National Tutoring Programme

(asked on 15th December 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he will take with Randstad to improve the online delivery platform for the National Tutoring Programme.


Answered by
Robin Walker Portrait
Robin Walker
This question was answered on 10th January 2022

The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) is on track to reach hundreds of thousands more pupils this year, as part of a significant expansion to give schools more flexibility to deliver tutoring that works for them and ensure no child is left behind.

The department has set high standards for the programme and feedback from schools shows the positive impact it is having in helping pupils to catch up. Building on the success of last year, we are confident of reaching our ambitious target to provide tutoring to up to 6 million pupils over the next three years.

Randstad Education was awarded the contract to run the tutoring partner and academic mentors element of the NTP for the 2021/22 academic year following a fair, open competition in accordance with government procurement regulations. As part of this process, the department undertook open market engagement to get feedback from a range of stakeholders, including tuition providers.

The department is working closely with Randstad to build on the successes of year one. The delivery and performance of the NTP is monitored closely through a comprehensive governance process. As part of this process, the department regularly meets with senior Randstad colleagues, including the Randstad UK CEO, to highlight and address issues.

To ensure continuous improvement, Randstad is working with schools and tuition partners on improvements to the digital platform. This includes changes to allow tuition partners to undertake the admin work on behalf of the school when placing orders and making the overall ordering process simpler for schools.

NTP participation data has not yet been published. The department continues to collect data from schools for all three strands of the programme (school-led tutoring, tuition partners and academic mentors) and data on progress will be published shortly.

An independent evaluation of the programme for the current academic year is being undertaken by the National Foundation for Educational Research.

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