Struggling Victorian students set for summer school after remote learning

Countless Victorian students will spend part of their summer holidays catching up on school work after a year marred by lockdowns and remote learning.

Struggling students will be attending summer school over the holidays in a bid to take up time lost in 2020.

Some private schools are using their share of the state government’s $250 million tutoring fund to arrange classes in January.

The Australian Tutoring Association has also seen a surge in demand over the summer from parents concerned about their children’s stalled learning.

“The extended lockdown in Victoria has meant that students have suffered learning loss and require support through small group and one-to-one tutoring,” association CEO Mohan Dhall said.

Recent ANU research shows two-thirds of Victorian parents are concerned about the child’s learning due to lockdown and home schooling.

Kolbe Catholic College in Greenvale Lakes will run an optional summer program in late January for incoming year seven students.

Low section of elementary students sitting in row in classroom

“The remote context of learning in 2020, and its potential to have created gaps in student growth and development has been a cause of concern for some families”, principal Nick Scully said.

Catholic Education Melbourne executive director Jim Miles said there was significant variability in how students progressed through remote learning, often tied to disadvantage and other challenging family circumstances.

Sue Bell, CEO of the Victorian Association of State Secondary School Principals, welcomed the tutoring fund. She said state schools would be using the money to relieve existing teachers for tutoring, or to hire additional tutors starting from the beginning of term one.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said “tutors will provide targeted small group tutoring during or adjacent to the school day with a focus on literacy, numeracy or a post remote learning identified curriculum area”.

“This will be informed by ongoing assessment of the student’s learning and progress.

“Typically, a student will be involved in two to three 45-minute sessions per week. As literacy and numeracy are foundational skills, it is anticipated that most schools will focus on these areas,” she said.

Under the tutoring fund students will receive a base level of $15,000 with additional funds for disadvantaged students. Schools with unspent teaching funds of more than $10,000 will be asked to contribute to the cost of the program.