Positive findings from the EEF report on effectiveness of online tuition in supporting disadvantaged pupils to learn remotely

Delivering online tuition can be an effective way to support the learning of disadvantaged pupils during partial school closures – if supportive measures are in place – according to a new report published today by the Education Endowment Foundation.

The report evaluates the reach of the National Online Tutoring Pilot, commissioned by the EEF in partnership with the Sutton Trust, Impetus and Nesta, to support disadvantaged pupils’ learning during and after partial school closures in the first national lockdown. Its aim was to test the feasibility and promise of online tutoring to support learning while pupils, in particular those from low-income backgrounds, were unable to access school in the normal way. It was the first study to look solely at online delivery in England.

The pilot was delivered from June to October 2020 by Action Tutoring and My Tutor, The Access Project and Tutor Trust. In total, the pilot reached 1,425 learners in 65 schools, with 9,800 tuition sessions delivered. The vast majority of pupils were studying for their GCSEs in Years 10 and 11 (ages 14-16). Most pupils received weekly one-to-one sessions on maths, English or science. The majority of pupils receiving tuition were eligible for Pupil Premium funding.

The independent evaluation by NatCen lists five key conclusions:

• Delivering online tuition during the period of partial school closures was feasible, with high reach in the circumstances.
• Access to equipment and reliable internet connections were key barriers to participation, particularly for home-based learners, despite the best efforts of schools. Almost half (48%) of schools reported lack of equipment as a challenge.
• Pupils enjoyed the tuition and there were perceived benefits for learning, with improvements in learners’ confidence, engagement with education and preparedness for new school year reported. The overwhelming majority (87%) of learners said that, if they had the opportunity, they would like to carry on with their tutoring. Three-quarters (76%) said they enjoyed learning more than they did before. 
• Investing time in building effective relationships between schools and families were crucial in supporting take-up and engagement.
• Face-to-face tuition is preferred by both tutors and learners to online tuition.

The EEF is delivering the National Tutoring Programme Tuition Partners pillar, which offers subsidised face-to-face and online tutoring to schools from an approved list of 33 Tuition Partners, including Action Tutoring. While there are some key differences between this pilot and the NTP model, notably that some of the tutoring in the online pilot was delivered in the summer holidays rather than in term time, today’s findings provide valuable insight into the benefits and barriers to online delivery.  

Since its launch in November 2020, the NTP has been clear that tutoring – whether online or face-to-face -should take place in school wherever possible, to minimise the barriers highlighted by today’s report. However, with schools currently closed to most pupils, almost all Tuition Partners are offering online at-home tuition to ensure that pupils can still benefit in this period of disrupted learning.

The pilot was co-funded by the EEF, alongside Wellcome Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Hg Foundation, Porticus UK, the Dulverton Trust, the Inflexion Foundation and other funders.

Student Volunteering Week: My experience as a student volunteer with Action Tutoring

Eleanor, who is currently studying English Language and Linguistics at the University of West England, has been a volunteer with Action Tutoring since December 2019. Eleanor has shared her story for you to learn more about her experience as a tutor. We hope you enjoy reading about her journey.

I volunteer with Action Tutoring because I want to make a difference to children’s education, particularly now, considering the impact of the pandemic. This year especially, it feels so important to volunteer and help pupils whose education has been most impacted.

In my experience, you notice a difference in your pupils from the second tutoring session. They are usually a lot more comfortable with you and less shy. They may want to learn more about you and what you do for a living, too. During the initial sessions, my pupils would refuse to read the extracts given in the Action Tutoring booklets, and say they were embarrassed by their reading abilities. Now, they try to jump in to read before me, and pick lessons with longer reading chapters in a bid to further their skills. One pupil even experiments with doing different voices for characters now!

Balancing tutoring with my studies is very easy for me. I choose to tutor on days where I am completely free or have the whole morning or afternoon off, as I like to walk in and enjoy the scenic route. Tutoring the morning sessions helps me get out of bed and is a motivating start to the day, and hopefully to my pupils’, too. Action Tutoring provides all of the tutoring resources, so all I have to do is familiarise myself with the lesson and deliver it. This makes it very easy and simple for me to go and teach, so it doesn’t negatively impact my studies in any way. I also try and choose to volunteer at schools nearby to me that are easy to get to (when in-school opportunities are available), in order to avoid missing any sessions or being late.

Become a student volunteer

Action Tutoring has definitely helped me develop in confidence and in learning different styles of talking to people; such as teaching register, talking to my tutoring peers, and talking to school staff and my programme coordinator. This will definitely help prepare me for teaching environments and future employment.

Volunteering during the pandemic has been good for my mental health. When I have been able to tutor in-school, it has given me a sense of normality where my pupils and I can forget about COVID-19 and just learn about English together (while still socially-distanced and wearing masks). I would recommend volunteering to anyone who is furloughed or unemployed, as it is really motivating to have a sense of purpose and to feel needed. I chose to tutor on face-to-face programmes, as I prefer the closer interaction and getting to go somewhere different during my daily week, rather than online tutoring, but when schools are open, Action Tutoring offers both options, so it’s flexible for everyone. 

Finally, I would personally recommend Action Tutoring to anyone who is able to spare an hour a week to go and help children in need. I think it’s important to remember how lucky we were to have a ‘normal’ school experience and any sense of normalcy for these children in school at the moment is so key and showing that despite what is happening around them, people are there to support them and wish them the best chance in their education. This to me is such a key motivator this year. 

Disadvantaged pupils have been hit hardest by the pandemic, and we want to help as many as we can catch up. Apply now to volunteer to tutor maths or English for just one hour per week.

Student Volunteering Week: Five reasons why I volunteer with Action Tutoring

Megan Healey, who is currently studying English Literature at the University of Liverpool, has been a volunteer with Action Tutoring, making a difference to pupils in Liverpool, since October 2020. Megan has shared five reasons why she volunteers with Action Tutoring. We hope you enjoy reading about her journey.

There are so many reasons to volunteer as a student, but most of the time you find yourself coming up with excuses not to: you can’t find the right opportunity, it doesn’t fit in with your schedule, you aren’t sure if you’ll enjoy it etc. Having volunteered as a student with Action Tutoring last semester as part of a work placement module, I’ve decided to continue to volunteer with the charity. Here are the five reasons why I volunteer as a student.

1 – Giving back to the community

After spending a couple of years getting to know Liverpool, I decided that I wanted to give back to the community that has always been so welcoming to us students! Action Tutoring provided me with a way to support disadvantaged pupils in school, tutoring English study sessions to GCSE students. The extra support Action Tutoring’s pupils provides helps them build on the skills they learn in class. As volunteers, we offer pupils a space to go over any issues that they have with maths or English, helping them overcome any barriers so that they can achieve the grades they deserve. 

2 – Personal development

In addition to giving back to the community, the Action Tutoring volunteering programme allows students to develop crucial skills which employers find attractive. Working with Action Tutoring allows you to work on communication and interpersonal skills as well as your problem-solving skills as you work with the pupil to help them overcome any difficulties. The skills and experience gained through volunteering are completely transferable to any future job role, making it a valued opportunity.

3 – Because it’s rewarding

Personal development brings me to my next reason for volunteering because it’s rewarding. Not only does your development allow for more opportunities in the future, but volunteering makes you feel great. Spending time with the pupils and getting to know them makes seeing them progress extremely rewarding. Each week you notice positive changes in the pupils’ performance, and as they start to see the changes in themselves they gain more confidence. Not only does it boost their confidence but it boosts yours too! Being in a position where you are able to provide encouragement to someone, uplift them and help them develop makes you feel really grateful to be working as a tutor.

4 – Flexibility

Action Tutoring is perfect for students because the volunteering hours are completely flexible, allowing you to volunteer around your university schedule. I decided to volunteer three hours a week on a Monday and Tuesday as it fits in with my timetable. Whilst volunteering with Action Tutoring you’re able to join as many or as few tutoring programmes (weekly tutoring sessions) as you’d like, making it the perfect way to volunteer whilst you study. 

5 – Maintaining mental health during a pandemic

Finally, the last reason why I volunteer with Action Tutoring is that it’s helped me maintain positive mental health throughout the pandemic and all of the lockdowns. The weekly online sessions have helped take my mind off of what’s been going on. Getting to take a productive break from studying has let me feel like I’ve accomplished something, which makes me feel good about myself. The positive energy that the pupils bring to the virtual tutoring sessions rubs off on me, leaving me feeling revitalised. In addition to providing a break from reality, the weekly sessions offer some form of structure, something we all lost when the pandemic started. The structure volunteering provides helps me manage my time, allowing me to feel more organised during a period of constant uncertainty. 

Become a student volunteer

Action Tutoring is an amazing opportunity that benefits the pupils from local areas whilst also develops your own skills. I completely recommend volunteering with Action Tutoring. 

Apply now to volunteer with us as a student, and help young people in your local community improve their English and maths skills, as well as getting great teaching experience and improving your own skills.

Action Tutoring encourages pupils to express themselves as part of Children’s Mental Health Week

February 1st – 7th see’s Place2Be’s ‘Children’s Mental Health Week’ campaign in full swing, a week dedicated to raising awareness and educating adults and young people about the importance of looking after our emotional wellbeing from an early age.

This year’s theme is ‘Express Yourself’, encouraging children (and adults) to explore the different ways we can express ourselves, and the creative ways that we can share our feelings, our thoughts and our ideas.

At Action Tutoring, we are always looking to support pupils’ wellbeing, as well as their academic needs. It is important for us that, in addition to achieving a meaningful level of academic attainment at school, pupils are also able to develop as happy, healthy and well-rounded individuals.

1 in 6 children and young people have a diagnosable mental health condition, and with more potentially struggling with lockdown, bereavement or bullying, there’s never been a more appropriate time to talk about children’s mental health. Young people have spent almost a year being in and out of school, often locked in for long periods and out for only short bursts of time, which has been enough to put adults’ mental health under duress, never mind children.

Encouraging children to express themselves could help alleviate some of these difficulties, and lead to improved emotional wellbeing.  So how can we help young people (and ourselves!) reconnect with the creative streak that lives within us all?

• Drama – you don’t have to be on the West End stage to engage with drama and performing. Whether acting out a scene from your favourite book, or recreating a scenario to act out with friends or family, drama is open to everyone. Drama can not only be a great way to release your curious and creative nature, but it can be also truly beneficial in helping children understand different situations. At a recent webinar, a mum explained how she’d been using role play scenarios to help her child understand what a ‘return to school’ would look like. They took it in turns to be the teacher and pupil, and even practiced social distancing in their home! What a fabulous way to help a young person understand what’s going on, or how things might be different moving forward, whilst also letting them be a playful child!
• Art – we’re all spending way too much time looking at our screens, and too little time using our hands for anything other than typing. Grabbing a colouring book or some pens and paper might encourage a young person (or adult) to take a break from the virtual world. Why not draw a picture of how you feel right now and discuss it? This can be a great way to express how you’re feeling other than through speech, and with a bit of colour!
• Dressing up – for lots of us, this year has consisted of pyjamas, work outfits and changing back into pyjamas when the clock strikes 5:30pm. Getting dressed up, even if it’s to sit in the house, can really boost how you feel about yourself. For children, letting them play dress up or wear what they want for the day might really help them express themselves and bring a bit of colour to the gloomier winter days.
• Walking – a simple, but easy one. We all know walking is great for mental health, and after months inside it’s more important than ever. Walking can be creative – take a litter picker and clean up the streets, take photos of the lovely flowers or insects you see, or even take a new route to your usual walk. You could also simply walk and let your thoughts come to you naturally – nothing is more creative than original thought!

Identifying and responding to mental health concerns

Encouraging children to express themselves and talk about how they feel really is important, especially now. However, it’s also important to know what signs to look out for if the young people around us are struggling with their mental health and, crucially, how to support them.

In a national lockdown, children are bound to miss their usual structure, friends and family, which can lead to feelings like uncertainty, boredom and restlessness. This may also prompt uncomfortable or insecure feelings in their familial relationships, and subsequently, reactionary misbehaviour or misplaced hostility. Here are some tips on how to help and respond:

• Listen – Find an opportunity to listen to what’s wrong, listen carefully to their answers and reassure them as best as you can to reinforce their stability and standing in the family.
• Express – If they are reluctant to talk about their feelings, encourage them to write a letter or a diary entry to address their emotions. Journaling allows for self-reflection and relieves stress.
• Routine – Build positive routines, such as healthy eating and exercise. Physical activity, whether indoors or outdoors, improves self-esteem,
  increases concentration and can improve academic performance!
• Praise – Give lots of positive feedback and encouragement to their achievements, whether it be a piece of school work, a drawing they’ve done or even just tidying their room.
• Support – Reach out to other parents and carers, or other friends and family, yourself. A problem shared is a problem halved, and talking is a great way to keep positive, motivated, and to be able to model this behaviour to your dependents.

 

“It’s important to remember that being able to express yourself is not about being the best at something or putting on a performance for others. It is about finding a way to show who you are, and how you see the world, that can help you feel good about yourself” – Place2Be

So let’s start watching out for the signs of anxiety or deteriorating mental health, remember how to get support and start expressing ourselves. Let us as adults be role models to help the younger generation express themselves as well. Children’s mental health should always be a focus, but let’s take extra care this week. Childhood is precious. Let’s protect it.

Action Tutoring would like to thank Place2Be for championing this brilliant cause with their  campaign and we encourage everyone to check out the resources on the campaign website.