The Transformational Impact of Tutoring

The Transformational Impact of Tutoring

Recent research supports what we at Team Up already know: Tutoring changes lives

Posted by David Walker on 4 October 2019

As I complete my first month as Chief Executive of Team Up, a wealth of recent evidence has reinforced my belief that what we do really matters. 

Research published last week by the Sutton Trust shows that 27% of 11- to 16-year-olds have had private tuition (41% in London). But 34% of those from “high-affluence” backgrounds had private tuition, compared with 20% of those from “low-affluence” homes. 

The Sutton Trust was also clear that research shows one-to-one and small-group tuition is a cost-effective way to bolster pupils’ achievement. It recommended that schools consider using their pupil premium funding to prioritise these methods. https://www.suttontrust.com/research-paper/private-tuition-polling-2019/

We know that being poor puts children and young people at a significant disadvantage in educational attainment and damages their life chances. The evidence is stark:

  • The Education Policy Institute Annual Report published at the end of July 2019 found that the disadvantage gap in English and Maths between the poorest and richest had increased for the first time since 2011 to 18.1 months and was 18.4 months for 5 good GCSEs. In some parts of England the gap was over two years. https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/annual-report-2019/

  • At current rates of progress it would take 560 years to close the gap.

  • Research by the Children’s Commissioner for England (2019) found that one-in-six young people don’t get five good GCSE passes, this rises to one-in-three for those on free school meals

  • 25.6% of pupils on free school meals go into higher education, compared to 43.3% of all pupils and 80.7% of pupils from private schools. (DfE 2018).

  • Young people aged 27 and previously eligible for free school meals were three times more likely to be unemployed than their peers not eligible for free school meals. (DfE 2018)

So we know the disadvantage gap is real and growing; we know that without good grades, young people's futures are blighted; and we know that tutoring works.

All the more reason to work with us!