Longer term funding for the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) is needed to salvage catch-up in many schools, tutoring and schools leaders and experts have warned.
Funding for the government’s flagship catch-up NTP is currently set to end in 2024, and the current government subsidy paid to schools to fund tutoring has reduced to 50 per cent - which many trusts aren’t sure they can afford.
One tutoring leader told Tes that “all of the good work” on catch-up “is at risk of being thrown out of the window” as infrastructure to support it in schools will be dismantled.
Action Tutoring CEO Susannah Hardyman said the programme needs more stability and called for clarity on its future in this year’s autumn statement - warning that schools are starting to consider pulling out as a result of a lack of a longer-term plan from the government.
“It can’t change subsidy every year and schools need a long-term commitment. At the moment, some schools are even saying, ‘What’s the point of getting it up and running if it’s not going to continue next year?’” she said.
“A later announcement will be difficult for schools if they have already made budget decisions - and many of them already will have if a decision comes later in the spring,” she added.
Full funding and clear guidance
The chief executive of the Education Policy Institute, Natalie Perera, echoed calls for the government to commit to tutoring in the long term but said it needed to come with clear guidance on how it can best have an impact in terms of frequency, duration and who delivers it.
“A long-term tutoring policy is welcome, but it must be fully funded and evidence-based,” she added.
And James Bowen, assistant general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, warned that many schools have “found themselves unable to take full advantage of the NTP because budgets are so tight.
“Even with a 50 per cent subsidy, many are struggling to make up the difference,” he added.
‘Unlikely to survive’
Only 58 per cent of trust leaders told the Confederation of School Trusts that they were planning to use the NTP this year due to struggles matching the funding - a drop from three-quarters of trusts (75 per cent) who said they planned to use it last year.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, warned that the NTP “is unlikely to survive” when the subsidy is withdrawn.
He said: “The notion that it will be absorbed into other funding streams, such as pupil premium, is highly unlikely as this funding is already committed towards strategies for pupil support.”
Mr Barton said it would be more effective to allocate ring-fenced money for the NTP to schools covering 100 per cent of the costs.
Mr Bowen added that the “lack of certainty over the long-term future of the programme also remains an issue”.
“Setting up a tutoring programme takes time and planning, and school leaders rightly want clarity that this won’t be another policy that comes and goes,” he said.
Disadvantage gap
A study published this week found that the disadvantage gap remains wider than before the pandemic.
Researchers at the National Foundation for Educational Research found that catch-up support was having an effect on the Covid learning gap though, and said results showed catch-up needed to particularly focus on the lowest-attaining pupils to boost progress.
Professor Becky Francis CBE, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, said failing to fully embed tutoring long term could see it “reverting back to being an attainment gap widener - available only to those who can afford it”.
She added: “Time and time again, tutoring has proven to be one of the best-evidenced, most impactful approaches to supporting all learners to achieve their potential.
“Our tiered approach to pupil premium spending is clear on the importance of such targeted academic interventions for children who need it most - those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.
“While there have been challenges, we mustn’t underestimate what the NTP has achieved since it began, bringing access to tutoring to every postcode in the country for the first time - a significant milestone.”
NTP report deadline extended
End-of-year statements for use of catch-up funding for 2022-23 were originally supposed to be submitted by 29 September, but the deadline has been extended to next week due to “some users facing difficulties when trying to access the form”.
The NTP has announced the form for submissions has reopened, with a deadline of 12 October.
Mr Barton said: “It is frustrating that the NTP continues to be plagued by issues that make accessing tutoring and complying with rules around funding more difficult for schools than it really should be.
“We hope lessons will be learned from this and that the Department for Education will be doing everything it can to make the process as smooth as possible going forward.”
A DfE spokesperson said it has made more than £1 billion available through the NTP and is matching schools’ costs this year.
“We will continue to support schools to deliver tutoring into the future, including through the pupil premium, which is rising to £2.9 billion this year - the highest cash terms rates since this funding began,” they added.
