“Failing children and taxpayers”, “a bureaucratic nightmare”, a “spaghetti junction of funding”, “baking in deepening inequalities”, “pouring taxpayers’ money down the drain”.....

Judging by these reviews, it is hard to conclude that the National Tutoring Programme in England has been a resounding success thus far. 

Having been announced in June 2020 as part of the government’s COVID recovery efforts, the National Tutoring Programme, or NTP, began operating in November of that same year. 

The aim was simple enough: provide primary and secondary state-funded schools with access to high-quality subsidised tutoring for 5 to 16-year-olds. 

So why is it that just 18 months into the programme, the NTP has been widely criticised despite starting with the very best of intentions? Why has the government felt the need to keep changing the way that the NTP works, and have these changes made things better or worse? And is the NTP managing to reach those pupils who are most in need of extra help? 

To share their thoughts on the ups and downs of the NTP so far, we are joined today by James Turner, the chief executive of the Sutton Trust, and Laura McInerney, the co-founder of Teacher Tapp and former editor of Schools Week. 

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