National Tutoring Programme appoints Third Space Learning to provide subsidised maths support to disadvantaged children

Third Space Learning, the UK’s largest online maths tutoring provider for schools, has announced it has been selected by the National Tutoring Programme to provide essential maths support to disadvantaged children across England as an approved Tuition Partner. From today, state maintained primary and secondary schools can access Third Space Learning’s subsidised maths tutoring support, funded as part of the government’s £350 million allocation to tutoring.

Third Space Learning works closely with schools to provide online tuition from professional tutors to children who are struggling with maths. Since launching in 2013, the company has delivered over 800,000 online maths lessons to more than 66,000 children in 2,300 schools across the UK.

Tom Hooper, Founder and CEO of Third Space Learning said: “Recent research* suggests that the social attainment gap is widening, particularly in maths, with children from poor backgrounds falling further behind than their peers.  We’ve found that our model for online tutoring helps children to make significant progress in maths, often as much as seven months in just 14 weeks**. More than half of the children we support come from disadvantaged backgrounds and working with the National Tutoring Programme will enable us to extend this to many more. We are delighted to have been appointed.”

To help close the maths attainment gap, Third Space Learning has pioneered a tutoring model which recruits STEM graduates from across the world. This improves access to specialist one-to-one tuition so that schools can provide greater support to those disadvantaged children who are struggling with maths.

Third Space Learning tutors are all STEM graduates who undertake a rigorous training programme covering subject knowledge, online tutoring guidelines and safeguarding policies. They are all vetted and meet the highest safeguarding standards, before joining one of the largest online communities of expert maths tutors.

Daniel Nelson, Headteacher at Choppington Primary School in Northumberland said: “The progress made by the children since receiving Third Space sessions has been superb with children accelerating their progress and now closing the attainment gap, closer to desired outcomes.”

Third Space Learning’s sophisticated virtual classroom allows pupils to talk to their dedicated tutor through a shared screen and audio headset, including personalised online lesson plans to align with core curriculum concepts and classroom learning. Online delivery also means that if schools are partially closed, or a child needs to stay off school, their maths learning can continue and not be disrupted.

Rose Luckin, Professor of Learner Centred Design at UCL said: “We need new thinking and clever technology to address the huge educational challenges the pandemic has presented. Third Space Learning’s innovative and research-informed approach to widening access to one-to-one maths tuition is a great example of this. It is excellent news for schools and children that Third Space Learning is a part of this national initiative.”

Schools can learn more about Third Space Learning’s subsidised spaces by visiting: https://thirdspacelearning.com/national-tutoring-programme/

Click here to listen to Tom talking to Mark Taylor on the Education on Fire Podcast