Equal Education announces first international expansion of tutoring programmes

Equal Education is thrilled to announce the launch of its first tutoring programme overseas, working in partnership with Australian colleagues and partners to implement its literacy-focused TILP programme for vulnerable children.

Equal Education has partnered with colleagues in Australia to implement its first tutoring programme overseas, starting in Victoria. The programme builds on the success of the UK-based Tuition Individualised Learning Programme (TILP) pilot launched in 2020, which improved literacy rates for Children in Care in schools across the West Midlands. 

The programme is based on the premise that improving literacy rates is crucial for accessing learning, and determines long-term outcomes including access to employment and harnesses the power of 1:1 tuition delivered by qualified teachers and mentors to improve outcomes. 

 The Victorian Government has announced they will continue with the tutoring programme until the end of 2022 to ensure that no school student is left behind in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. This will allow the TILP Project to run alongside their National Teaching Programme across four regions in Victoria, with a focus on care-experienced children and young people. As in the UK pilot, the programme has a strict design on assessments, methodology and delivery and it will be a 2 year project with the same cohort of students. 

24 students in Grade 6 (Year 6 UK equivalent) and 10 from the Youth Justice System have been identified and will receive 25 hours of tuition during the academic year. Staff will work with young people to ensure they are integrated successfully back into the community and education sector. Tutors will work with high school staff in the last term to ensure there’s a smooth transition for these young people at an important stage of their education journey. We envisage Australian Learning Mentors to be their TILP Tutor which will create consistency and allow their vulnerable students to attain higher. 

Assessments

Equal Education is collaborating with GL Education’s Australia Country Head, William Saville, who will be working with Australian Schools. William recently moved to Australia and has delivered a training session for TILP tutors to brief them on using the assessments. 

As with the UK programme, learners will be assessed using GL Education’s New Group Reading Test (NGRT) at the beginning, middle and end of the programme to identify the progress, the impact of teaching staff tutoring the young person and embedding this across other subject areas to ensure the young person achieved successful outcomes. 

A new addition to the UK pilot is the use of the Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS) measure to help identify attitudinal barriers to learning and support student wellbeing. It is a tool that helps take the guesswork out of understanding why some pupils may be reluctant, disengaged or even disruptive by sensitively exploring social and emotional wellbeing. This is very much currently on the radar of the Australian Education and wellbeing agenda which will mirror our Wave 2 UK TILP Project.

William Saville, GL Education Country Head - Australia & New Zealand, commented:

“We are delighted to continue supporting Equal Education and build upon the success of the UK TILP Project with schools in Victoria, Australia, to help improve young people’s literacy and wellbeing. The data from the assessments will provide the tutors with a baseline measure of reading and spelling comprehension, as well as a deeper understanding of student attitudes to learning, which will enable a tailored approach to each individual student.”

ReadingWise

Australian colleagues will also work with ReadingWise to address gaps in their learning. ReadingWise is a powerful online interactive resource for the classroom, supporting the development of reading skills tailored to the pupil’s needs. 

Australian TILP will commence at the end of April  2022 and will participate in the TILP project for a 2yr period. This will enable us to maximise the opportunities for development of academic literacy skills alongside developing their emotional literacy at an earlier age.

Caroline Shepherd, Community Manager at ReadingWise, said: 

“In a recent DfE funded Reading Attainment Study of ReadingWise it was found that pupils improved in reading almost 80% faster than a control group when using ReadingWise resources but even more exciting is the feedback we receive on a regular basis 'One of my pupils was gazing at a word and read it perfectly. The word was iridescent. I was really proud of him, as he was of himself. This programme is really engaging some of the pupils who lack confidence in reading. Highly recommended.’ We are looking forward to working closely with schools in Victoria and supporting tutors in closing the reading attainment gap.”

Paul Singh, Equal Education CEO, said: 

“Equal Education is delighted to be partnering with schools in Victoria, Australia, whilst continuing our partnerships with GL Education and ReadingWise overseas. We look forward to seeing a similar positive impact for the students as we have seen in the improved literacy outcome rates of our UK participants. We are thrilled to be continuing and expanding our UK TILP programme, including primary aged students knowing the powerful impact early intervention has on improving long-term outcomes.”