Build a National Tutoring Programme to support learners from under-resourced backgrounds

Monday 25th March 2024

The challenge that a progressive government needs to address

In recent years, there has been a quiet revolution in the nature of pupil tutoring, with undergraduates topping up their income (or reducing their student debt) by serving as online tutors.

Programmes such as Teach First and Now Teach have demonstrated the value of attracting new cohorts into the teaching profession.

A funded national online tutoring programme staffed by second year and third year undergraduates and postgraduates could connect future professionals with aspirant but disadvantaged learners and would doubtless open the possibility of a career in teaching – or education more broadly – for some.

It would also connect undergraduate and post graduate communities with children and families from under-resourced backgrounds, thereby facilitating an exchange of cultural capitals and ensuring that the benefits of additional ‘private’ tutoring are no longer the preserve of the better-off.

In short, this kind of funded tutoring, potentially accessible to all on some form of income support or universal credit, would serve to level the playing field, rather than – as private tutoring currently does – steepening the slope.

The proposed policy response

Establishing a pilot for such a programme in say, half a dozen, localities (urban, rural and coastal), would be a viable and achievable starting point, and, if successful regional and national roll-outs could follow, with a similar model used to support other groups, for instance adults with poor literacy or numeracy or those seeking to improve their language skills.

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