Professional Development

The Future Of Education Depends On High-Quality Tutoring

While the National Tutoring Programme has ended, the pressing need for high-quality tuition remains. Ed Marsh, CEO at Tutor Trust, shares how tutoring programmes can (and should) be used to address many of the challenges facing our education system.
Tutor helping secondary school student use a computer.

The pandemic has had a significant and unequal impact on young people’s educational attainment. Recent research shows that disadvantaged pupils are now 10 months behind their peers at the end of primary school and 19 months at the end of secondary school – and that impact is not spread equally; it’s twice as big in cities in the North as in London. Leeds faces a 12-month gap compared to London's 6-month gap.

The attainment gap between the poorest and richest regions of the UK is only compounded by other challenges facing our education system. Research has shown that pupil absenteeism, teacher shortages and school budgets are all putting a strain on schools across the country. Overcoming these challenges will require a combined, focused effort from across the education sector. Tutoring programmes can (and should) be a part of the solution.

Top 3 ways high-quality tutoring programmes have a positive impact

1. Improving attainment

High-quality tutoring programmes have a proven positive impact on pupil attainment. Our own randomised controlled trials, commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), found that pupils receiving 12 hours of maths tutoring from us made three months' additional progress compared with their peers.

'[When]…done well, and aligned to high-quality teaching, tutoring can be hugely successful in accelerating progress for struggling learners.'

EEF, 2022

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