We are transforming tuition: EEF report shows 3 months of additional progress in Maths from our tuition; our own Impact Report shows tuition boost to both SATS and GCSE results

Today sees the publication of two major reports about the positive impact of Tutor Trust on pupil attainment and aspirations in Greater Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool:  First, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is releasing its evaluation report on the randomised control trial it conducted in 2017.  EEF’s report is a strong endorsement of our work, and we are now discussing with EEF and Impetus-PEF how our charity can serve even more schools.

Sir Kevan Collins, Chief Executive of EEF, is encouraging Headteachers to partner with Tutor Trust: 

“Schools should consider the Tutor Trust’s model as a cost-effective way to boost attainment for struggling pupils." 

Second, our 2018 Impact Report showcases the wonderful work of our 300 tutors across the full range of our services: English, Science and Maths across Primary, Secondary and FE.  Our Impact Report is not just about better outcomes in exams, important though that is.  The Impact Report captures pupil voice, case studies and the views of school leaders and classroom teachers.

We are thrilled to be able to share such compelling and heart-warming evidence that Tutor Trust is ‘transforming tuition’ by using University undergraduates as paid tutors in local state schools.  Most of the young people we support are disadvantaged pupils on Free School Meals or Looked After Children.  Since 2011, our tutors have delivered over 90,000 hours of tuition at over 300 schools. 

EEF Evaluation Report

The EEF evaluation was a large-scale, high-quality effectiveness study in the form of a randomised control trial, involving 105 primary schools and 1,290 pupils across Greater Manchester and Leeds.  The study examined the impact of Tutor Trust’s Year 6 Maths tuition on KS2 SATS results in May 2017, with KS1 SATS results as the baseline. 

The headline results are very strong: pupils in the intervention group who received our tuition made an additional 3 months of progress in Maths compared with pupils in the control group.  On average, this 3 months of additional progress was the outcome from just 12 hours of tuition, delivered on a 1:3 tutor to pupil basis.  The cost of the intervention was low, at just £112 per child. 

Tutor Trust wants to help close the attainment gap in England’s schools and we are proud members of the Fair Education Alliance, so we are particularly pleased that EEF found our tutors made the biggest difference to pupils on Free Schools Meals and pupils with low prior attainment.  The pupils in this evaluation were three times more likely to be on Free School Meals than the national average. 

This ambitious research study was designed to test whether the Tutor Trust intervention worked under everyday conditions in a large number of schools, and we passed this test with flying colours.  EEF commissioned York Trials Unit (University of York) and Durham University to carry out the evaluation independently.  The security rating for this research is high - four ‘padlocks’ on the EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit.

In addition to the rigorous data analysis of outcomes, EEF also conducted a process evaluation.  This included observations of tuition as well as interviews with and surveys of Headteachers, classroom teachers and pupils.  The feedback from schools was overwhelmingly positive.   

Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation and founder of the Sutton Trust, said today: 

“Private tuition has grown rapidly over the past decade so that it is now a £2 billion industry.  However, due to the cost which averages £27 per hour it is only better-off pupils who benefit.”

“Our trial which was conducted with disadvantaged pupils showed that private tuition is highly effective with this group with as little as 12 hours resulting in three months more progress. The challenge for the future is to scale up and bring the benefits of this model to a large number of disadvantaged young people.” 

Yvette Sullivan, Headteacher of St Paul’s CofE Primary School in Salford (one of our EEF evaluation schools), commented:

“The Tutor Trust ensured that through effective communication with school, the correct pupils were targeted, either 1-1 or in small groups, in order to ensure a positive impact on the outcomes for them, in attainment, progress, and in confidence and enjoyment in their learning.”

“The tutors have been flexible, have dealt with our pupils sensitively and professionally, and have always been well trained, ensuring that since the trial we have continued to use the Tutor Trust to support our pupil’s learning and would recommend them to other schools.”

Tutor Trust 2018 Impact Report

In the 2017/18 academic year, a total of 300 tutors delivered over 17,000 sessions for us, serving over 3,000 young people at 154 schools in Greater Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool. 

We work with pupils who would not otherwise be able to access tutors - 58% of our tutees are eligible for Pupil Premium and 5% are Looked After Children.

Absolutely everything we do at Tutor Trust is designed to ensure that every single hour that one of our tutors spends with a young person gives that tutee the maximum possible benefit.  Through our growing team of Quality Managers (all qualified teachers), quality assurance and impact assessment are tightly woven into the fabric of the charity. 

Our Impact Report shows that the individualised support that pupils receive from our tutors makes a real difference; before tuition, 23% of our Primary school tutees were working at the expected level for their age; by the end of tuition, that figure had risen to 77%.

At GCSE level, too, our tutors improve outcomes for young people: 74% of our Year 11 Maths tutees and 73% of our Year 11 English tutees received a grade 4 or above in their tuition subject. 

Impact is about more than simply grades. Our partner schools point to pupils’ increased confidence and self-belief, and to the importance our tutors can have as role models pointing the way to further and higher education. The pupils themselves agree, with 82% feeling more confident in their ability after tuition. And, of course, our tutors benefit too, not only from the satisfaction of helping young people succeed, but from developing invaluable skills that will support them in their future careers.

Our future plans

As a proudly Northern born-and-bred charity with its HQ in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, our immediate priority is to serve more schools in more cities in the Northern Powerhouse area.  We also want to build on our pilot projects on challenging education issues such as Transition and Alternative Provision, where so much more could be done to help every young person fulfil their potential.

We celebrated our 7^th Birthday as a charity in September 2018 and we are now actively planning the next phase of our growth and success, in discussion with the Education Endowment Foundation, Impetus-PEF and other partners.  We want to boost still further both the quality and impact of our services and the number of cities and schools we can serve, in a sustainable way. 

The Co-Founders of Tutor Trust, Nick Bent and Abigail Shapiro, commented:

“We are thrilled with this gold standard evidence of our impact and it is a credit to our tutors and our staff team.  We are transforming tuition so that the attainment and aspirations of the young people we serve can be transformed.  As a charity, we are unique in Britain in offering a tuition service to schools that is high quality, high impact and yet low cost.”

To read our 2018 Impact Report and to download the full evaluation report from EEF, please visit our Impact page here.