Action Tutoring’s response to government catch-up plans

The school closures have had a huge impact on pupils, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with recent reports suggesting as many as 2 million pupils have done almost no school work during lockdown.

At Action Tutoring we have been highlighting the impact of this on disadvantaged pupils in particular, since schools were closed in March, and have been calling on the government to provide catch-up support. We are therefore delighted that today it has announced a national tutoring programme for disadvantaged pupils and the additional funding for schools to spend more broadly on catch-up.

We are ready to play our part in this vital catch-up and would be delighted to hear from new schools and new volunteers interested in working with us to reach as many young people as we can. We are optimistic that with this package of funding and the fantastic organisations who deliver academic support that all pupils stand a strong chance of reaching their full potential.

Action Tutoring begins the testing phase of its online tutoring development

Action Tutoring is thrilled to have begun the testing phase of its online tutoring development this week.  Expanding its tutoring programme delivery to online, as well as in person, was already part of Action Tutoring’s strategic plans before the crisis hit, but the charity has now refreshed the timescales to enable it to deliver the provision much sooner. 

The charity currently supports almost 3,000 disadvantaged pupils each year, however just over 78,000 disadvantaged pupils across the country do not achieve English and maths at GCSE each year and could also benefit from this support.  These young people are less likely to achieve the grades they need to progress in life, but academic tutoring can help them to do this.  Action Tutoring has already developed an impactful face-to-face tutoring model.  By expanding its provision to be delivered online, it can ensure many more young people, outside of the cities where it currently operates, can benefit from its support.  The current pandemic has prompted Action Tutoring to accelerate the development of its online delivery, so that pupils can be supported as soon as possible even while social distancing rules are still in place. 

Susannah Hardyman, CEO and founder of the charity, said: “We are delighted to be ready to test our online delivery. The team has worked exceptionally hard to get to this point, in such a short timeframe.  This is an essential new offering for our charity, enabling us to bring tutoring support to even more disadvantaged young people across the country at a time when it is so needed.” 

Action Tutoring will be using this test period as a learning and preparation phase to ensure it is ready to roll out online tutoring more widely in the autumn. The charity has engaged six primary and secondary schools to work with over the testing period, across three different cities.  With support from over 60 of its existing inspiring volunteer tutors, up to 86 Year 6 and Year 10 pupils will be able to receive online tutoring over a five-week period.  

Pupils will be set up on computers in their schools or at home and receive tutoring from volunteers who are located anywhere across the country.  Tutors will be able to support up to two pupils at a time and the sessions will be delivered using the Vedamo online platform. Action Tutoring has invested in this diverse online platform which has fantastic functionality, meaning the provision will be as close to face-to-face delivery as possible.  Action Tutoring has already developed a suite of tutoring workbooks, for its pupils and tutors, to cover relevant maths and English topics.  These will be uploaded onto the platform for the tutors and pupils to use.  

This structure was decided to help mirror the charity’s face-to-face delivery as closely as possible.  By having the pupils located together, in school, it can ensure there are teachers and other staff members present to support with any issues and monitor the quality of the tutoring being delivered in a learning environment.  It also helps the pupils to feel supported and not isolated when receiving the help.  In the short term this delivery approach also allows tutoring to continue while external volunteers are prevented from entering the schools due to social distancing restrictions.  Action Tutoring will be providing noise-cancelling headphones and graphics sheets (maths-specific) for pupils participating. 

Action Tutoring will also be testing ‘at home’ tutoring with one of the participating schools.  Although the charity’s long-term aim is for pupils to all receive tutoring at school, by testing the product with pupils at home it ensures delivery can be adapted should the external situation force this. 

Action Tutoring is incredibly grateful to its six partner schools who have agreed to participate in the test phaset: 

Pakeman Primary School – London 

Bedminster Down Secondary School – Bristol  (home-tutoring)

Seaford Secondary School – Sussex 

Arts and Media School Islington – London 

Queensbridge Primary School – London 

Prendergast School Secondary – London 

Their support and patience will enable the charity to rigorously test its new platform and delivery methods to ensure it is fit for purpose in the autumn.

“We have been delighted with the impact Action Tutoring has had on the progress of our Key Stage 4 pupils. We saw a marked increase in confidence and engagement from those pupils who attended the sessions. The support of tutors in a small-group setting has proved invaluable to our young people. We are therefore excited to be participating in Action Tutoring’s new pilot. This will ensure pupils will be able to get support during this time of remote learning.” Susan Service, Headteacher, Arts and Media School Islington, London 

Action Tutoring would not have been able to start this development without the financial support from generous public donations and fundraising efforts and some crucial contributions from other funders including: UBS, Wellington Management Foundation, The Fore and Nesta.  It is incredibly grateful for these offerings, particularly given the current economic pressures on organisations and society. 

“At UBS we recognise the difference that skills-sharing can make in overcoming disadvantage. That’s why we’ve supported Action Tutoring in their growth across London. We’re proud to support an organisation which strongly believes that no child’s future should be limited by their background, and which has developed a powerful programme to do something about it. Sadly the issue looks set to be exacerbated by the consequences of the global pandemic. We’re pleased that our grant will go towards ensuring that young people who need it most will continue to receive support through Action Tutoring’s new online offering.”

The charity is incredibly grateful for the inspiring volunteers who have generously given their time to support this pilot and to its passionate and dedicated staff team who have committed to delivering it.  The charity would also like to thank Impetus, the Access Project and the other organisations and charities who have contributed through their advice and guidance in the development phase.  

“I am delighted to be involved in Action Tutoring’s online tutoring test phase because it is an opportunity to try to remedy in a small way the damage done to children’s education by the COVID-19 school closures and also, if successful, in the longer term it could allow Action Tutoring to support many more disadvantaged pupils.  Preparing for tutoring has been a learning experience for me – it turns out that writing fractions on a virtual whiteboard is a lot trickier than on paper!”  Sarah, Action Tutoring tutor, London

This forms part of a wider pilot run by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), Sutton Trust, Impetus and Nesta which is engaging four organisations, and their different online delivery models, to assess the potential for online catch-up tuition to mitigate against the impact of school closures on the attainment gap.  The outcomes from all four of these provisions will be independently evaluated by NatCen.

Action Tutoring will spend the summer months implementing its learnings from the testing phase and ensuring the platform is ready to launch, alongside its face-to-face delivery option, in the autumn.  It is keen to recruit as many volunteers as possible for both online and in-person delivery, to be ready for September, so that as many pupils as possible can benefit from tutoring support and together we can help make up for the time they have lost.  

To apply to join Action Tutoring as a volunteer tutor (either face to face or online), simply complete this short application form: www.tfaforms.com/332860

#BlackLivesMatter: Our statement

Black lives matter.

We stand in solidarity and support with our Black colleagues, Black teaching partners, Black volunteers, Black pupils and the whole Black Community.

We have never and will never tolerate racism. We exist to tackle inequality in education and we are committed to ensuring every child is given the same, equal and fair opportunities to succeed in life.

Like our friends @TeachFirst, we know it’s not just about achieving meaningful grades and having access to jobs, but about removing structural bias and inequality. We know that in order to make long-lasting change, we need more Black and BAME decision makers in education policy, in our volunteer community and in our staff team.

Education plays a crucial role in defeating racism and we have a duty to ensure we tackle it head on whenever we encounter it. We stand together.

Action Tutoring submits evidence to Education Select Committee

In May 2020, Action Tutoring was asked by Robert Halfon MP – Chair of the House of Commons Education Select Committee – to submit evidence for the Committee’s inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on education and children’s services.  

The inquiry will look at how the outbreak of COVID-19 is affecting all aspects of the education sector and children’s social care system. It will scrutinise how the Department for Education is dealing with the situation.

It will examine the impact of decisions such as school closures and exam cancellations in both the short term and the long term, particularly for the most vulnerable children.

Susannah Hardyman, CEO and founder of Action Tutoring says, “Early research is already showing that the pandemic will impact disadvantaged pupils the hardest. It’s essential that we, and other relevant organisations, are able to put forward our evidence and knowledge from the field, so that the government can make effective decisions and take impactful actions in response.  With the delivery of our recommendations, and all others put forward, we can help to minimise the negative effect this crisis will have on disadvantaged young people and help them catch up after the time lost.”  

Action Tutoring believes, and evidence suggests, that disadvantaged pupils, like those supported by the charity, will be the hardest hit by the crisis. A study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that children from more affluent families are spending 30% more time on home learning than are those from poorer backgrounds. By June, they will have had more than seven full school days’ worth of extra learning. The absence of education, and other means of support at home, like private tutoring, is simply pushing them further behind.

It is vital that the government prioritises its support for disadvantaged pupils once schools reopen and protects the diverse network of services that contribute to their learning and wellbeing, including charities.  

Action Tutoring provided evidence in five distinct areas and submitted five recommendations of next steps. You can read the full submission here and a summary of the recommendations below.  It is also available on the UK Parliament website here. 

1. Provide additional funding to schools in addition to Pupil Premium funding, for catch-up programmes for disadvantaged pupils next academic year – especially those moving into secondary school, or sitting national exams in the summer. This may be required for additional years.
2. Consider what adjustments need to be made to national exams next summer – especially the grade boundaries – to account for lost learning time. Disadvantaged pupils must be protected and the attainment gap should not be allowed to widen any further than a reasonable variation compared with recent years.  
3. Extend financial support to charities serving disadvantaged pupils so they can adapt their delivery and cope with the changing needs of schools and pupils. 
4. Ensure all pupils have the equipment and access to technology they need at home to support remote learning, if required again.  
5. Promote a national volunteering campaign, raising awareness of charities like Action Tutoring enabling pupils to catch up.

Action Tutoring joins forces in online tutoring pilot to reach disadvantaged pupils

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has joined forces with the Sutton Trust, Impetus and Nesta to launch a new online tuition pilot to support disadvantaged pupils as schools begin to reopen and Action Tutoring is proud to be one of the four providers taking part. 

The new initiative will bring high-quality tutoring to up to 1,600 pupils in disadvantaged communities over the coming weeks, supporting schools as they re-open for more pupils.

Four different models will be tested under the pilot:

• Action Tutoring will pilot online tuition in core subjects using structured workbooks, for up to 100 pupils in Years 6 and 10, across three cities;
• MyTutor, an established online tuition platform using undergraduate tutors, will support up to 1,000 pupils in Years 10/11;
• The Access Project will support 433 students in Years 10/11 and Years 12/13 who would normally receive face-to-face tuition through a new online model; and
• Tutor Trust will adapt their small-group tuition model, and offer one-to-one online tutoring for 90 students in Years 5 and 10 across Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Leeds.

The pilot will be independently evaluated by NatCen to assess the potential for online catch-up tuition to mitigate against the impact of school closures on the attainment gap.

The launch of this new Online Tuition pilot comes as the EEF publishes the most detailed analysis to date of the likely impact of school closures on the attainment gap.

Over the past decade, the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their classmates at the end of primary school is estimated to have narrowed, from 11.5 months in 2009 to 9.4 months in 2019. 

However, today’s analysis finds that this progress could be undone. Following a rapid evidence review looking at the impact on the attainment gap as a result of different kinds of school closures (e.g. summer holidays, adverse weather, natural disasters) it concludes that school closures as a result of Covid-19 will widen the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers, likely reversing the progress made since 2011.

Crucially though, if steps are taken, such as the Online Tuition Pilot, to support schools as they work to help pupils catch-up, the negative impact of school closures on the gap could be eased.

Action Tutoring will be using the pilot as a learning and preparation phase to ensure it is ready to roll out online tutoring more widely in the autumn.  This delivery option will sit alongside the charity’s face-to-face tutoring option and will enable even more disadvantaged pupils to access the benefits of tutoring support across the country.