Schools in the North and Midlands will be invited to apply for catch-up teaching support and training next term, backed by £10 million of government funding.
The funding was originally announced in February as part of the government’s £22 million Accelerator Fund that aims to “scale up and spread effective teaching practice to ensure pupils have the best chance of catching up following the pandemic”.
£10 million of the funding has already been used for English and maths catch-up sessions. The remainder, announced by the Department for Education this week, will focus on the North of England, the East Midlands and the Humber, and the West Midlands as areas that have experienced significant learning loss according to DfE research, using programmes identified by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).
Announcing the funding, schools minister Robin Walker said the funding would support the EEF to provide “focused support” on recovery programmes, including tutoring and teacher training.
The EEF said it will support a number of programmes for schools in the regions. Further details of the programmes are due to be announced in the new year.
It added that the year-long initiative will expand programmes that have previously been proven effective in helping pupils catch up, while the EEF Research Schools Network will work with schools in the regions to develop new programmes.
The Research Schools Network will also develop a training programme “to support other schools in diagnosing areas for development in their setting, identifying possible improvement strategies, and implementing these successfully”, the EEF said.
Details of specific activities that schools can take part in will be available in January and February 2022 and could include professional development programmes for early years staff to support pupils’ language and social skills or for training teaching assistants to give intensive support to pupils who are falling behind, the EEF said.
The nine research schools involved in the early stage programme development are: Oldham, Townend Associate, Charles Dickens, Kyra, East London, Kingsbridge, Shotton Hall, Sheffield Associate and Blackpool.
They are expected to test programmes in schools within the three regions of the North of England, East Midlands and the Humber and the West Midlands.
Schools will be able to sign up for programmes from January and February onwards.
