Volunteers’ Week 2023: Celebrating and inspiring volunteers

What is Volunteers’ Week 2023?

Volunteers’ Week is an annual celebration to recognise and appreciate the contributions of volunteers to our communities and promote the spirit of volunteering. 

Typically, it is marked from the 1st – 7th of June in the UK. It provides an opportunity to acknowledge and thank individuals who generously give their time, skills, and energy to make a positive difference.

During Volunteers’ Week, organisations, charities, and community groups often organise volunteer appreciation dinners, volunteer fairs, recognition ceremonies, and volunteer recruitment drives, among others.

The aim is to showcase the vital impact of volunteering on society and to inspire others to get involved.

This year’s theme: ‘Celebrate and Inspire’ seeks to show gratitude to volunteers and awaken the desire in people to take up volunteering.

Why do we celebrate Volunteers’ Week 2023?

Volunteers play a crucial role in supporting organisations, communities, and causes. Volunteers’ Week provides an opportunity to acknowledge and express gratitude for their selfless contributions.

By celebrating Volunteers’ Week 2023, the aim is to raise awareness about volunteering and its benefits. It encourages more people to consider volunteering and showcases the wide range of opportunities available.

Moreover, Volunteers’ Week fosters a sense of community and togetherness. It brings people from different backgrounds and organisations together to celebrate their collective efforts in creating positive change.

The role volunteers play in community building

Volunteers hold a vital position in community and nation-building. A case in point is the resilience volunteers demonstrated during the pandemic.

It begs the question: what would the pandemic have looked like with no volunteers? Those who were self-isolating would have missed out on food. Children who needed extra tuition more than ever would not have got the support they needed. The vaccine rollout would not have been as fast or efficient.

Generally, volunteers played a crucial role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their contributions were instrumental in providing support for healthcare professionals in hospitals, clinics, and vaccination centres. 

More specifically, they provided administrative support, testing, and contact tracing, distribution of essential supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to vulnerable populations, emotional support, and counselling services.

In education, we experienced a seismic shift towards remote learning with the closure of schools. Action Tutoring signed up a deluge of volunteers to assist pupils who were adapting to online learning. They provided tutoring and mentoring to ensure that pupils could continue their education effectively.

Beyond their selfless dedication, compassion, and support, volunteers were crucial in mitigating the impact of the pandemic. They provided the much-needed assistance to individuals, communities, and healthcare systems.

Why volunteers are needed now more than ever?

The voluntary sector has changed significantly in the last three years. While individuals have returned to pre-pandemic lives in many ways, the consequences of lockdown continue to have an influence on communities.

The cost of living crisis is widening inequalities. As a result, there is an increasing need for more support for disadvantaged populations with limited resources and fewer volunteers. As a result, charities are struggling to make up for the volunteer numbers.

The Community Life Survey found the proportion of people who had volunteered at least once a month in 2021-22 was 16%, down from 23% in 2019-20. 

Interestingly, the role of technology in volunteering is more paramount since 2020. Currently, virtual volunteering is the third most common way, with about 31% of all volunteering in the last 12 months done online or via phone, according to Time Well Spent 2023.

What to expect from Action Tutoring this Volunteers’ Week 2023

In marking Volunteers’ Week, here is a quick look at the ways Action Tutoring is celebrating the thousands of volunteers we work with to support young people:

• Facebook Live event – Hear first-hand from some of our Programme Coordinators working with volunteers for positive change in the North West and the North East
• Volunteer info session – Find out how you can support young people in schools by volunteering as a tutor for one hour per week
• Celebrating our volunteers – We’ll share funny and heartwarming messages from pupils to volunteer tutors who are making a difference in their lives. Check out some of these uplifting messages on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok pages during the week.

Our evidence submission: Tackling persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils

Since the onset of Covid-19, a significant challenge for schools and other education support organisations has been persistent pupil absence. When students frequently miss school or display a pattern of irregular attendance, it can have far-reaching consequences on their academic progress, personal development, and future prospects.

In March, Action Tutoring submitted written evidence to Parliament’s Education Committee inquiry into persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils. The parliamentary inquiry was aimed at examining the issue of severe absences, the factors causing it and to assess the likely effectiveness of the Department of Education’s (DfE) proposed reforms on attendance, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.

As an education charity and accredited tuition provider, our submission focused on pupil engagement in tutoring sessions – pre and post-pandemic, reasons for low school attendance, the impact of tutoring programmes for disadvantaged pupils, and ways to increase attendance and engagement in schools.

Tutoring attendance and engagement

The attendance figures for Action Tutoring programmes are slightly lower than before the outbreak, mirroring national patterns. Our data showed that the Pupil Premium cohort – children receiving Free School Meals who formed 72% of our beneficiaries – had lower attendance figures.

For primary schools in the autumn of 2022, attendance at Action Tutoring sessions was 82% for Pupil Premium pupils and 86% for non-Pupil Premium pupils. 

In secondary schools for the same term, attendance was 66% for Pupil Premium pupils and 72% for non-Pupil Premium pupils. 

Tutoring sessions for both primary and secondary take place outside the regular school hours.

The severity of persistent absence

Persistent pupil absence goes beyond occasional absences due to an illness or family emergency. It involves students who are consistently absent without valid reasons and hence miss a substantial number of school days, often exceeding the accepted threshold.

According to the Department for Education (DfE), a pupil is identified as a persistent absentee if they miss 10% or more of their possible sessions. Nationally, over 1.7 million pupils (24.2% of all pupils) missed 10% or more of their school sessions in Autumn 2022-23, up from 23.5% the previous year. This compares to 922,566 absentee pupils before the pandemic.

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) School Absence Tracker has shown that the number of children who are severely absent remains at crisis levels and the situation worsens among pupils eligible for Free School Meals(FSM). In the 2021/22 academic year, the severe absence rate for pupils eligible for FSM was more than triple the rate for children not eligible for FSM.

Causes of persistent pupil absence

In our evidence submission, we mentioned that some of the causes of persistent absence may include:

• poor mental health
• illness including long-term illness or fear of infecting vulnerable family members with an illness
• chaotic home lives or factors such as additional caring responsibilities
• post-Covid fear of finding learning difficult, being demoralised, or feeling left behind 
• lacking the confidence to engage in the classroom

What needs to change

Tackling persistent pupil absence requires a multi-faceted approach involving collaboration between schools, families, and communities. As a tutoring organisation that provides additional academic help to pupils, below are some strategies we believe can help improve attendance and engagement with the young people we support.

• Sharing drinks and snacks during tutoring sessions to reduce hunger
• Letters and text reminders to parents and parent information sessions about the tutoring and its benefits
• Incentives for pupils such as vouchers or free tickets to the end-of-year prom if they attend the majority of their tutoring sessions
• Pizza parties at the end of the programme
• Award ceremony or presentation of certificates in assembly at the end of the programme
• Reminders earlier in the school about their tutoring session and/or picking them up from their last lesson into tutoring sessions
• Integrate attendance into the positive behaviour management system such as gaining points for their ‘house’ through attendance

New DfE’s solutions to tackle persistent absence

Last week, the DfE published a notice on new plans to drive up attendance rates and attainment in schools.

• Expand the Attendance Hubs programme with nine new lead hub schools to support up to 600 primary, secondary, and alternative provision schools
• Expand the presence of Attendance Mentors in areas of the country with the highest levels of pupil absence from September

The proposed solutions are to build on the existing attendance strategy which includes guidance for schools, attendance data dashboard and the work of the Attendance Action Alliance.

Collaborative approach

Persistent pupil absence poses a significant challenge to schools and the well-being of students. If the issue is not addressed, the nation risks creating a lost generation which may give rise to a surge of problems in the future.

By implementing a collaborative approach that addresses the underlying causes, provides support, and fosters a positive school environment, we can begin to tackle this issue effectively to help every child to reach their full potential.

Tutoring subsidy cut reversed but schools need more funding

The Department of Education (DfE) yesterday announced a major change to the planned subsidy reduction for the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) next academic year.

Originally, the current 60% subsidy support to schools was scheduled to drop to 25% beginning in the autumn term of next year. However, the DfE has reversed that policy decision and agreed to raise the subsidy to 50% for every pupil in receipt of the NTP for the academic year 2023-24.

We’re pleased that our concerns about the steep subsidy drop-off for the NTP next year have been listened to and the subsidy is being increased from 25% to 50% next year. However, we remain concerned that the reality is that schools that struggled to pay 40% of tutoring costs this academic year will still struggle to afford 50% next year.

Susannah Hardyman, founder and CEO of Action Tutoring

The Government introduced the national tutoring programme in the autumn term of 2020 to help pupils, especially those facing disadvantage, to recover from lost learning experienced during the pandemic school closures. 

In the first year, the DfE funded 75% of the programme per pupil with schools expected to finance the remaining part. The subsidy was tapered to 70% in the second year before being reduced to 60% in the current third year. It was set to drop further to 25% next year until yesterday’s reversal announcement.

Fund allocation remains unchanged

Nonetheless, the DfE is not increasing the funding amount schools will receive next year for the NTP as it forecasts less demand and lower uptake of the scheme.

An amount of £150 million will be available to schools next year, despite calls for an increment in cash to cushion schools as they struggle with their already stretched budgets.

Furthermore, the overall amount of funding schools will receive for tutoring isn’t increasing, and given the current financial pressures on schools, we are concerned that this means that fewer pupils will be reached that could really benefit from the support

Susannah Hardyman

Limited impact in practice

With schools getting no extra funding, the DfE is banking on hopes that fewer pupils will receive tutoring next year but that more schools will at least make use of the funding available. In practice, the subsidy reversal without an increment in tutoring cash will have a limited impact on the number of pupils who receive tutoring in schools.

For instance, in a school that has 50 pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium:

This year they received £162 per pupil premium pupil (60% of £18 an hour x 15 hours) each. For 50 pupil premium pupils, this would give a school £8,100, which would enable 50 pupils to get 15 hours at a 60% subsidy.

However, next year schools will get £67 each per pupil premium pupil (25% of £18 an hour x 15 hours). Using the same example, a school with 50 pupil premium pupils would receive £3,350, enabling 25 pupils to get 15 hours at the newly announced 50% subsidy.

More needs to be done

The increase in subsidy to 50% next year is very welcome to ensure that schools stand a chance of continuing to access tutoring. However, with the nation recording the largest attainment gap in a decade last year and schools struggling with budget squeezes, more still needs to be done to ensure that pupils in receipt of pupil premium and those below the expected standards reap the full benefits of tutoring.

At Action Tutoring, we’re pleased that our fundraising and philanthropy efforts mean we can support schools further beyond the NTP to ensure tutoring really is reaching those that need it most and minimising the barrier of financial pressures on schools.

We believe additional investment is needed long-term to ensure tutoring is sufficiently embedded in the education system widely and particularly, reaches those that need it most.

Susannah Hardyman

Numeracy Day: Solving England’s maths equation

What is National Numeracy Day?

17th May is the national day set aside to campaign for building brighter futures through building confidence with numbers and everyday maths skills. It is aimed at raising the low levels of numeracy among both children and adults.

The broader vision of the National Numeracy Day campaign is for everyone in the UK “to get on with numbers so they can get on in life.”​ 

The day is especially topical this year after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s controversial maths attainment policy proposal requiring school pupils in England to study maths until age 18.

More recently, Sunak announced a review of the mathematics curriculum across England, tasking a group of advisers to examine the core maths content currently taught in schools and share recommendations by summer.

Doing the maths

Numeracy levels in the UK are significantly lower as compared to other developed nations. About half, representing 49%, of the working-age population of the UK have the expected numeracy level of a primary school child – according to the 2022 UK Numeracy Index. 

With 30% of school-leavers between ages 18–24 feeling anxious about using maths and numbers, it means millions of children lack number confidence and are likely to start out their careers at a disadvantage. Additionally, poor numeracy costs the UK economy up to £25 billion a year.

Why numeracy is important

Numeracy provides children and young people with valuable tools for daily life, problem-solving, career opportunities, data interpretation, logical thinking, and future readiness.

• Numeracy skills are fundamental for managing personal finances, budgeting, and making informed decisions about spending and saving money. Children who are numerically literate are better equipped to handle financial challenges and make responsible choices throughout their lives.
• They enhance logical reasoning and problem-solving abilities. Mathematics encourages critical thinking, logical analysis, and the ability to break down complex problems into smaller, manageable parts in real-life situations.
• Strong numeracy skills open up a wide range of career opportunities, including fields such as science, engineering, finance, data analysis, and technology. By developing these skills, children and young people increase their chances of success in these fields.

Solving the big maths problem

The lingering problem that will beset the proposed national maths agenda is the deficit of maths teachers. In practice, the policy may not yield the intended results as the Department for Education (DfE) have fallen short of recruitment targets in the last decade, despite being lowered since 2019.

Hence, the key obstacle to solving the low numeracy problem is the critical shortage of specialist maths teachers and that could undermine maths education in schools in England.

Almost half of secondary schools have had to fall on a non-specialist to teach maths lessons in schools and about one in eight maths lessons (12%) are taught by someone without a maths degree.

The lack of quantity and quality of teacher applicants and budget pressures remain the stumbling blocks to improving teacher recruitment. For Mr. Sunak’s maths formula to be workable, the government should develop a renewed focus on improving teacher recruitment and retention.

The introduction of special incentives to ramp up the volume of maths teacher applications, including improved pay and working conditions and bursaries for training and quality improvement measures, could collectively help the situation. Without increasing the number of maths teachers, the numeracy problem will continue to persist.

Take action this National Numeracy Day

This year’s National Numeracy Day campaign has a line-up of activities across social media with several celebrity ambassadors joining the online conversation to share their number stories.

Join the campaign by signing up to access resources and be part of activities via this link: National Numeracy Day 2023 sign-up.

Also, another way to take action beyond the day is to volunteer as a maths tutor and help disadvantaged pupils improve their numeracy skills and abilities. Action Tutoring provides all the resources and training to help you give maths support to young people for an hour each week, either online or face-to-face in schools.

The far-reaching impact of numeracy

Overall, the benefits of numeracy and mathematics are significant and far-reaching, making it a crucial skill to cultivate. Improving numeracy early in life, particularly for those who are falling behind in school, is critical to bridging the attainment gap between poorer and wealthy students.

Action Tutoring’s Board shortlisted for Charity Governance Awards 2023

The transformational leadership by Action Tutoring’s Board of Trustees amid the Covid-19 pandemic’s challenges to education has been recognised by the Charity Governance Awards this year.

The education charity has been shortlisted alongside two other charities in the ‘Transforming with Digital’ category, one of the five awards announced this week.

The ‘Transforming with Digital’ category aims to recognise boards that have enabled digital transformation to help their charities grow, deliver increased impact and quality support for beneficiaries.

The nomination applauds Action Tutoring’s adaptability and innovation in pivoting swiftly to online delivery of tutoring when a national lockdown was announced and schools were indefinitely closed in March 2020.

Expanding reach and impact

By the autumn term of 2020/2021, the charity rolled out online tutoring across all eight regions of operation, expanding markedly its reach and impact to more disadvantaged young people. Online delivery constituted up to 86% of tutoring delivery by the charity in that academic year.

Since then, online tutoring has become a key component of the charity’s service delivery model, and it continuously invests in further digital transformation in other areas including volunteer recruitment, staff and volunteer training, and pupil assessments to provide high-quality tutoring support to disadvantaged pupils in schools almost anywhere across England.

Best interest of young people

This nomination is a testament to the commitment of the Board, staff, and tireless volunteers of Action Tutoring who devote their time and resources to ensuring every child, irrespective of their socio-economic background, gets a better education to improve their life chances. We will continue to work in the best interest and for the best outcomes of disadvantaged young people.

Peter Baines, Chair of Action Tutoring’s Board of Trustees

Nomination benefits

Action Tutoring received £1,000 as an unrestricted grant for making it onto the shortlist, and is in the running for a prize of a £5,000 unrestricted grant to be announced at a live ceremony at Drapers’ Hall, London on the 8th June.

Shortlisted charities have also secured a paid one-year membership of the Association of Chairs for their board, and a complimentary place on a Cause4 Trustee Leadership Programme for a new member of their board.

The Charity Governance Awards is organised by The Clothworkers’ Company – a City of London livery company that supports trusteeship initiatives – in partnership with the not-for-profit consultancy NPC (New Philanthropy Capital), third sector recruitment specialists Prospectus, and the trustee-matching charity Reach Volunteering.

Retiree volunteer joins King Charles’ first garden party

As a recipient of The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Volunteering Award in December, Action Tutoring was invited to select two tutor volunteers to join several distinguished guests for King Charles’ first garden party at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, ahead of the Coronation this weekend.

Retiree Frank Plater, our volunteer tutor with the most sessions delivered in the last academic year, together with Peter Baines, the Chair of the Board of Trustees and long-time tutor volunteer, were nominated by founder and CEO, Susannah Hardyman to represent the education charity at the garden party.

I was really quite staggered for being nominated to attend the garden party. Supporting children keeps me young, and keeps my brain ticking over.

Frank said, with a beaming smile as he stood outside the gates to the Palace.

Ever the committed tutor, Frank delivered a Year 10 maths session at St Bede’s Catholic College, Bristol in the morning before catching the train to London for the King’s garden party.

Making a difference

Frank Plater drives over forty minutes from Chepstow, Wales to three schools in Bristol each week to give additional academic support to pupils in maths. He tutors at the Badocks Wood E-ACT Academy, St. Bede’s Catholic College, and Greenfield E-ACT Primary Academy.

The retired aircraft industry professional has embarked on this journey over the last five years since he began volunteering with Action Tutoring.

I first heard about Action Tutoring when surfing the internet. I really wanted any tutoring to be voluntary, but too many sites were focused on the financial reward. I wanted to give something back and try to make a difference. Voluntary maths tutoring seemed to be something I could do.

Frank recounted

Since 2018, Frank has delivered over 430 maths support sessions for pupils in Bristol.

Having worked specifically in aerodynamics and flight physics for 30 years, Frank said he gets the most satisfaction from feeling useful.

I’m currently taking action to pass on my knowledge and experience and this has made me think about helping even younger people develop themselves.

Giving heart

Beyond volunteering, Frank has donated to several fundraising campaigns run by Action Tutoring to expand academic support to more disadvantaged pupils in hard-to-reach areas across the country. 

Through his contributions to our Big Give Christmas Challenge, Champions for Children campaign, and 10th-anniversary impact celebrations among others, Frank is making a lasting difference in the lives of young people from low-income families.

Play to learn

The pupils Frank supports every week in face-to-face tutoring sessions have described him as a great and humble tutor who brings in lots of games to play during tutoring sessions. 

His approach to tutoring has garnered a lot of love from pupils in schools in Bristol.

Platinum Jubilee Volunteering Award

The King’s Garden Party invitation comes on the heels of Action Tutoring receiving The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Volunteering Award. It recognised the service and impact of its inspiring volunteer tutors on disadvantaged young people across England in empowering young people and providing them with skills and opportunities.

Commenting on how he felt being selected to attend the garden party, Frank said: “It was a bolt out of the blue and I chuckled a bit.”

The Big Help Out for Volunteering

Volunteering has taken centre stage as the coronation of King Charles is set for this weekend. The value of volunteering is a key component of the celebrations in tribute to the King’s lifetime of public service.

In the spirit of volunteering and to mark the historic event nationwide, the Big Help Out is being rolled out to raise awareness of diverse volunteering opportunities for people to make a difference in their communities throughout the UK. The Big Help Out is on the bank holiday Monday of the Coronation – May 8th.

With the Big Help Out campaign aimed at encouraging a national day of volunteering, find out more about how you can support our Big Help Out initiative and some important information on the event.

What is the Big Help Out?

A concept developed by the coalition of Royal Voluntary Service and Together, the Big Help Out is an initiative to showcase the value and impact of volunteering for people and communities who take part. 

The campaign is urging people to sign up – online and via a new app – to participate in various volunteer opportunities across the country on the Coronation  Bank Holiday. The aim is to get more people who traditionally don’t volunteer to consider it.

Why is it important?

Charities are facing a challenge with recruiting volunteers as the number of people signing up to give back their time and efforts has been on a steady decline in the last year. 

The Big Help Out campaign seeks to engage diverse groups of people to volunteer and celebrate the impact of volunteers on community and nation-building.

How can you get involved with Action Tutoring’s initiative?

For the Big Help Out on May 8th, we are asking you to write a letter of support to secondary pupils about to sit their GCSEs.

Remember the anxiety and nerves you may have had before your final exams? The feeling is typical for most students because the outcome matters for their future prospects.

A pass grade is a difference between being handed the key to the door of opportunity or having the door slammed in your face. Pupils who do not achieve a pass grade in their maths and English are less likely to be able to access further study or employment.

The GCSE pupils we support have been working hard all year, receiving extra tuition in English or maths. They deserve every encouragement ahead of their exams. 

Lend us a hand by writing a note of support in our Good Luck Book to the GCSE candidates this year. One word, one sentence, one paragraph, and one letter can be the defining motivation that compels them to go all out and pass their exams.

What’s your message to the GCSE candidates? We will feature a cross-section of the notes on our social media platforms and compile them for the candidates.

How you can get involved beyond the Big Help Out?

With summer term underway, more pupils from low-income backgrounds are in need of additional academic support to help them pass their grades in English and maths. 

You can help by volunteering with us for at least an hour each week, either online or face-to-face, to give disadvantaged pupils the academic support they need.

Previous teaching experience is not required and training and resources are provided for all volunteers.