Join our innovative AI action research project
Exploring technology’s role in closing the attainment gap
Across the UK, 2.2 million pupils in receipt of Free School Meals could benefit from targeted support. At Action Tutoring, we bring over 14 years of expertise, evidence, and deep understanding of how inequality creates gaps in young people’s knowledge in English and maths.
As part of our commitment to equity, we launched an action research project to investigate whether a custom-built, AI-supported ‘digital tutor’ can help bridge the gap between our current reach and the millions of pupils who need us. We are asking the brave question on behalf of the young people we serve: can technology safely democratise access to high-quality tutoring without compromising impact?
We’re looking for state-maintained secondary schools in England to participate and help to understand how technology can best support disadvantaged pupils.
To acknowledge the time commitment required for participation and data collection, we are offering a ‘thank you’ payment to each participating school (which will vary depending on the level of commitment). If you’re a school leader who would like to be involved in our innovative new research, register your details via our expression of interest form, or find out more below.
How the project works: An evidence-based, constrained digital tutor
Our goal is to evaluate the efficacy of digital tutoring for pupils facing disadvantage while determining the optimal structure of human support required to deliver it.
Our initial digital tool has been rigorously refined over six months of development. It is presented to pupils as an interactive workbook that is strictly constrained to deliver Action Tutoring’s high-quality, evidence-based curriculum. The tool is locked down – it cannot go off-piste, hallucinate, or wander into unvetted content.
We know that engagement and targeted instruction drive impact. Our research tests how a safe, AI-supported platform – retaining human oversight at every stage – can combine the personalisation of digital technology with the relational power of human support.
Why should your school take part?
- Contribute to the initial phase of innovative new research to understand how new technology can best support disadvantaged pupils.
- Help ensure the AI revolution is an equitable one, helping bridge the attainment gap instead of widening it.
- After action research completion and collection of qualitative and quantitative data collection, Action Tutoring will give your school a thank you payment.
How does the action research work?
Delivery will follow the same format as our existing high-impact, evidenced-based model and use a safe, digital tool to deliver the tutoring.
Following an initial testing phase, we are evolving our research into a series of iterative learning cycles starting in the autumn term. We plan to work closely with a small group of partner schools over multi-week periods to explore pupil engagement, teacher experience, and the viability of various delivery models. This flexible approach allows us to refine the integration of generative AI tools based on real-time feedback and evidence.
As we move forward, we will continue to prioritise our high standards of safeguarding and provide dedicated support to participating schools through our programme coordinators. By testing across different timeframes and school settings, we aim to build a robust understanding of how this new technology can best support our mission to close the attainment gap.
Who can take part?
Your school must be:
- A state-maintained mainstream secondary school in England.
- Serving a pupil population where 18% or more qualify for the Pupil Premium.
- Not working with Action Tutoring in the academic year 2025/26.
- Accessible from our regional hubs; we will confirm whether we can support your specific location during the initial enquiry stage.
Research input requirements:
- Pupil and teacher surveys
- Pupil and teacher focus groups
- Collection of quantitative and qualitative data
The AI revolution is happening. At Action Tutoring, we’re making sure it’s an equitable one.
There is a valid concern in the education sector that AI could accelerate a two-tiered system – where pupils from wealthier backgrounds receive human tuition, while those facing disadvantage are left with automated tools.
We share this skepticism, which is precisely why we are conducting this research.
Equity underpins our entire mission. We are actively investigating this model to ensure that digital innovation specifically responds to the distinct learning needs of disadvantaged pupils rather than widening existing gaps. Our approach balances optimism with healthy scepticism: we expect human oversight to remain critical to effective tutoring, but we owe it to the 2.2 million pupils who miss out on support to test if technology can level the playing field at scale.
If you’re a school leader who would like to be involved in our innovative research, register your details here.
FAQs
At Action Tutoring, our vision is simple: ensuring that a young person’s background does not dictate their future. For over 14 years, we have seen the transformative power of a dedicated tutor through engagement and a targeted curriculum.
While our volunteer model has a proven, life-changing impact, the sheer scale of the attainment gap requires us to think bigger. There are currently 2.2 million pupils in receipt of Free School Meals in the UK today who could benefit from our support.
We’re interested in how an AI tutoring model can combine the ‘personalisation power’ of Generative AI with the ‘engagement power’ of human relationships.
No, we are not abandoning our volunteer-delivery model. Our human tutors are the heartbeat of Action Tutoring. While we are exploring the benefits of AI, this is an addition to our portfolio, not a replacement. Specifically, we believe AI could significantly expand our reach, allowing us to support thousands more young people in budget-constrained schools who we currently cannot help. Our commitment to our volunteer community remains as steadfast as it was 14 years ago.
No, our work is independent of the work announced by the Department for Education in January 2026.
Action Tutoring is well-positioned to explore AI because we understand schools, know how to scale national interventions, and have experience mobilising large groups of people to deliver a specific model.
Above all, we are an evidence-based organisation, committed to rigorous evaluation. This commitment is exemplified by our current, large-scale Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) partnership with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to measure the impact of our affordable maths tuition in secondary schools.
We believe that all interventions, including AI, must be carefully studied to ensure they truly bridge the attainment gap, and our strong brand and influence in the policy and education sector gives us the responsibility to help investigate and advise the role of AI in tutoring.
Our ability to uphold our high standards of safeguarding has been included as a non-negotiable in the criteria that we are using to assess potential AI tools. We will be carefully managing risks and including additional safety considerations in the design phase.
Data collected during the research will be used to evaluate effective programme delivery, meet safeguarding requirements, verify programme eligibility, support a rigorous evaluation of AI tutoring impact, and inform future decision-making and programme design. Data will be collected in line with the British Research Association’s Ethical Guidelines.
Schools can review Action Tutoring’s privacy notices to understand how data will be collected, shared, and used throughout the process.
