Letter to Nadhim Zahawi regarding The National Tutoring Programme

Please note, you can find a summary of some of our asks put forth by one of the chairs of our Tuition Advocacy Working Group, Action Tutoring CEO Susannah Hardyman, on the Schools Weekly website here, and coverage of the specific focus on disadvantaged pupils here.

Dear Secretary of State, 

We are writing to you as a collective of organisations passionate about the potential of the National Tutoring Programme to help narrow the attainment gap, with several of us accredited Tuition Partners for the last two years. We wholeheartedly commend the Government for introducing the National Tutoring Programme and are pleased that feedback has been taken on board to make changes to improve the programme further for the next two years. Our staff and tutors have worked incredibly hard this year to make NTP a success, despite the challenges of working with Randstad. 

We also warmly welcome your plans for a positive and permanent role for tutoring in achieving the aims set out in the Schools White Paper and SEND Review, including the Parent Pledge. We are committed not just to the success of the NTP but also to creating a strong legacy from it. 

As the second year of the programme draws to a close and the tender process for the third year is underway, we write to you at this critical juncture to urge you and your department to ensure that the core, original focus of the NTP is not lost; namely to close the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils, who have been most affected by lost learning and for whom a large attainment gap already existed pre-covid. In an opinion piece last week in Schools Week, education charity Impetus’ Head of Policy and Research Ben Gadsby wrote, “The national tutoring programme has the potential to be a game-changing, once-a-decade reform in terms of closing the attainment gap.” However, he expressed concerns that it risks forgetting its original focus on cold spots and those eligible for the pupil premium. 

As a collective, we wholly endorse this view and have serious concerns that if the NTP does not reach those for whom it was originally intended, and if the interventions provided are not impactful, it actually could stand to widen the attainment gap, which would surely be a travesty.  

At this critical juncture, there are a range of challenges that threaten the effectiveness of the NTP. First, the disadvantage targets the new provider will be accountable to are yet unclear. We ask that your department ensure that high-quality tuition is targeted at the pupils who need it most, including through ambitious pupil premium targets. The considerable investment being made here must be based on evidence of what will narrow the attainment gap. We also urge the department to publicly track the impact the NTP as a whole is having on the attainment gap to build schools’ confidence in the programme. Schools must be persuaded of the value and moral imperative of channeling the NTP funding towards those eligible for the  pupil premium, and of choosing high-quality providers with proven impact. 

Second, the brand of the programme has been damaged by the complexity and mismanagement of the last year. We recognise, as you do, schools’ desire for freedom in the choices they make and their frustration with prior experiences of engaging with the NTP. We also hear their concerns over accountability in the form of league tables. We urge the department to work collaboratively with schools, including through a campaign to win the hearts and minds of the teaching profession back to tutoring. This outreach effort will take resource, but without it we fear that the investment being made in the NTP will fail to live up to its potential.  

Third, high-quality tuition is still unavailable in many parts of the country. We hope your department will work with providers with demonstrated impact to expand into cold spots, to ensure that every disadvantaged child in the country, regardless of where they live, can access high-quality tutoring.  

As a collective, we have significant experience in engaging schools, working collaboratively with them and on focusing our tutoring efforts on those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many of us support pupils at rates well above the original 65% pupil premium requirement for tuition providers. We are committed to supporting the Government to ensure that the NTP is a successful, game-changing programme and enjoys a positive legacy once the subsidies end in summer 2024.  

None of our organisations are bidding for contracts under the new NTP procurement, yet we are eager to engage personally with you and the Minister of State for School Standards, Mr Robin Walker, about the plans for 2022/23 and to share our frontline experiences with you. We would like to meet with you at your convenience and we look forward to hearing from you about possible dates for this dialogue. 

Yours sincerely,  

Eleanor Harrison, CEO, Impetus  

Susannah Hardyman, CEO and Founder, Action Tutoring (Tuition Provider)  

Nick Bent, Co-CEO and Founder, Tutor Trust (Tuition Provider)  

Gina Cicerone, CEO, Fair Education Alliance  

Adam Alagiah-Gomseth, CEO, TalentEd (Tuition Provider)  

Emma Bell, Executive Director, Innovations for Learning UK  

Robin Chu, CEO and Founder, CoachBright Charitable Trust (Tuition Provider)  

Nathan Sansom, CEO, The Access Project  

Aisha Washington, CEO, Get Further  

Paul Singh and Kim Rihal, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs, Equal Education (Tuition Provider)  

Susie Whigham, Interim CEO, The Brilliant Club (Tuition Partner) 

Response from Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi MP, 19th June 2022 

Dear Susannah, 

Thank you for your letter of 26 May about the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). I would be grateful if you could share a copy of this response with your co-signatories. 

I welcome your passion for tutoring, and I am delighted that you share my vision for tutoring as a permanent, valued part of our school system. I have responded to each of your three points here in turn.  

I was pleased that your letter included such a firm endorsement of the priority we place on disadvantaged pupils. Since its launch, the programme has been aimed at pupils who need most support to catch up. For example, Randstad’s contractual target that 65% of tuition partner tutoring should be delivered to pupil premium-eligible pupils. As you know, we allocated this year’s school-led tutoring grant on the number of pupil premium-eligible pupils in each school. Next year all tutoring funding will be allocated directly to schools on the same basis. I am sure you will be aware that we have been clear in our messaging to schools that the unsubsidised element of tutoring costs should be met from core funding streams, specifically pupil premium. Complementing this, tutoring appears prominently in the list of academic uses in the pupil premium conditions of grant.  

I agree that growing the evidence base behind tutoring is important. We are undertaking an evaluation of the programme to understand the impact of tutoring on pupils. The evaluation will present the process and impact findings for each year of the programme, including a focus on disadvantaged pupils. We will publish this academic year’s findings in 2023, and next year’s in 2024. We are also gathering case studies that show the programme at work in a range of school settings. 

Your letter refers to rebuilding the programme’s reputation with schools. This is something we take very seriously. We have listened to feedback and are working closely with schools to understand their needs. 

Our arrangements with the suppliers currently being procured will take account of sector feedback to make it as easy as possible for schools to arrange high quality tutoring. With two thirds of schools engaged in the programme, we think the value of tutoring is starting to be understood. We want the NTP to be available to every child that needs it, and we will keep listening to schools as we move into next year.   

Reaching cold spots and those children most in need is a top priority for the rest of the programme. I have been pleased to see the strong take-up across the North and in the West Midlands; there are pupils everywhere needing this extra support and I am aware there are still places with low coverage. We have taken this into account in our planning for next year and are making sure there will be enough tutors to support all areas, whether online or in person.  

I was grateful to receive your kind request for a meeting. Whilst unfortunately diary pressures preclude such a meeting in the immediate future, I shall keep your offer in mind in the event that I bring together tuition partners next term to hear about their experiences.  

Thank you for all you and your co-signatories are doing to help our disadvantaged pupils to catch up. This programme is a unique opportunity to foster a permanent shift in the way schools fulfil their core academic mission. I am confident that together we can make this a reality.  

Yours sincerely,  

Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi MP, Secretary of State for Education