Team Up uses tuition, delivered by inspirational role models, to enable pupils from low income backgrounds to meaningfully increase their academic attainment, in order to improve the choices open to them.
The Problem
In the UK today, the best predictor of a child’s academic and social success remains the income and postcode of their parents. We believe that this is both unjust - too many young people are unable to shape their own destiny, or develop the skills, passions and careers their innate ability merits - and damaging to society.
In recent years, it’s been reported that:
- 75% of the highest-income quintile of pupils gain 5 ‘good’ GCSEs (A*-C), compared to 21% of the lowest-income quintile (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2010).
- Average-ability children from wealthy families on average overtake high-ability children from low-income families by the time they sit their GCSEs (Social Mobility & Child Poverty Commission, 2014).
- Only 1 in 3 children from low-income backgrounds leave school with basic qualifications (Sutton Trust, 2013).
Our Solution
Education is the key to social mobility, and research from the DfE and the Sutton Trust suggests that regular small-group tuition is one of the most effective ways of accelerating a child’s academic progress.
Our programme extends the benefits of rigorous and inspirational academic tuition to children from low income backgrounds in order to enable them to realise their full potential.
We recruit exceptional role models to join our voluntary leadership programme, where they learn leadership and teaching skills which they apply to tutoring children from low-income backgrounds.
We’re also committed to developing our tutors, who gain demonstrable work experience and can - through our networks - get access to exclusive training and opportunities to strengthen their own employment prospects. Through our unique Mentoring programme, our tutors have the opportunity to explore career sectors of interest and get access to specialised coaching on career progression. Our tutors also gain a Leadership Award accredited by the SSAT, a leading organisation working to develop educational leadership in the UK.