By Christopher Harris and Lucy Carroll
Small group tutoring designed to help children catch up after months of disrupted schooling during COVID had “minimal effect” on their academic improvement in literacy and numeracy, a major evaluation of the $250 million program has revealed.
The report said the academic improvement of tutored students in 2022 across all grades was the same as those who received no extra help, while years 5 and 6 students participating in the scheme did not improve at the same rate as their peers.
The evaluation compared similar students, with those who did not receive tutoring performing just as well as those who did in 2022.Credit: iStock
“On average, student growth was the same between students who participated in the program and similar non-participants, so we cannot confidently attribute students’ growth in learning to the effect of the program alone,” it said.
The tutoring program was introduced by the state government in March 2021 to assist students in catching up after months of remote learning and was extended in 2022 and in 2023 to further attempt to stem learning loss at a cost of $900 million over three years.
The NSW Department of Education report on the 2022 rollout of the program used 7766 students’ performance in the check-in assessment, a standardised literacy and numeracy test, between 2021 and the following year to chart their progress.
Their improvement over the year was compared with academically similar students who were not tutored, with the report saying once marks were standardised, “the program’s effect was minimal”.
It said 95 per cent of principals and 81 per cent of classroom teachers had a positive perception of the program.
“[Given] the overwhelming perception by school staff that the program has had a positive effect on student confidence, motivation and attitude toward schools, there may be un-monetised long-term benefits,” it said.
The report noted how teachers had initially questioned the wisdom of pulling students out of class for tutoring, effectively meaning they had more school work to catch up on. Finding staff was also challenging, with a quarter of those tutoring primary school children not being teachers.
Participation in the tutoring program had no impact on attendance, and no long-term economic benefits could be attributed to the scheme.
A total of 138,268 public school students participated in the program in 2022. Focus groups found students liked it because it allowed them to concentrate better in a smaller group.
“They valued their tutor’s ability to build rapport, explain concepts to them so they could better understand, and make learning fun, for example, by using games,” it said.
Education Minister Prue Car said $278 million will be spent this year on a small group tutoring program that will target those falling behind according to their NAPLAN results.
Education Minister Prue Car wants to see greater accountability and an enhanced focus on explicit instruction.Credit: Janie Barrett
“It is vital that tutoring support is provided where it will have the greatest impact, and our government’s ongoing small group tutoring program will ensure we get the basics right,” she said.
“Critical to the success of this program will be implementing it with high-quality teaching practice to ensure a strong focus on improving learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy.”
Centre for Independent Studies director of education Glenn Fahey said Australia was persevering with small group tutoring despite a lack of evidence to show it worked, while the UK’s education system is expected to drop it.
“A focus on the teaching in school, rather than remedial tutoring, is what’s most critical to education success,” he said.
“The best investment that policymakers can make is not to pump more money into treating the symptoms of teaching failure, but in treating the cause. Effective whole-class instruction is the proven and cost-effective way to reduce the demand for remedial support.”
However, Grattan Institute education program director Jordana Hunter said research showed internationally that well-designed programs had a significant and positive impact on literacy and numeracy outcomes.
“To be effective, it needs to be an instructional focus that targets learning gaps,” she said.
NSW opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Mitchell, who was education minister during the rollout of the scheme, said she asked for the evaluation when she was minister to understand what the best practice was when it came to implementation and resourcing.
“The government should be encouraging schools to look at running small group tuition before or after school as required and ensuring that any tutoring time within school hours is being used constructively,” she said.
“Given the Minns Labor government promised they would fix the teacher shortage if elected, they should have no issues with attracting the staff they need to run these programs.”
The report also found that poor quality data and patchy reporting meant an academic evaluation of the program was never completed in 2021.