University’s GCSE pupil tutoring expands into Science
A University of Bradford tutoring programme for GCSE pupils is being extended into Science subjects for the new school year, following its success in English and Maths.
This week, pupils across the country will be finding out the results of their GCSEs and many of those in the Bradford district have benefited from the university's tutoring programme in English and Maths, which was established for Year 11 pupils.
Working alongside The Tutor Trust, the university’s new Science tuition programme, which starts in 2024, can cover Chemistry, Biology and Physics. Tutors will deliver the sessions in the students’ schools for one hour each week over a 15-week period.
For the 2024/25 academic year, the tuition programme will be fully funded for participating schools. Tutors will review students’ progress and confidence throughout the 15-hour programme, acting as mentors and educational role models who will support them with their studies.
The tutors will be a mixture of trained academics, undergraduate and PhD students sourced from the University of Bradford and The Tutor Trust. Previously, 15 of the project’s tutors have gone on to pursue careers in teaching following completion of their programmes.
Dr James Machell, STEM Curriculum Development Manager at the University of Bradford, said: “We are really excited to be working with the Tutor Trust on this new initiative to support the young people of Bradford in helping them to achieve in their GCSE examinations.
“We first started our Maths tutoring programme as a fast response to the Covid pandemic, to try and counter attainment gaps. Due to the successful results of the programme for the school pupils taking part, and the experience of our undergraduates acting as tutors, we were encouraged to expand the programme to include English tutoring.
This collaboration with The Tutor Trust will help us to expand the programme into new Science subjects and so help even more young people.
The University of Bradford’s English and Maths tuition programme is still available to students this year. The Maths Booster Programme has been hailed a success. It was launched in December 2020 after education experts identified a link between low maths results and Year 11 students from socio-economically deprived backgrounds.
Previous success
In 2022/23, the University engaged in nearly 2,000 student hours of tuition, keeping a register of attendance and comparing the GCSE outcomes with the hours of attendance. It found that the average GCSE grade generally increased with hours of attendance at tutorials.
For example, those attending for more than 12 hours averaged a GCSE grade of 5.4 and those attending more than 10 hours averaged a GCSE grade of 4.8, whereas those who attended fewer than 10 hours of tutoring averaged a grade of 3.8.
The Tutor Trust is a charity providing accessible, high-quality tuition to young people across West Yorkshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester.
In the 2022/2023 academic year, The Tutor Trust supported almost 6,500 pupils in 156 schools. The charity delivered 384 GCSE Science tuition programmes, with pupils making an average of 0.35 grades of progress, and 61 per cent of pupils achieving a Grade 4 or higher.
Sharon Sadler, The Tutor Trust Strategic Partnership Manager, West Yorkshire, said: “We’re really excited to embark on this partnership with the University of Bradford.
“We hope that, in working together, we can support even more young people on their educational journey.
“Our science tutoring will run alongside the Maths and English tutoring already successfully provided by the University of Bradford, reinforcing support in core subjects and improving outcomes.”
Email localpartnerships@bradford.ac.uk and westyorkshire@thetutortrust.org to register your interest in the Science tuition.