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FEATURE FOCUS: CLOSING THE LEARNING GAP


are already exhausted by the end of the school day. Through MyTutor’s work with schools, I know


there's an appetite from teachers for students to continue learning during the school holidays. In partnership with schools, we provided thousands of lessons across the Easter break this Spring, offering GCSE and A-Level students the chance to fill in any gaps in their learning and build their conference before the start of exam season. This was in response to what they were asking


for - no one knows their students like teachers do. By designing short, intensive courses, children still have plenty of time to enjoy their break, while making sure they keep their studies on track. We are designing similar programmes for the summer holidays. Children need different support depending on


what stage of their education they are at and, if they are taking the time out of their holidays to learn, we want to make sure they focus on what will benefit them the most. For those in the first couple of years at secondary school, the best thing they can do is solidify their foundational skills in Maths and English; for those who are closer to their exams, targeted subject specific support in the areas they are most struggling is likely to have the most impact. We also know that there is an appetite from


parents for their children to continue their education during the holidays. Responding to a recent survey about summer courses, over a quarter of respondents said they were interested in them so their children could get a head start on the next term and 22% said they were interested in their child doing a deep dive into curriculum topics. We are especially keen that extra educational


support is accessible all year round for children, regardless of their socio economic background, as this is key to galvanising social mobility. We need to do more to ensure that students from all environments are given the same opportunities to succeed and this means making sure that disadvantaged students in particular keep up so they do not need to catch up. The school-partnered courses we offer in the


holidays tend to focus on increasing understanding on tricky topics and revising


matters already covered by teachers. However, it is important for children to expand their knowledge base and skill sets in whatever way they want, whether or not it relates directly to the curriculum. The most crucial thing is for children to keep using their brains when school is out, what they choose to learn about is secondary to this. To make sure there is something of interest for


everyone, we are offering new topics such as Science to Save the Planet and reading clubs on a range of literature. We know that children are often keen to develop their tech skills, which can be very valuable when it comes to their future careers, so we are giving them the chance to try coding, video game design and digital music production. Released from the short term focus of the school day, the holidays are also an opportunity for children to prepare for their futures. We are designing courses that will help them build towards success by getting them to practice writing university applications and teach them about how to ace entrance interviews. Even if they do not want to embark on a


formal course, there are lots of ways children can tackle summer learning loss. It takes as little as


two hours a week of active learning to keep children on track, heal any damage the pandemic caused to their learning, and hit the new term ready to meet their potential. Reading is a great way to learn new things, for those less inclined to pick up a book, there’s a plethora of educational podcasts, or a multitude of documentaries available to stream. Exploring free, or cheap, local activities such as museums, theatres or galleries is also a great way to stimulate children’s minds and such outings also help children to realise that not all learning has to take place within the confines of a classroom. Even just staying at home affords opportunities


for new experiences if you get creative, work on an art project with your child or play a mind bending board game. Learning is not just about absorbing facts and figures, it is about anything that gets you thinking. Think about what your child’s interests are and design some activities based on things you know they love. Educational does not have to mean boring by any means, if something requires a child to problem solve, process information, work with others or learn something new, then it will likely aid their academic progress. Summer schools and camps are already


common in lots of other countries, especially those with particularly lengthy summer breaks such as the USA and Portugal which have over double the time off that we do in the UK. I hope we can start to embrace learning in the summer holidays in our culture going forward, so that children use the time effectively to consolidate their knowledge, fill in any gaps and make sure they can hit the ground running when the new school year starts. Circumstances have provided us with an


entirely new way of looking at how we deliver knowledge in recent years. Now is the time to tackle learning loss head on by encouraging people to view education as a fluid, more holistic life experience that is not confined to before 4pm in term times. I hope that by embracing a mixture of solutions, children, parents and teachers can help combat summer learning loss and resign the phrase, and problem, to the history books for good.


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