils working remotely. Ensuring that they remained engaged, so the school could continue to deliver high-quality education, was a challenge.

The school's tuition partner is The Tutor Trust, who they've been successfully working with since 2019. The school has developed a strong relationship with The Tutor Trust and they are an essential part of the school improvement strategy. Once they were announced as an NTP tuition partner, they were the obvious choice.

At the start of the 2020/21 academic year, the school and The Tutor Trust planned a programme of tuition together to support more than 100 pupils in English and Maths across every year group from 7 to 11. Year 11s have completed their 15-week tutoring sessions and have made great progress. This has been both face-face as part of their scheduled timetable and also online, during the school day and after school.

The pupils have been overwhelmingly positive in their response to the sessions. One pupil has decided he wants to do the same job as his tutor Jodie when he leaves school because he is so inspired by her.

“The tuition's helped me improve in English, maths and science and given me an experience I wouldn't have otherwise had,” says year 11 pupil Zach.

St Edmund Arrowsmith is a school on an upward trajectory and The Tutor Trust has played a vital role in that improvement journey. It's not just about the quality of tutoring on offer, but the personal relationships built with the staff at The Tutor Trust.

By Helen Pinnington, head teacher


COMMITMENT IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

School Benton Park Primary School, Newcastle

Tuition partner Action Tutoring

Benton Park Primary School in Newcastle Upon Tyne first heard about the catch-up tutoring programme through the news and thought it would be something worth investigating. When they approached Action Tutoring they found out another local school had been working with them as well. They trusted the school's opinion and they gave a positive account so Benton Park decided to go for it. It seemed really good value for money – well worth the punt.

The school made sure Action Tutoring was aligned with how they did things in school. The maths curriculum fitted closely and the charity's aspirational approach aligned with the school's values.

Relationships are important and every interaction with Action Tutoring has been really positive. It's the people within the organisation that make it what it is.

Action Tutoring supports 20 year 6 pupils and 20 year 5 pupils. The tutoring was delivered in school initially with the year 6 group but switched to online during lockdown and has continued in that format. Take-up from the pupils has been great for the duration of the programme.

Benton Park made sure to communicate the benefits of tutoring to parents to show its value and show the school was invested in their children. This really helped get their buy-in and they have been really happy with it. Pupils seem to really like it too. School staff have also been positive about the provision.

It's a bit too early to see the impact the tutoring has had on attainment and progress but pupils have really enjoyed the sessions. They like having one dedicated person to work with, which they don't get in the classroom. Action Tutoring will make a difference to their self-esteem as well and iron out any particular difficulties they have. There is real benefit in them having a chance to talk to an adult outside of their family and outside of the school. The tutors are very diverse, in backgrounds and ages, which is another positive.

To make the tutoring work you have to commit. Build a relationship with the people who are delivering and do your bit from your end. Make sure you address any problems quickly so everyone feels supported and be ready to overcome and remove any barriers.

Benton Park will continue to invest in tutoring and would like to see it integrated into school provision going forward.

By Nick Shepherd, deputy head


OUR ACADEMIC MENTOR IS ‘BRILLIANT’

School The Albion Academy, Salford

Academic mentor Ali Al-Jamri from Teach First

As a school based in Salford, Greater Manchester, a lot of the families served by The Albion Academy are from low socio-economic backgrounds. Many children have English as a second language so need extra support in their learning.

Combining barriers like this with a global pandemic has left students struggling even more with their learning. Throughout the school closures, pupils have battled with limited access to online learning, sharing devices with siblings, and unstable home working environments.

The school has worked with Teach First since 2012, welcoming numerous trainee teachers, many of whom have stayed and progressed at The Albion. So, as soon as the principal learned Teach First were training academic mentors as part of the National Tutoring Programme, the school went for it.

The process of securing an academic mentor was quite straightforward, and soon the school was preparing to welcome Ali Al-Jamri, who would be helping pupils with English. The school was keen for Ali to hit the ground running so assessed children's progress before he arrived to help ensure he had the data and resources he'd need. That way, Ali didn't have to waste a moment. He had his timetable and could immediately get to know the students and learn how they needed his help.

Ali has now been with the school for five months and worked with approximately 80 pupils. The difference he is making is fantastic. The school carried out baseline tests and re-tests with his students and their progress has been phenomenal with their scores increasing between 50 to 80 per cent. He's brilliant at focusing on understanding new and unfamiliar words and selecting relevant evidence, which has helped pupils to skyrocket their skills.

One of The Albion's native Russian speakers has come on in leaps and bounds with her written work. Before working with Ali, she'd barely put her hand up in class but now she is always volunteering her opinion and experimenting with new ideas. Her confidence has grown tremendously – it is amazing to see.

It is not just the odd student. All of Ali's pupils have improved and grown in confidence hugely. After this flying start, the school will certainly continue to invest in mentoring.

By Grace Johnston, head of English