Action Tutoring is thrilled to have been officially confirmed as a Tuition Partner for the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). We know it was a competitive process and we are proud to receive this recognition of the quality of our provision that we offer pupils and schools.
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But what is the National Tutoring Programme?
The NTP is a new government initiative to support disadvantaged pupils to recover from the educational disruption caused by COVID-19.
Action Tutoring was closely involved in campaigning for this, presenting to the Education Select Committee and one of four charities involved in an online tutoring pilot which informed these plans. Our charity has been refining our impactful tutoring model for disadvantaged pupils for nearly a decade. We welcome this national recognition of its benefits and the opportunity for it to become widely available.
“Through a collaboration of organisations across the country, our aim is to make this tuition available to tens of thousands of primary and secondary school pupils.”
Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation.
The Government has proposed a £350 million budget to support the National Tutoring Programme. Some of this funding is being used to provide Academic Mentors in schools to work with pupils, overseen by Teach First, and some will fund Tuition Partners. Schools will only have to contribute 25% of the cost of tutoring through Tuition Partners as part of the programme, the final 75% of the costs of tutoring will be covered by the Government’s funding.
The new National Tutoring Programme has been designed and developed through collaboration with key charities in the education sector – the Education Endowment Foundation, Teach First, Sutton Trust, Impetus, and Nesta.
What does this mean for Action Tutoring?
This initiative and additional funding will allow Action Tutoring to scale its work to reach thousands more pupils across the country whose education has been significantly impacted by the pandemic.
Action Tutoring submitted a comprehensive application to the NTP, which included delivery costs needed to hit an ambitious target of doubling its reach. We believe it is our moral imperative to help as many disadvantaged pupils as possible who’ve been impacted by the crisis, whilst ensuring the scale is achievable for a charity of our size and experience.
How does the national lockdown effect this?
We have been officially approved by the National Tutoring Programme to deliver tutoring to pupils at home. We also piloted our home-based approach, as part of a national evaluation of online tutoring delivery, in 2020.
We are currently working with our existing schools to adapt our current provision so that we can continue delivering tutoring remotely during lockdown.
What’s next?
The NTP funding is currently only for one academic year, for 15 sessions per pupil. The impact of the pandemic is significant. There is a long road ahead for pupils of all ages. We will join other education charities in campaigning for the Government to extend the funding beyond this academic year so more pupils can benefit from tutoring.
The way we deliver our tutoring and the responsibilities of our tutors will not change. However we are expecting to partner with lots more schools as a result of this programme.
