Action Tutoring is an education charity that exists to support disadvantaged young people to increase their academic success and enable them to progress in education, employment or training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We partner high-quality and trained volunteer tutors with disadvantaged pupils to help increase their subject knowledge, confidence and study skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our vision is to create a world in which no child\u2019s life chances are limited by their socio-economic backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having witnessed first-hand the difference tutoring could make to give children a better future, I established Action Tutoring in 2011 to increase the access and benefits of tutoring to young people who couldn\u2019t otherwise afford it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I started my career in the charity sector, but occasionally in the evenings did some private tutoring work. From these two experiences, I spotted the potential to make the many benefits of tutoring more accessible to children that wouldn\u2019t otherwise afford it, harnessing the power of volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve always been passionate about social justice and it really bothered me that tutoring was the domain of those that could afford it and wasn\u2019t reaching those that really needed it. Over 25% of 11-16 year olds have a paid for private tutor – it\u2019s a huge industry, but it\u2019s not a level playing field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have lived in Peckham in South London, for most of my life. Action Tutoring started here in my local community, as a pilot programme with a local school. A funder became interested in what I was doing, which then enabled me to pilot Action Tutoring on a larger scale with 15 London schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, we are offering tutoring sessions to over 7,000 children across England to improve their academic performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My experience in education was further bolstered during my roles as Chair of the Teaching & Learning Committee and as a school governor at a secondary school in south London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hold a Masters from King\u2019s College London in Politics, Theology and NGOs and wrote my dissertation on the interplay between state welfare and the voluntary sector – this got me particularly interested in the potential of using volunteers for a model like Action Tutoring\u2019s to bring about positive social change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be adaptable and dynamic in any situation you find yourself in. Two years ago, no one knew for certain how disruptive a pandemic would be for the world. As a solely in-person tutoring charity, our fundamental delivery mode was challenged by the school closures and city lockdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, we rose to the challenge and shifted very rapidly to online tutoring and that has seen a significant expansion of our operations because we can now reach new areas and be supported by volunteers who we couldn\u2019t previously engage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds often have less access to the tools that support them to progress academically in school. This means they are unable to reach their potential and don\u2019t do as well in their exams as their wealthier peers – often referred to as the attainment gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To illustrate this, approximately \u2154 of all pupils reach national standards in English and maths in their GCSEs, but for those eligible for free school meals, the figure is just \u2153. It\u2019s not just about grades for the sake of grades – achieving national standards in English and maths is fundamental to supporting young people to progress to further education, employment or training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s good for them, but it\u2019s also good for wider society and the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the tools that helps narrow the attainment gap and ensure all pupils get the same support is tuition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a wide body of evidence that points to the impact tutoring can make, with a key study from the Education Endowment Foundation showing that a course of tutoring can add 5 months of progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tutoring is prevalent – over 25% of 11-16-year-olds have a private tutor at some point – but it is expensive and as such is simply not an option for disadvantaged pupils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our solution at Action Tutoring is to use the power of volunteer tutors to bridge the gap and ensure that tutoring support can be accessed by every pupil who needs it, not just those who can afford it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We do this through partnerships with schools and through a structured programme that offers plenty of support and guidance to schools, volunteer tutors plus pupils and focuses heavily on quality assurance and impact measurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was inspired to start Action Tutoring by seeing the difference that targeted, extra tutoring support can make to young lives, following my experiences as a private tutor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time, I was also involved in volunteer youth work in my community in Peckham and grew really frustrated that many of the young people I spoke to had big aspirations and dreams and wanted to do really well at school, but were lacking the opportunity to access the support that tutoring could give them to unlock their potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also received tutoring myself at the end of primary school, to help me pass the 11+ (I grew up in an area dominated by the grammar school system) and this significantly boosted my subject knowledge and confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even at that age, it wasn\u2019t lost on me that the only two children out of a group of 12 that sat the 11+ and passed were the two that had had private tutoring to help us. I think even at that age, it felt unfair to me that that should be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I recognised that tutoring opportunities shouldn\u2019t just be available to those whose parents can afford them, but instead to every child who needs it to increase their academic performance and self-esteem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think our magic sauce is the passionate people we work with. People make things happen and I am constantly so inspired by the passion and commitment of the staff team at Action Tutoring, the volunteer tutors that want to join in with our mission and the teachers we collaborate with to make our partnerships happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember hearing once that one of the big keys to success is \u2018getting the right people on the bus\u2019 – I\u2019m so proud of the people we have on the Action Tutoring bus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other point I would add is the relentless focus we have on quality and impact measurement. I think this marks us out as different from a lot of other tutoring organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s required a lot of work and investment but it means we can have confidence in what we\u2019re delivering to pupils and schools and can demonstrate the difference we make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the next five years, Action Tutoring has ambitious plans to reach more regions across the country, continuing to tackle the attainment gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through our online tutoring model, over the next five years we want to be able to offer our programme to any school and pupil in the country that needs our support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We recognise we have a role to play in advocacy, born out of our practical delivery experience at scale and will work hard to remain the go-to organisation for tutoring models that support disadvantaged pupils and tackle the attainment gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We don\u2019t want to take our eye off our impact work either and this will continue to be a big area of investment, particularly to understand the differences between online and face to face delivery and how both can be as impactful as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The global pandemic has brought us to an inflection point to reimagine our collective potential as an education charity to meet the increasing demand for quality tutoring and more importantly, to narrow the attainment gap over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This includes reaching areas with fewer volunteer groups through online tutoring while working at improving our diverse pool of tutors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will continue to forge meaningful partnerships with corporate organisations interested in volunteering, funding or advocating for our cause – improving the access and quality of tutoring for disadvantaged young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through the support of the National Tutoring Programme, we will continue to take significant steps closer to actualising our vision to create a world in which no child\u2019s life chances are limited by their socio-economic background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the level of growth and evolution Action Tutoring is experiencing, our biggest challenge is to recruit and retain more volunteer tutors to match the increasing demand of tutoring and the needs of disadvantaged pupils, exacerbated by the pandemic. The numbers of people already volunteering are impressive, but we always need more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The time lost to school closures in the pandemic has created more disruptions and harm to the academic life of many young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our responsibility as an education charity includes confronting this challenge by expanding tutoring to more young people to meet the increasing demand and minimise the impact of the global health crisis on education for the next generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pivoting rapidly to an online delivery model has been game changing and while it wasn\u2019t easy to get off the ground and we\u2019re still refining how to make it run as smoothly as possible, it has so much potential to mean there are no limits to where we can work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We wouldn\u2019t be able to make a greater impact without the incredible support of our volunteer tutor network. We are keen to welcome more volunteer tutors to Action Tutoring. Volunteer tutoring has immense benefits and is one of the most rewarding ways to make a difference to the lives of disadvantaged young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeing the moment pupils click \u2018get it\u2019 when they\u2019ve been working hard at something is unbelievably rewarding! We hear so many comments such as \u2018I used to dread maths, but now thanks to my tutor I actually enjoy it and believe I can do it!\u2019
Beyond developing your skills as a volunteer, you will directly support disadvantaged pupils to build their confidence and help ensure they leave school with the grades needed to build a brighter future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n