Vic govt’s pandemic tutoring program slammed as a failure

A $1.2bn tutoring program created by the Victorian government to help kids struggling as a result of the pandemic has been blasted as a complete failure by the state’s Auditor-General.

The Victorian government’s tutoring program to help children struggling as a result of the pandemic has been slammed. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The Victorian government’s $1.2bn tutoring program to help children struggling as a result of the pandemic has been labelled as a complete failure by the state’s auditor general.

In a damning report, it has been revealed that students in tutoring learnt “less” than their peers with the Victorian Auditor General’s Office making recommendations to fix the expensive program, which it branded as “ineffective” and “did not significantly improve students’ learning compared to similar non-tutored students”.

The tutoring program was first introduced in 2021 by then Education Minister James Merlino under the leadership of Daniel Andrews.

It was announced in response to Covid restrictions closing schools, and students suffering due to long periods of remote learning.

James Merlino at the time called the program the ‘most critical’ thing the government was doing in state schools.

Mr Merlino said at the time the program was the “most critical” thing the government was doing in state schools.

In September last year the government announced a further $485m to extend the program until the end of 2025 taking its total to $1.2bn.

The report warned that many schools in 2023 did not target the tutoring appropriately or were “not well enough connected to students’ classroom learning” help students.

“We looked at results for students who received tutoring compared to students who did not. We used test data from the department to measure how much students learnt in 2023 by comparing their 2022 and 2023 test scores.

“When we compared similar students from each group, we found that students who received tutoring learnt less than those who did not receive tutoring.”

Victorian Auditor-General Andrew Greaves says the program was ‘ineffective’. Picture: Liam Kidston

The report found that the Department of Education did little to drive the tutoring programs leaving them up to the schools.

This meant tutoring did not align with classroom learning.

The biggest barrier was kids simply not showing up, which 41 per cent of principals said was the biggest issue.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said the failure of the scheme was “yet another example of an education investment failing to deliver greater learning outcomes”.

“It simply defies belief that students have nothing to show for Labor’s $1.2bn Tutor Learning Initiative – with the Auditor-General finding that students who received tutoring learnt less than those who did not receive tutoring.

“Worse still, the Department has failed to take action to improve the delivery of this program despite having all the information it needed to do so,” she said.

The report found the Department of Education did little to drive the tutoring program. Picture: iStock

Rion Ahl, co-founder and director of 50Coach, a private online VCE coaching business, said government spending “does not guarantee outcomes”.

“Tutoring initiatives like this are the most effective way to help students improve beyond the classroom if they are implemented and monitored carefully – which has clearly not happened in this case,” Mr Ahl said.

“This is such an important program for post Covid kids and it is time to implement the suggestions by the auditor general,” he said.

A Victorian government spokesperson said the recommendations of the report would be accepted.

“This was a program designed to get kids re-engaged with learning after they disengaged throughout the pandemic.

“We know for some schools and students this program has helped – with many principals reporting the positive impact of tutoring on students’ learning and engagement, and data showing that more than 90 per cent of students who participated in the program reporting improved learning.

“This report acknowledges that there is strong evidence supporting small group tutoring, however it does make it clear – post pandemic – we can do things better.”