We have seen a development in the way tutoring is utilised in mainstream education across the country. Schools are now offering tutoring as a provision alongside traditional classroom-based teaching and learning, this of course following the Department for Education’s Covid recovery programme and the advent of the National Tutoring Programme (DfE, 2023a).
Many schools are making use of the NTP funding, despite reduced subsidies. This year, mainstream schools will receive from the NTP grant a minimum of £67.50 per eligible Pupil Premium pupil and non-mainstream schools receive a minimum of £176.25. The money can be spent on any pupil deemed to require tutoring, but schools must prioritise disadvantaged pupils (DfE, 2023a). NTP funding can be used to pay for 50% of the total cost incurred to deliver tutoring. This is subject to the maximum hourly per-pupil rate of £18 for mainstream schools and £47 for non-mainstream schools (DfE, 2023b).
The form this tutoring will take varies from school to school, with some using external providers (known as tuition partners under the NTP) while others deliver in-house provision.
In this article, I will discuss five different ways a primary school can use tutoring effectively. Before I begin, however, I would also like to propose three more general “top tips” relevant irrespective of the tuition method.
- Identify the needs of your school. Who requires tuition the most? Who will it have the most impact on? For example, is it year 6s who are below expectations in reading or is it year 2 pupils who have failed their recent phonics assessment? Don’t be reactionary but think long-term and be proactive.
- Keep the group sizes small. Research shows that children can make significant progress when the learning groups are no bigger than three pupils per adult (see DfE, 2022).
- Who is the best person to get the best out of the children? A great teacher is the main ingredient to success when it comes to pupil achievement in the classroom; it is no different with tuition. Choose the adults wisely and consider their relationship to the child, their subject knowledge, their integrity, reliability and effectiveness as a teacher.
1, Small group tutoring: External providers
One way for schools to provide tutoring effectively is to hire an external tutor to provide tuition in your school. You can liaise with an external tuition provider via the DfE’s tuition partners directory (see further information) who can source you a tutor.
The advantage of using external providers is that it minimises the workload involved for the school. Tutors should be sourced and vetted for you. This usually includes safeguarding training from the provider.
The tutor will become an extension of your school staff, ready to be directed and assigned a group of pupils to start tutoring. As such, it is important to have some form of induction in-school, including the names of the children and their classes, a timetable, a designated space, safeguarding training, and introductions to key members of staff they will liaise with as well as their line-manager for a check-in and check-out.
It is never easy coming into a school where you don’t know anyone and are expected to have an instant impact. Schools can be chaotic at the best of times and if the systems are not in place, it will be hard for an external tutor to hit the ground running.
Case study: When our pupils had completed their assessments in the autumn term, we looked at the data with our teachers and found our year 5 cohort was not performing well in maths assessments. We pinpointed the specific area the children struggled with and identified the group of children who would benefit from additional support. We hired a tutor from an external provider who came in and tutored 15 pupils twice a week. The children’s progress was reviewed during the next assessment period. It’s important to note that we followed the DfE’s advice (2023a) and ensured each child was receiving 15 hours of tuition. Consequently, an additional progress review took place after each child completed their 15 hours.
2, Small group tutoring: School-led tutors
Teachers can provide tuition to an identified group of children before and after school, perhaps focusing on literacy, numeracy and science. This comes with the obvious advantage that staff members are more familiar with the children. The relationship between the staff member and school will lead to greater opportunities for discussions with class teachers and the parents, too.
It is important to note that your pupils should not be missing out on lesson time in their curriculum subjects in order to receive tuition. Hence why it is strongly recommended that all tuition takes place as an extra-curricular activity before or after school.
Case study: When our year 2 pupils had completed their assessments, the data highlighted those who were not passing their phonics test. The year 2 team did a progress review which involved the identification of pupils who were scoring low. The children who would benefit from tutoring were identified and teachers were offered the opportunity to tutor these pupils after school. Once teachers had expressed their interest, parents were offered the chance to sign up their child. The group sizes were no more than three and the sessions lasted for approximately an hour. In the end, everyone was satisfied. Our teachers earned extra income and our parents were happy to access tuition for free.
3, One-to-one tuition
One-to-one tuition is a great way for schools to effectively use tuition and it is particularly effective with pupils who have difficulties in accessing the curriculum and/or require additional support. They can be provided tuition before or after school and receive a personalised approach to their learning. With school’s struggling financially, it may seem a bit of a luxury to offer tuition one child at a time when a larger group of pupils could benefit. But research suggests one-on-one time with a teacher may lead to, on average, five months additional progress for disadvantaged pupils, compared to the four months additional progress yielded by small group tuition (DfE, 2022). Therefore one-on-one time with a tutor could prove impactful albeit more costly.
4, Tutoring away from the core subjects
Historically, tuition is considered an opportunity to improve children’s literacy and numeracy skills or at least their performance in core subjects. However, schools can also improve a pupil’s development in other areas, particularly if they have SEN. For instance, a child with speech and communication difficulties may benefit from a specialist tutor who can support the child with speech and language therapy. It is important that schools retain the same principles of tuition when supporting children with SEN. The group sizes should not exceed more than two children and the intervention should be linked to a target on the child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. Even if tuition is not considered a strategy on a child’s EHCP, it is beneficial to include their progress using this intervention during the EHCP annual review meeting.
5, Mentors
A mentor can be an effective way of delivering tuition for pupils who require a more bespoke approach. Hiring an academic mentor is an effective way for schools to deliver tuition because of the flexible and adaptable nature of the role. Just like a school-led tutor/teacher, an academic mentor is employed by the school. The notable difference between the two is that an academic mentor is not a qualified teacher meaning they may have less experience in the classroom and fewer teaching-specific qualifications.
But one advantage of an academic mentor is that their approach to supporting pupils is more holistic. Although they can provide academic support, their role requires them to be flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of the child for the sake of a positive learning outcome. As a result, an academic mentor will have greater autonomy over their style and approach while being managed and directed by a school senior leader. Academic mentoring is the third strand of the NTP.
Final thoughts
There are different approaches to tutoring and the strategy you choose will be determined by the needs of the school and your pupils. Remember: you may use one approach for one year group or a number of approaches across different phases. Whatever you do, be intentional and include all stakeholders in your review of pupil progress, including the pupils themselves.
Emmanuel Awoyelu is a primary school teacher, SENCO and former assistant headteacher. He is currently working overseas as a specialist inclusion teacher in the UAE and has a wealth of experience supporting children from disadvantaged backgrounds. He developed the tutoring programme used in his previous school and has created similar tutoring models for his charity The Reach Out Project. Visit www.mannyawo.com or follow him on X (Twitter) @MannyAwo. Find his previous articles and podcast and webinar appearances for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/emmanuel-awoyelu
Headteacher Update Autumn Term Edition 2023
- This article first appeared in Headteacher Update's Autumn Term Edition 2023. This edition was sent free of charge to every primary school in the country in September. A digital edition is also available via www.headteacher-update.com/content/downloads
Further information & resources
- DfE: School-led tutoring guidance, 2022: https://tinyurl.com/38682mz9
- DfE: National Tutoring Programme: Guidance for schools, last updated 2023a: https://tinyurl.com/4udpy6mv
- DfE: National Tutoring Programme: Allocations for 2023/24 academic year, 2023b: https://tinyurl.com/33zshzky
- DfE: National Tutoring Programme: Directory of Tuition Partners: www.find-tuition-partner.service.gov.uk
- Headteacher Update: One-to-one tutoring: Dos & don’ts, 2022: http://tinyurl.com/yv6f5pdf
- NTP: Academic mentors: www.ntpacademicmentors.co.uk