A university-led nationwide tutoring programme in schools could help hundreds of thousands of poorer pupils progress, it has been claimed, after a pilot study showed that help from undergraduates led to a 100 per cent improvement in children’s basic writing skills.
Year 8 pupils who had been struggling in their English lessons at St James School in Exeter were offered tutoring sessions in small groups during the autumn term of 2022, thanks to a partnership with the University of Exeter.
Assessments testing the 18 pupils’ ability to write accurate sentences were taken before and after the nine-week intervention, with the average score of all who took part improving from 10.9 out of 30 to 21 out of 30.
The six undergraduate tutors who carried out the placements were offered credit towards their degrees and were given training and work experience, leading the programme organisers to claim that the effort was “win-win” for everyone involved.
