Impactful in-school tuition: A synergistic approach to assessment and professional development

Ben Dryden, School Partnerships Manager, Education Development Trust  Laura Fox, Senior Education Adviser, Education Development Trust  Douglas Fairfield, Education Adviser, Education Development Trust  Aided by the government's response to COVID-19, including the National Tutoring Programme, in-school tuition in the form of one-to-one and small group interventions has emerged as a popular strategy to address progress 'lost' as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite evidence of a degree of recovery by Summer 2022, multiple studies (including Andrews, 2023). have found that pupils were, on average, not performing as well as pre-pandemic cohorts across some subjects. Similarly, further evidence indicates that the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, which widened due to COVID-19 (EEF, 2022a), has seen partial reduction but still exceeds the levels observed before the pandemic (Andrews, 2023).  Alongside attainment gaps, a less extensively explored im