The final year of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) brought a big fall in the percentage of schools using it for post-Covid catch-up, after a cut in the programme’s funding.
Final figures for the NTP for 2023-24, released today, show that just 59.4 per cent of schools made use of it - a significant fall from the 73.8 per cent that used it in 2022-23.
There remained a regional divide in the proportion of schools making use of the programme. Only 53.6 per cent of schools in the North East used the tutoring scheme, compared with 70.9 per cent in London.
The drop-off in schools using the NTP in the 2023-24 academic year had already been evident in data from January and May.
The government subsidy of the four-year NTP gradually reduced in value, from 75 per cent in the scheme’s first year to 50 per cent in its final year, in line with policy.
NTP courses helped pupils with SEND
In the year up to May 2024, 45.2 per cent of pupils who received tutoring under the NTP were known to be eligible for free school meals within the past six years, and 28.1 per cent were known to have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). This meant that a higher proportion of NTP courses were delivered to pupils with SEND than in 2022-23.
It was estimated that 1,500,033 tutoring courses were delivered over 2023-24, far fewer than the 2,142,822 the previous year.
The NTP reached around 1.07 million pupils in 2023-24.
Despite pleas from MPs from across the political parties, the previous government did not extend funding for the NTP beyond the initial four years and the Labour government has not announced any funding for tutoring.
The Department for Education, under the previous Conservative government, had said schools wanting to continue tutoring to help post-pandemic catch-up efforts could continue to do so using pupil premium cash.
However, school leaders warned repeatedly that they would be unable to afford tutoring without funding.
Analysis by consultancy Public First suggested that the scheme will eventually lead to 390,000 grade improvements.
Tackling the disadvantage gap
The most recent key stage 4 performance data shows that the disadvantage-related attainment gap had widened on two headline measures. The gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students for achieving grade 5 or above in GCSE English and maths and Attainment 8 has increased slightly, compared with 2022-23.
A report by Tim Oates, director at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, commissioned by the Association of School and College Leaders, warned that there were “serious dangers” in “assuming schools are back to normal” after the pandemic.
He added that responses to the problems in education stemming from the Covid pandemic have been “inadequate”.
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
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