Issue 25.5 | EDUCATION BUSINESS MAGAZINE
Written by John Nichols, President of the Tutors’ Association
How can schools secure support under the NTP? School leaders will no doubt be considering where to start and how to secure good quality tuition for their own pupils. There will be two strands to the NTP: NTP Partners, John Nichols, President of the Tutors’ Association, shares how which includes the provision of professional, schools can make use of the National Tutoring Programme expert tutors to provide subsidised tuition to schools, and NTP Academic Mentors (also referred to as ‘NTP Coaches’) which will mean The UK has embarked upon a truly ambitious equivalent of giving a student an extra Spring placing recent graduates into schools to act as endeavour to provide state-funded tuition and Summer term’s worth of education. academic mentors, coordinated by TeachFirst. to disadvantaged students across the The EEF’s analysis is itself fairly limited NTP Academic Mentors will be paid for by the country (initially only England, as education at present, despite showing a high level of school - presumably out of the total catch-up is a devolved matter). Whilst the National impact for tuition. Nonetheless, comparatively funding, although exactly which part of the Tutoring Programme (NTP) and the associated few tuition models have been studied, with budget this will come from is not yet clear. £350 million of funding that it comes a focus on tuition delivery by school staff or Under the NTP Partners aspect of the with – around one third of the total £1 volunteers with comparatively little tuition programme, the EEF is looking to fund a billion catch-up funding – caught almost experience. However, effective tuition is a significant number of organisations or everyone slightly off-guard when it was first complex and intense form of consortia to provide tuition services announced, it is not difficult to imagine why education, distinct from directly to schools as ‘approved the government has taken this approach. classroom teaching. As It providers’, working closely President of The Tutors’ is wide with schools to supply the Why a National Association, with known ly t specialist academic support Tutoring Programme? many thousands h a ta good tu required. The tuition Expert tuition is one of the oldest and highestof hours of both t o r have a (expected to be charged at impact forms of educational intervention. It professional tuition transfo can effect o rmative a flat rate of £50 per hour) is widely known that a good tutor can have and classroom n a will be subsidised by up a transformative effect on a student’s teaching experience s t ud educati to 75 per cent by the EEF education in a way that is without parallel to date, I know on in a ent’s wa and schools will be able to a truly personalised learning experience. this very well. that is w ithout y use other catch-up or Pupil The Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) It seems likely parallel Premium funding to pay for own analysis suggests that tuition delivered their 25 per cent contribution. that one-to-one by expert professionals, From around October at the tuition can bring such as members of The earliest, state-maintained schools are about around five Tutors’ Association, could have expected to be able to book subsidised tuition additional months’ an even greater impact; some of our tutors through the approved providers - although E of progress - the are among the best in the world and are
Tutoring
Recovering lost education after school closures
held in high regard internationally, yet they have not been included in EEF trials to date. Perhaps more importantly, there is the opportunity for professional tuition to be robustly evaluated, which many tutors and tuition providers will welcome. Professional tutors can now be made available to schools on a massive scale under the NTP.
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