The government has revealed its selection process for organisations seeking to provide catch-up tutoring in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
All providers wishing to become a National Tutoring Programme (NTP) ‘Tuition Partner’ and supply external tutors to schools, must meet four eligibility criteria, including experience working with schools, according to new rules published today.
They could be private companies or a range of other organisations including local councils.
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The NTP website states that Tuition Partners, which will provide schools with heavily subsidised catch-up sessions, must meet the following criteria:
- All tutors will be DBS checked and receive safeguarding training.
- All tutors will receive training on how to deliver tutoring. Organisations using untrained tutors will be unable to apply for NTP funding. This is because the evidence indicates that tuition is most effective when tutors are provided with training. Peer-to-peer tutoring (i.e. school-age students tutoring other school-age students) is not eligible for funding through NTP Tuition Partners.
- The organisation has experience of working with schools. Organisations that have not previously worked with schools will be unable to apply for NTP Tuition Partner funding.
- The organisation is willing to participate in the NTP Tuition Partners evaluation and will work with the independent evaluator and the EEF to provide high-quality and timely data using pre-specified templates and processes.
Organisations that pass this stage will then be assessed against the following quality criteria:
- The tutor recruitment and training process. Organisations will have a clear recruitment strategy which results in the recruitment of tutors with the necessary skills. Tutors would then go through a “well-defined and manualised” training programme.
- The systems and processes for school and pupil communication. There will be clear systems and staff in place for communicating with schools to ensure that: the needs of the pupils are appropriately assessed and the content of sessions align with pupil needs and classroom teaching; information is fed back to teachers as required; pupils are provided with clear information on how they are progressing and areas for improvement.
- Quality assurance, monitoring, and impact tracking. Central monitoring systems are in place, which allow organisations to monitor session delivery by tutors and attendance by pupils, identify any issues and make adjustments where necessary. This includes tracking the impact that sessions are having on pupils.
- Experience of working with schools and disadvantaged pupils. Organisations will have experience of working with schools and with the most disadvantaged pupils. They will understand how to engage disadvantaged pupils and overcome common barriers to accessing tutoring.
The NTP website states that providers will be awarded government funding at different levels depending on both how well they meet the quality criteria, and “the level of existing evidence that organisations have related to pupil outcomes”.
The NTP Tuition Partners part of the scheme is being run by the Education Endowment Foundation on behalf of the Department for Education.
It is separate from the NTP Academic Mentors, which will help schools recruit in house coaches and is being led by Teach First.
Both parts of the scheme will share £350 million in DfE funding, as part of the £1 billion coronavirus catch-up package.
