In partnership with ImpactEd, Equal Education has published its first impact report, showing positive impacts of tuition on pupil attainment and self-confidence. The report brings together initial findings and insights from a mixed-method evaluation of the Equal Education Autumn 2020 Tutoring Programme for Looked After Children (LAC) for 18 secondary students from 9 schools who attended 1-2 hours per week of tuition in core subjects of English and Maths.  

Key findings:

Findings indicate positive improvements in academic attainment outcomes for LAC participants:

• Based on school data exploring expected and predicted exam grades, 37.5% of participants performed at their expected level and 50% performed above their target by at least one grade following the Autumn Tuition Programme.

• Findings from parent/carer and pupil surveys suggest an increase in self-confidence towards learning (75% parents agreed), improved academic engagement (90% pupils agreed) and attainment (70% pupils agreed).

• Engagement and comprehension rates were strong with only 1.01% of sessions missed due to lack of participant engagement; participants demonstrated a 1.2% increase in their comprehension of material covered. 

• Finally, 90% of the participating students reported that they enjoyed the sessions and felt confident in their ability to learn the academic material for the upcoming year, while 80% said that they felt they would receive good grades.

• Feedback from tutors suggested that the relationship and communication between schools and tutors needs improving, to ensure maximum impact from the tutor sessions is achieved.

• Equal Education is working with ImpactEd to develop its impact monitoring framework, particularly around collecting academic attainment data, to include a larger sample size in future studies.

Directors comments:

Paul Singh, co-founder and CEO:

“In partnership with ImpactEd, we have begun a journey to empirically measure and optimise the impact of our tutoring programmes. The pandemic has brought about unprecedented changes and uncertainty to navigate. We are open to learning our strengths and areas where we require improvement. Having a recognised third party allows us to have the challenge and scrutiny to ensure we provide the best programmes for our most vulnerable children and we look forward to implementing recommendations and together with our education partners to drive forward educational attainment.” 

Kim Rihal, co-founder and Head of Partnerships: 

“This report highlights the importance of effective multi-agency, something we pride ourselves on at Equal Education. We will seek to enhance the information sharing process with schools and build on the results of this evaluation so that we can provide further evidence of what works when it comes to solving one of the most complex and entrenched issues in society today.” 

Background

Equal Education (EE) was founded in 2012 by Paul Singh and Kim Rihal who, having worked in education, wanted to provide high quality education specifically for those whose needs were not being met by mainstream, including children and young people who are in care and those with special educational needs. 

Educational outcomes for Looked After Children (LAC) are significantly worse than their peers; the attainment gap is already >25% at KS2 and at KS4, this grows with children in care scoring an average Attainment 8 score of 19.1 compared to 44.6 for all children. These statistics underpin our restless approach to providing life-changing interventions for those who often find themselves on the fringes of society and at risk of falling through the cracks in the system. 

Impact: The journey so far

EE has worked with over 150+ schools and Local Authorities across the country and has built a tutor community of 500+ tutors to reach 1500+ vulnerable students. EE works closely with parents and carers and other key stakeholders in the young person’s life including social workers and designated teachers and collects feedback on tuition through surveys at the end of each term. Out of 450+ parents and carers surveyed since 2019, approval ratings for how beneficial tuition has been for the learner average over 90%.

To develop this further, the impact evaluation investigated the impact of tuition for Looked After Children on pupil attainment and self-confidence to understand our impact and contribute to the evidence base of research in this field.

Equal Education contacted 20+ schools and virtual schools across the West Midlands, with nine agreeing to take part in the Autumn 2020 evaluation and sharing additional attainment data for ImpactEd to analyse, coupled with our session reports. This produced the conclusions highlighted above, and is an important first step in our impact evaluation journey. 

For more information visit equaleducation.co.uk or email laura.slater@equaleducation.co.uk