Words by Smiley Team
When schools across the UK were closed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, pupils and their families had to switch to home learning.
But for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, in particular, school closures represented a huge blow to their education.
Research shows these pupils were already, on average, 18 months behind their peers in English and maths. And the impact of the pandemic widened this gap by up to 75 per cent - equivalent to these students now being 2.5 years behind.
Charity Action Tutoring, which has worked since 2012 to provide free one-to-one or small group lessons to disadvantaged pupils, wants to address this gap.
And they need volunteer tutors to help them do it.
Action Tutoring CEO Susannah Hardyman explained: “There is fantastic evidence that tutoring works to improve academic attainment; that’s precisely why so many parents will pay for it for their children.
“An intense programme of one-to-one or small-group tuition could add as much as five months’ progress to a young person’s schooling.
“I believe it is our moral imperative to help as many disadvantaged pupils as possible who’ve been impacted by the crisis, and that levelling the educational playing field must be a collective effort.
“We can’t do it on our own. We need more volunteers to join us as tutors to ensure no child is left behind.”
Funding from the Government’s National Tutoring Programme - designed to help children catch up on their education after losing months of classroom time - means the charity has now set a target to double in size and reach 5,000 pupils to support them in making up for lost classroom time.
Pupils like Farzana, a year 11 student at the Academy of St Francis of Assisi, Liverpool, who received maths tutoring from the charity, have seen the benefit. She attended 18 maths tutoring sessions and climbed up by three grades in her GCSEs.
Farzana said: “I absolutely hated maths at the beginning, I despised it.
“Now, I feel more confident and that is all down to my tutor - I love my sessions with her because I know she’s there to help and we have loads of fun whilst learning. I think the fun element of it is what has made me learn.”
Volunteer tutors do not need previous experience as training, development is provided by the charity, and the commitment is small - one hour a week for 8-10 weeks. There are also opportunities for both face-to-face and online tutoring.
If you would like to find out more information about volunteering as a tutor then visit the Action Tutoring website or find them on Twitter.
