The quality of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) is “variable” and “inconsistent”, MPs have been told this morning.
Headteachers and school leaders also said they were “dissatisfied” with the programme in relation to its SEND support, and that schools that have trained their own staff to mentor students, rather than engaging with the programme, have made “better progress”.
The comments were part of a range of criticisms of the government’s flagship Covid catch-up scheme given at the Commons Education Select Committee today.
Earlier in the session, heads had raised concerns about a lack of available supply teachers.
Here are the main concerns raised about the NTP:
1. The quality of the programme is ‘really variable’
Speaking to MPs at the committee, Ruth Holden, executive headteacher at Mulberry Academy Shoreditch in East London, said the NTP tutors were “inconsistent” in quality and not always “very good with children”.
Speaking about her school’s experience with the scheme, Ms Holden said: “We found the National Tutoring Programme variable, really variable, and quite inconsistent.”
“Some of those people were very good in terms of their specialism but they weren’t necessarily very good with children, particularly children who need a particular style of engagement, because they aren’t very able, or had connectivity issues or a whole host of things to do with deprivation.”
She added that she wanted the catch-up funding to come directly to schools through the Pupil Premium, as deputy heads had told her the process of applying for the NTP funding was “driving [them] mad”.
2. Schools that have used their own tutors ‘have seen better results’
Nicola Shipman, chief executive officer at Steel City Schools Partnership, a multi-academy trust of primary schools in Sheffield, said that schools that used their own staff rather than NTP tutors had seen better results.
She said: “Relationships are absolutely key and, because some of the pupils that we serve have difficult relationships and have struggled to come back into school, it’s no surprise that for those schools that haven’t engaged with the NTP, the children have made better progress because they have a better relationship with the person.”
The importance of these relationships with children was also touched upon by Jo Coton, executive headteacher at NET Academies Trust, which runs six primary schools in Essex.
Ms Coton said her trust hadn’t used the NTP because of doubts over its effectiveness. She said: “We felt at primary level there needed to be some form of established relationship with the young people first.
“Some of the tutors, perhaps, have [come] from agencies. They tend to be, in my experience, not the most effective teachers.”
3. Schools would have preferred to have money directly
Jill Thompson, a headteacher at Kelvin Grove Primary School in London, said her school had used the NTP and acknowledged that it had “had impacts”.
But she felt that the money could have been used more efficiently if given to schools directly.
She said: “Because of the very tight guidelines about how much you can use and what you can use it for and the number of children, actually, if we had been able to have that money straight into schools to maybe employ people ourselves, we could have actually impacted an awful lot more children.”
Others at the session concurred with this, with Orienne Langley-Sadler, a headteacher at Elms Bank School and College in Greater Manchester, saying that money coming directly to schools would “alleviate an awful lot of bureaucracy”.
She added: “We’d then be able to direct and target appropriately.”
4. NTP is a ‘bureaucratic nightmare’
Ruth Holden also raised issues with the bureaucracy of the National Tutoring Programme.
She said: “It was just a bureaucratic nightmare, filling in everything that we had to in advance for the NTP, to the point where I had deputies coming to me saying, ‘I just don’t have the capacity to do this.’”
Nicola Shipman agreed with this, saying “the portal was very difficult”.
The comments echo those made previously to MPs. In December, Nick Bent, chief executive of the Tutor Trust, one of the partners delivering tutoring in schools, told MPs that Randstad - the provider of the scheme - did not “have enough staff or the right expertise” and there were “problems” with the programme’s tuition hub.
5. Headteachers ‘dissatisfied’ with NTP’s SEND support
Tom Hunt MP, a member of the Commons Education Select Committee, told the school leaders that the committee had heard that there were individuals working on the NTP with a sufficient level of understanding of special educational needs and disabilities to provide very good support.
Those attending the session were asked if that had been the case and Nicola Shipman replied: “No, short and sweet, no not all.”
Ms Langley-Sadler was then asked if she was satisfied or dissatisfied with the National Tutoring Programme in relation to SEND support, to which she said: “Dissatisfied with that”, adding: “There isn’t a pool of experts, the pool of experts are in the schools currently.”
She continued to say: “The expertise is in the schools and obviously we’ve heard today that that is very stretched due to the disruption of Covid.
“I would totally not concur that there is a bank of specialists that have that level of understanding for children with SEND and what they require.”
Appearing at the Commons Education Select Committee earlier this month, Karen Guthrie, NTP director at Randstad, said that 300,000 pupils had now “accessed” the £25 million 2021-22 programme.
This came a month after MPs were told that a group of charities were in “serious talks” to take over running the programme from later this year.
Responding to the issues raised at the committee, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are determined to support children from all backgrounds to catch up on lost learning and reach their potential.”
“Over 300,000 courses were delivered in the last term alone and the programme remains on track to deliver the ambitious target of teaching two million courses this academic year.”
“High quality tuition is key to the delivery of the National Tutoring Programme and there are a range of measures in place including ensuring tutors have appropriate qualifications and experience, along with training in safeguarding, to ensure all Tutoring Partners involved in the programme meet those standards.”
A Randstad spokesperson said: “Work continues at pace to close the gap on lost learning through the National Tutoring Programme, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
“This includes ensuring good quality tutors are in place to provide high quality support - all Tuition Providers accepted onto the NTP framework have successfully passed the robust quality, safeguarding and evaluation standards on the programme and offer a depth of expertise and experience to support schools.”
