School closures: Action Tutoring aims to deliver online sessions during lockdown
With the recent government announcement that schools will close until at least 21st February to help curb the spread of Covid-19, Action Tutoring aims to continue as many online tutoring programmes as possible during lockdown, to support disadvantaged pupils when they need it most.
We have been officially approved by the National Tutoring Programme to deliver tutoring to pupils at home. This means that we have satisfied their criteria that we can deliver effective and safe tutoring to pupils who are based at home. We piloted our home-based approach, as part of a national evaluation of online tutoring delivery, in 2020.
As a result, we intend to switch all online school programmes to home-based delivery and we are currently working with our existing schools to adapt our current provision, so that we can continue delivering tutoring remotely during lockdown.
Last year’s lockdown has shown us that school closures impact pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in a disproportionately negative way, widening the attainment gap and putting them even further behind their peers.
We know that every hour of tutoring delivered will make a big difference to the young people we help, and we are currently in contact with our school partners to discuss arrangements for pupils to receive home-based tutoring during the lockdown.
Due to the rapidly changing and unsettled situation, we anticipate some initial challenges with logistics, technology and engagement. Thank you for bearing with us through this – we’re so grateful for your support. Any session you are able to deliver will make a positive difference to the young people we help. Every session counts.
Face-to-face tutoring on hold
While online programmes convert to home-based learning, Action Tutoring has made the decision to pause all in-person programmes during lockdown. We are looking at ways to supplement the missed sessions later in the year, potentially with revision days in the spring and early summer.
We know face-to-face sessions are of high value to tutors and pupils, and we intend to resume them as soon as it is safe to do so. When schools reopened in the Autumn term, in-person tutoring took place in line with government advice. We hope that we can continue to deliver these sessions when restrictions ease and we will keep volunteers informed about when we will be returning to schools.
Photo courtesy of Abbeywood School
Our tutoring will be needed now more than ever before, to help make up for the time lost. Please spread the word about our volunteering and encourage others to get involved.
If you would like to tutor in person rather than online and such spaces aren’t available immediately due to school closures, we still encourage you to apply and sign up for training, in order to be ready to start as soon as schools reopen.
Similarly, if you’re a school interested in finding out how we might be able to support you this year and what our home-based set-up requires, do get in touch.
Partner as a school Become a volunteer
