By the end of 2022, more than 1.3 million pupils had taken part in school-led Covid recovery tutoring, but these interventions are now at risk due to government cuts to tutoring subsidies, school leaders have warned.
A National Audit Office report (NAO, 2023) finds that while students are generally making progress to recover their learning following Covid-19 lockdowns, those who are disadvantaged “remain further behind” and there is still work to do to close gaps.
However, despite appetite for school-led tutoring, the Department for Education (DfE) is slowly reducing the subsidy it gives to schools to fund this work. Ultimately it wants schools to fund tutoring themselves.
But school leaders have warned that with the raft of budget pressures, including soaring inflation, energy costs, and unfunded staff pay increases, tutoring work is at risk.
