Just 150 of the 1,000 academic mentors promised as part of the government’s £1bn education catchup plans will be in schools in England by the end of the year, the Guardian has learned. The remainder will be placed in two waves in January and February, in a programme due to end in July, prompting outrage from teaching unions who said the response was “completely inadequate” to the scale of the challenge. The plan contained eye-catching promises when it was announced in June, including a national tutoring programme offering one-to-one and small-group coaching by approved private providers. Headteachers have warned, however, that the £650m extra funding, amounting to £80 per pupil and which will go direct to all state schools, will be wiped out by costs incurred as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Like the academic mentors, the private tuition strand of the £350m national tutoring programme offering subsidised tuition to disadvantaged children will not get fully under way until the new year. Headteachers said rather than waiting for a complex new system to be implemented, all the money should have gone to schools for immediate and more effective use. Russell Hobby, the chief executive of the teacher training organisation Teach First, which is recruiting and placing mentors in schools, confirmed 150 would be in place in November after half-term. A further 400 would start in January and the rest in February. “We are on track at the moment. I think it’s probably not a bad thing that we wait a month or two to start this. Schools have got a lot on at the moment,” Hobby said. “The advantage of the mentors is they are under the school’s control and direction. They are supporting and building on what the school is doing. This would have have even greater impact if we can keep this going beyond the first year.” Teach First received 2,000 applications for the roles – which are aimed at recent graduates, newly qualified teachers who have not secured jobs and people changing career – and 700 schools have expressed an interest. The government is paying the £19,000-a-year salary, though in reality many will work for only six months. This week, Boris Johnson returned to his theme of one-to-one tuition during his speech to the virtual Conservative party conference, suggesting it could be used more widely beyond the catchup programme to help children who are left behind and those who excel.
Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, described the 150 mentors as inadequate. “It should have been obvious to the government that the quickest and most effective way of supporting children and young people who have not been able to learn effectively at home during school closures was to give the money to schools. “Schools know their pupils. They know what’s needed. They would have used the extra money to put support in place now.” Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, added: “It was always likely that the government’s decision to dedicate £350m to setting up from scratch a complex programme of tutors and mentors would be difficult to deliver in a timely manner, and so it is proving. “If it is not fully up and running until some time in the new year, there won’t be very much time left to use it to support students sitting exams, and the longer it takes to deliver the risk is that it will become a largely pointless exercise.”