Responding to a policy briefing from the Sutton Trust, which
calls for the National Tutoring Programme to be renewed in order
to help close the attainment gap, Geoff Barton, General Secretary
of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:
“The widening of the attainment gap is desperately sad but not
entirely surprising. It is the logical consequence of the
government’s failure to produce an adequate recovery plan in
response to a pandemic which disproportionately impacted
disadvantaged children and young people.
“The National Tutoring Programme, while by no means perfect, was
one thing that was helping to tackle the attainment gap. It has
opened up tutoring to children who otherwise would never have had
access. It is unlikely that many schools will be able to afford
to provide tuition without any form of financial support being
available and it is very disappointing that the government no
longer sees it as worthwhile to provide funding.
“Education simply must be a priority in the Spring Budget. The
Sutton Trust’s recommendations about ringfencing funding for the
NTP, reforming the National Funding Formula to reflect the
varying levels of disadvantage in different communities and
expanding free school meal eligibility to all children on
Universal Credit would be good places to start. It’s time for the
nation’s young people to be seen as an investment rather than a
cost.”
