‘Thank You’ notes from pupils that warmed our hearts in spring term

We can think of thousands of reasons why working with children brings us joy, purpose, and fulfilment. But what’s even more heart warming is when the children you support recognise your impact on their lives and share inspiring thank-you notes of appreciation. Thank you, tutors!

Despite the odd challenge of managing children during sessions, their boundless energy, honesty and humour keep us all going.

Watching pupils grow in subject knowledge and confidence is even more motivating for our volunteers who spend an hour each week to help them improve their English and maths skills.

With summer term just beginning, let’s throwback to some of the remarkable words and notes of gratitude some pupils shared with our volunteers and programme team in schools last term.

1. Being a child’s favourite grey-haired person is indeed a compliment!

2. Sometimes, playing is learning and learning is playing. Finding the best approach for every child is essential.

3. Appreciation in poetry

4. Group high-5 for Brenda

5. World’s best!

6. The best tutor award goes to…

7. Is there anything like positive anger?

8. Tutoring goes beyond knowledge. Changes behaviours and attitudes too.

9. Levelling up

10. Certainly a good use of time!

Why we do what we do

These words of appreciation and witnessing a pupil grow from strength to strength are why we do what we do.

Why not join us and shape a child’s future by volunteering an hour a week to help them improve their academic performance in English or maths?

Overcoming my initial anxiety as an online tutor

Teaching for the first time can be challenging. It is not as easy to adapt to and meet the needs of different pupils, who depend on you to instruct them.

When I first entered the education sector, I started out as a Teaching Assistant (TA) and for the most part, I didn’t have to actually lead lessons. I enjoyed supporting and working with pupils on a one-to-one basis, analysing where they needed help and targeting those gaps.

So when the option to volunteer with Action Tutoring as an English tutor as part of my university degree programme sprang up, I jumped at the opportunity. Tutoring children was something I had never actually done before, but I had experience working in close-knit groups as a TA. I wasn’t nervous in the slightest.

Conquering the doubts

The option for face-to-face tutoring in a community school was unavailable in my location and the only option was to tutor online. Apprehensive at first, I cautiously took on the volunteer role as an online tutor. 

A number of questions were spinning in my head: how do I get familiar with virtual learning software? How do I control pupil behaviour if it’s online? 

It was only after my first tutor induction session that I began to feel more at ease, as I was able to ask all of these questions and get answers. Action Tutoring provided me with further help with using the online software I’d come to fear – Vedamo.

Sense of relief

Never having used any online classroom software, or anything close to it before, the basic training on Looop really helped. It was simple and straightforward – the instructional videos were segmented into small 2-5 minute clips and it wasn’t overwhelming for a first-time tutor like myself.

After the training, I was given my login credentials for Vedamo and informed I could log in and practise any time I wanted. This was a relief, and I felt my anxiety slip away. Having access to Vedamo at any time allowed me to practise, and become comfortable and familiar with the different features of the learning platform. 

After speaking to my assigned programme coordinator, I was sent an Action Tutoring workbook via post a few weeks before my tutoring sessions began. The workbook covered all the lessons and included answers to all the learning activities that I would be doing with my pupils. 

Even more helpful, Action Tutoring also provided me with the online lesson templates, specifically made for Vedamo. All I had to do was simply upload the template on Vedamo and the lesson was live for pupils and myself to work with.

First online session

My first tutoring session was smooth. I uploaded the lesson template on Vedamo immediately and the physical workbook helped me with tips and tricks throughout the lesson.

Meeting pupils online was a new experience but felt exactly like I was in an actual classroom. The connection between myself and the pupils was not lost over online delivery and I could focus all my attention directly on interacting with my pupils on the screen.

Overseeing delivery

Another great relief for me was the fact that Action Tutoring has a programme coordinator in the classroom with the pupils during the session. This meant that if I had any concerns about pupil behaviour or technical issues at all, they could be resolved quickly. 

Everything I had originally worried about with regard to tutoring online has just withered away in this first lesson. The sessions after that only seemed to get better. 

After approval from my programme coordinator, I had total freedom to adjust the tutoring approach slightly to tailor the gaps of the pupils, which gave me some independence over the lesson delivery.

Consider volunteer tutoring

If you are feeling nervous or apprehensive about tutoring online, then I totally understand you. But, if you are anything like me, then Action Tutoring is the education charity to work with. They will understand and hear your concerns and approach your problems with care, consideration and training. 

The anxiety over online tutoring shouldn’t be a reason preventing you from trying it. Action Tutoring will help assuage all your fears and doubts. 

Remember, one of the most important things about online tutoring: no commute! Give it a try and see how it goes.

Author: Penelope Rudock

DfE updates NTP figures on Pupil Premium, courses and school participation

With the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) in its third year, the Department for Education has today updated its statistics on the number of courses, school participation, and pupil characteristics.

The NTP was introduced in July 2020 as a four-year education recovery scheme to support children whose learning were most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic disruption. 

As an accredited Tuition Partner that existed long before the NTP and advocated for its introduction, we keenly follow the evidence and impact of the scheme to ensure it’s on track to help students, especially disadvantaged, to recover from learning loss, with the hopes of narrowing the attainment gap.

Here are four quick takeaways from today’s updated statistics:

·   Pupil Premium target

Half of pupils receiving tutoring support under the scheme are in receipt of Pupil Premium (PP) – an annual grant given to schools to improve the attainment of children from low-income households or eligible for Free School Meals (FSM).

According to DfE, “49.8% were known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) within the last 6 years.”

Although it’s encouraging that 1 in 2 pupils benefitting are from lower income households, the percentage is below the original 65% PP target the scheme was aiming when it was first established.

We are proud that 70% of the pupils we support at Action Tutoring are in receipt of Pupil Premium. Tutoring should be overwhelmingly focused on pupils from low-income backgrounds.

We would advocate for the NTP to remain focused on disadvantaged children by ensuring at least two-thirds of NTP recipients are from disadvantaged backgrounds to help narrow the attainment gap.

·   Schools Participation in NTP

As of mid-January 2023, DfE estimates “that  65.7% of state schools have participated in the NTP in the 2022-23 academic year.” This represents an increase of over 5 percentage points as compared to the figure as of March 2022, which was 59.9%.

About three-quarters of schools have indicated that they intend to deliver tutoring this year.

·   Special Education Needs or Disability (SEND)

The new figures paint a picture of SEND pupils who are receiving tutoring in schools. The data shows 28.3% were known to have special educational needs.

It is encouraging to know the NTP is reaching pupils with special education needs.

·   NTP courses started

The new data estimates that at least 839,495 starts had been made by pupils on tuition courses through the NTP in the 2022-23 academic year alone, resulting in total course starts of at least 3,365,598 as of January this year.

The new total figure is just over half of the original 6 million course starts target of the NTP when it was rolled out in July 2020. Given the NTP is in its third year, it would have been more encouraging if two-thirds of the target figure were reached, however we acknowledge the continuous efforts of the DfE to advance the figures on courses.

More NTP data needed

The NTP data released today is limited as compared to previous statistics. It focuses on restricted data from schools, without indidicating in detail the different tuition routes. 

Today’s data did not capture geographical breakdown of tutoring uptake, which indicates whether the scheme is reaching pupils in cold spots or hard-to-reach areas.

We look forward to more extensive data with estimates broken down by region and the different NTP routes – school-led tutoring, tuition partners, and academic mentors – for greater understanding of the scope and impact of the programme.

Ramadan and working in charity: Strong focus on helping others

The author is a Birmingham programme coordinator for Action Tutoring. The programme coordinator is present in partner schools to oversee the delivery of tutoring.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim year, during which fasting is observed from dawn to sunset.

One of my favourite memories of Ramadan is in the summer of 2015. The weather was extremely hot and I had to sit so many mock exams. Fasting was particularly hard during that period. Nonetheless, it felt more rewarding when Eid al-Fitr arrived – the festival of celebration which marks the end of the month-long fasting. I recall visiting numerous family members to eat the most delicious foods and spending time with people in our local community in the beautiful weather. These are highly nostalgic memories. 

To me, Ramadan is the time for true self-reflection, generosity, and gratitude. Observing this sacred time allows me to refocus on areas of my life that are of priority such as family, friends, and work.

Connecting with Muslim colleagues

My observation of Ramadan positively impacts my work with volunteers and pupils, as charity is such an important part of Islam, but even more so, Ramadan. As a programme coordinator for Action Tutoring in my city, I work with a primary school where a lot of Muslim students are fasting as well – many for the first time. 

Directly understanding the experience and the struggles Muslim pupils may be facing as they receive tutoring support at this time – such as fatigue, reduced concentration, and hunger – has helped me connect a lot more with them. The same experience applies to some of the Muslim tutors I’m overseeing. There’s a collective sense of solidarity and feeling that we are all in this together.

Parallels between Ramadan and charity work

There are definitely parallels in moral values between supporting young people facing disadvantage and the tenets of Ramadan. Charity is one of the five fundamental pillars of Islam and is considered one of the best deeds any human can perform. There is a particularly heightened focus on charity within Islam towards the most vulnerable sectors of society, such as children, orphans and people experiencing hardship. 

This perfectly aligns with the work that Action Tutoring does across the country to reduce the educational attainment gap for young people. During Ramadan, charitable acts are encouraged even more as it displays empathy and helps people to make a positive difference in their surroundings. By positively impacting the educational outcomes and welfare of young people, society can improve as a whole. 

Thus, supporting charities during Ramadan is extremely important, as the Prophet Muhammad said: ‘The best act of charity is carried out in the month of Ramadan’.

How to support Muslim colleagues at work

People can support their Muslim colleagues who are fasting during Ramadan in a plethora of ways:

• Be aware your Muslim colleagues may be tired and have less energy during the workday. Show some level of empathy when making plans that include them. Having frequent rest breaks and more inclusive meeting hours, preferably earlier in the day, is a helpful solution. 
• Raising awareness within the workplace about what Ramadan is and its importance is a great way to build an inclusive workplace and build positive team connections. For example, this can be done by inviting Muslim colleagues to share their experiences and educate others about their faith. 
• Being respectful of their sacred tradition and choices is a good way to support Muslim colleagues during Ramadan. Some Muslims are exempt from fasting if they are pregnant, ill, menstruating or breastfeeding. It is important to never make assumptions and ask intrusive questions if you notice that your Muslim colleague is not fasting at any point.

Making a difference through Ramadan

As Muslims, we are charged to give back to our communities during Ramadan and beyond, I would appeal to other Muslims to find diverse ways of making an impact in the lives of people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Working with Action Tutoring helps me to fulfil my charity virtue as a Muslim and with the support of many more, we can change the lives of young children positively. By volunteering for an hour a week or donating to the cause of the charity, you can uplift the lives of pupils from low-income families and give them a better chance at life.

Investing in tomorrow’s workforce today: How tutoring can help solve the skilled labour shortage

The labour market in the UK is at a crossroads. Businesses and the public sector are still grappling with a chronic worker shortage, making it harder to recruit enough skilled workers to fill open roles.

According to the Open University’s 2022 Business Barometer, more than two-thirds (68%) of the UK’s small-medium businesses are currently facing skills shortages. This figure rises to 86% of large organisations and the knock-on effect is reduced output, profitability or growth.

The challenge persists as the economy faces the triple threat of rising inflation, sluggish growth, and post-pandemic disruption.

With the nation’s economists and labour experts working around the clock to find a way to tackle the lingering labour challenge, there is a medium to long-term solution that could prove beneficial to the economy beyond the stop-gap measures – supporting students at crucial points in their education.

What’s the cost of inaction?

A Learning and Working Institute report found that the skills shortage is expected to cost the country £120 billion by 2030. It also predicts a shortfall of 2.5 million highly skilled workers in seven years. 

The big question remains: why aren’t we tapping into the unlocked potential of the next generation and how can we achieve this?

The young people in schools today are the future workforce so it should be in the interest of the business community to want to support young people in any way to excel. One practical thing is for people in business to volunteer as tutors to ensure the workforce of tomorrow gets the maths and English qualifications needed to move into further education or employment.

Susannah Hardyman, founder and CEO of Action Tutoring, in a recent Facebook Live interview.

Each year tens of thousands of young people slip through the net and end up as not in education, employment, and training (NEET) simply because they couldn’t get a pass grade in their English or maths GCSE. New figures from the Office of National Statistics estimate that over 788,000 people across the UK are NEETs and each individual is estimated to cost the economy £120,000 over the course of their lifetime.

Education in this country is unfair

Most NEETs are far more likely to be from disadvantaged backgrounds and lacked access to the tools and resources to support their learning and pass their final examinations. The opportunities for disadvantaged young people will continue to be hampered without equal access to the quality and holistic education many of their better-off peers benefit from. 

A proven solution for moving young people from at risk of failing their exams to passing is consistent, tailored, and quality tutoring to augment learning in the classroom. According to Action Tutoring’s analysis, 72% of disadvantaged pupils passed their maths GCSE after attending at least 10 tutoring sessions, despite two years of pandemic disruption and being at risk of failing to pass. This is a clear example of what is possible if tutoring is entrenched as a permanent fixture for all disadvantaged young people in schools.

Over 70% of NEET individuals can be supported to progress into employment, training, or education to fill the existing gaps in the labour market. If we fail to catch ‘at risk’ pupils soon enough, we are losing a prized opportunity to tackle the labour shortage hurting our economy, according to the Bank of England. 

The role of business in addressing labour shortage

Businesses are directly affected by the skilled talent deficit as the problem doesn’t only impact staffing strength but also the supply chain network, overall productivity and customer experience. Long delays in delivery time and underwhelming output are likely to affect multiple sectors until more workers are hired to fill the gaps.

A number of proposals have been floated by economic researchers and business owners including upskilling or reskilling prospective workers, expanding temporary work visas, increasing wages and Jeremy Hunt’s continuing appeal for retired and post-work citizens to rejoin the labour force.

To stay proactive and ahead of the curve, the onus is on businesses to adapt to the changing dynamics of the labour market and employ novel strategies to help address the problem.

The shift towards hiring more younger talents straight out of high school is already happening. The Financial Times reported that as the skills shortage bites, UK employers are looking to diversify their hiring stream. About 23 per cent of companies surveyed by the Institute of Student Employers plan to “rebalance” hiring from university graduates to young people with only high school level education. 

It’s in the best interest of businesses and industry to support the hundreds of thousands of young people who fail to meet national standards in English and maths, often set as a minimum requirement for job applications. This can be achieved by embedding volunteer tutoring of primary and secondary pupils into their corporate strategy to help nurture talent.

Leading by example

One business that has successfully embedded volunteer tutoring of young people into its community engagement strategy is Arup, a global sustainable development consultancy. By tutoring young children for an hour each week, their employees are not only imparting knowledge but also using the opportunity to encourage more young people to consider pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

The business is using its public-facing interaction with young people to identify, nurture and support budding talents who have an interest in engineering, design, and architecture. In turn, it’s helping to jumpstart the careers of young people to potentially benefit the company, the sector and the wider economy in the medium to long term.

Rethink talent strategy

We believe every business should rethink its talent acquisition strategy and play its part in laying the foundations for its future employees. It’s time for brands to become more involved in cultivating talent at the grassroots stage.

Key to the door or having the door slammed in your face?

For young people in school, passing GCSEs is more than just an exam pass, it’s the first rung on the career ladder and the key to the door of opportunity. If businesses invest in young people at school, through volunteer tutoring and mentoring, together we can prevent their transition into economic inactivity.

The link between school and business can be valuable if more people in business go into schools, not only volunteer but also share career experiences with young people. The support is about increasing pupils’ life chances so they can progress into further study and any employment routes of their choice so they are not held back by the barrier of not having the English and maths qualifications employers are looking for. The knock-on effect is that they will contribute to having a ready workforce for the future.

Susannah Hardyman

Can we really afford to lose a quarter of our future workforce because we didn’t invest the time when it was needed the most?

Partner with Action Tutoring as a business to support more pupils from low-income backgrounds to access additional academic support to progress in further education and employment.