“We know that achieving five good GCSEs, including English and maths, and achieving a basic standard in English and maths is critical to being able to progress into further education, employment or training. Nearly 800,000 16–24-year-olds are up not in education, employment or training (NEET), often because they did not obtain the basic GCSEs which would enable them to progress. Action Tutoring exists to help tackle the significant attainment gap that exists between pupils eligible for free school meals and their wealthier peers. This problem has only been exacerbated by COVID. Having scaled quickly to work with over 3000 pupils, we look forward to support Action Tutoring to plan and manage the next phase of scaling their provision which includes their new online model.”
Gina Cicerone and Sam Butters, Co-CEO’s Fair Education Alliance
About Action Tutoring
Action Tutoring is an educational charity supporting pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve at least national standards in the core subjects of English and maths, using high quality volunteer tutors and through partnerships with primary and secondary schools. Action Tutoring registered as a charity in 2012 and has since grown rapidly, currently working in eight cities across England supporting nearly 3,000 pupils a year.
Action Tutoring has demonstrated significant evidence of impact. Pupils on the programme outperform the national averages for disadvantaged pupils. An independent evaluation showed that with just 7-8 sessions, pupils make up to half a grade more progress than non tutored pupils. Since May, Action Tutoring has been piloting an online tutoring programme with ambitious plans to expand this, to reach pupils beyond the current eight cities.
In two years time, through the online programme we aim to have established in satellite cities and areas from our current cities (e.g. Wolverhampton, Rotherham Sunderland, outer London such as Croydon) and be ready to expand into new geographies. The Award will help us significantly to plan for and manage this growth, providing a new network to learn from and enabling us to connect with new schools and potential groups of volunteer tutors.