Every morning I wake up knowing that Pearson’s tutoring programme will have a positive impact on the lives of learners across the country. This is largely down to our dedicated group of tutors, all former teachers, who relentlessly go the extra mile to ensure that our students receive support to meet their specific needs.

As Head of School Tutoring, it has been a joy to see pupil confidence levels improving by 70%, pupil understanding by 73%, and pupil engagement by 82%[1], all as a result of Pearson Tutoring. These improvements continue to make a big difference in terms of learner confidence, motivation and aspirations, even after pupils return to their mainstream lessons – with some enjoying the programme so much they request to keep sessions going!

I believe this programme, which supports over 15,000 students, has been and continues to be a huge success for numerous reasons:

Pearson Tutoring gives students the opportunity to catch up on teaching time, or any gaps in learning, within a fun and engaging online environment hosted by the Bramble platform.

Thanks in part to our small group sizes, schools have found Pearson Tutoring to be a successful way to support children who are struggling in certain subjects, thus enabling pupils to progress faster and further than they would in a larger class. Schools can select the dates and times most convenient for them, with tutoring taking place at school or at home – wherever the student will benefit most from the sessions.

Plus, unlike other tutoring providers, Pearson’s tutors are all qualified teachers with a wealth of classroom experience, and the skills to engage learners from a range of backgrounds with differing abilities.

As a leading tuition provider our aim is to deliver the best possible experience for everyone involved: our tutors, the schools we work with, and their students. We are constantly reaching out and asking for feedback on how we can be even better than we already are. Using the feedback we receive, we look for ways to implement changes and, wherever possible, adopt a “you ask, we listened” approach. Our Schools and Tutor Experience Team (STET), which was created in 2021, now provides a named contact and dedicated support to every school – along with advice, one-to-one onboarding, and problem-solving skills.

With the team listening pre, during and after tutoring blocks have finished, we have been able to find out what schools like and want to improve, using that information to be the best provider possible. 

One key thing that has changed since we started our offering is how we manage our open blocks and tutor availability. We are constantly monitoring availability by noting the days and times of booked sessions booked each day. This gives each member of the Schools and Tutor Experience Team (STET), a first-hand look at what their schools have posted, enabling us to predict any potential spikes in times which could result in fewer tutors being available. We can then use this information to work closely with our tutors to ensure all blocks can be serviced.

Our core offer of English, maths and science is extremely popular, however we’ve received many tutoring requests that fall outside of these subjects Thanks to the skills and experience of our tutor workforce, if we are able to accommodate a school’s request, we will always work hard to do this. 

For example, one school recently requested tutoring in GCSE Statistics. We spoke to our tutors to see what might be possible, and we were able to source more than enough support to deliver the number of statistics blocks the school requested. The schools were thrilled: impressed not only with the quality of the tutors, but also the statistics sessions they delivered. 

It has been wonderful to see the real difference Pearson Tutoring has and continues to make; hearing the positive feedback from schools about how much their students enjoy the sessions, seeing the impressive statistics and the continuous flow of repeat orders.
 
Knowing that we are providing a solid extension of a school’s teaching team and creating change that is being welcomed by schools make this an exciting opportunity. 

As we look at expanding our offer, including additional subjects and levels, I know that together we can make a difference to even more young lives, and watch the positive impacts spread far and wide.
 
Discover how Pearson Tutoring can support your school this year: www.pearson.com/uk/educators/schools/pearson-tutoring-programme.html

[1] https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/documents/educator/schools/ptp/impact-of-small-group-online-tutoring-pearson-and-bramble.pdf