A new research study by NatCen about the National Pilot of Online Tutoring has shown the extent of the positive impact our tutors have had. The findings from the study, published in an article on the National Tutoring Programme website, show online tutoring can be “a powerful tool” for improving pupils’ outcomes.  Online tutoring is here to stay at Tutor Trust and is now vital to our mission of ‘transforming lives through tutoring’.

Tutor Trust were chosen to be part of the national online tutoring pilot in June.  It was set up to test the feasibility and promise of online tutoring as a means of supporting pupils affected by school closures. We supported 90 pupils in Years 5 and 10 across Greater Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, with each pupil receiving 12 hours of Maths and 12 hours of English tutoring.

Our charity was one of just four organisations selected for the pilot; alongside Action Tutoring, MyTutor and The Access Project, the pilot delivered 7,000 lessons of high-quality online tutoring.  Tutor Trust was the only delivery partner based here in the North of England.  

The pilot was jointly funded by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), the Wellcome Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, The Hg Foundation, the Dulverton Trust, Porticus UK and the Inflexion Foundation. Evaluation of the pilot was carried out by NatCen Social Research.

According to a study of 1,000 pupils who benefitted from the national pilot, 9 in 10 children said tutoring made them feel more confident with their schoolwork. Tutor Trust made sure that 75% of all the pupils we worked with were classed as vulnerable learners and/or eligible for Free School Meals, to ensure we were making a difference to the most disadvantaged children in our partner schools.

The Chief Executive of the EEF, Prof Becky Francis, commented:

“This study shows that online tutoring – which will be offered alongside face-to-face provision through the National Tutoring Programme – can be an essential tool to support students and teachers this academic year.

"The National Tutoring Programme is designed to be a tool for teachers, complementing what goes on in the classroom during an extremely challenging year.”

We’re incredibly proud to see that our first venture into online tutoring has had such a positive impact.  A big ‘thank you’ from us to all the funders and partners involved in this pilot; we look forward to working with you further to continue helping the schools and pupils most affected by this year’s COVID disruption.