Take-up of the government’s flagship tutoring programme is so slow that all current secondary pupils in England will have left school by the time the Conservatives finally deliver on their education catch-up promises, Labour has said.
Last summer the prime minister announced 100m hours of one-to-one and small-group tutoring over a three-year period to help pupils in England who have fallen behind in their learning due to the disruption caused by the pandemic.
At the rate of delivery for this academic year, Labour says that figure will not be reached for at least five anda half years, by which time all pupils currently in secondary school will have completed year 11 and moved on.
The national tutoring programme (NTP) was set up with considerable fanfare in 2020 by the former education secretary Gavin Williamson to tackle lost learning caused by lockdown and continuing Covid disruption.
