Victorian schools welcomed the news last Thursday that the Andrews government will extend the Tutor Learning Initiative into 2023.
The Initiative, first announced in 2021, funded the retired teachers, teachers on leave and pre-service and casual relief teachers to join government schools as tutors to support students and staff in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Geelong High School assistant principal Andrew McConchie said the announcement was great news for both teachers and learners.
“Our community is so pleased the program is going to be funded for another year,” Mr McConchie said.
“It’s brought really experienced teachers back into the school who have a wealth of knowledge. First and most importantly, it’s improved academic and well-being outcomes for students, but it’s also provided extra support for teachers and, at times, helped the school keep running.
“Our experience is that the program has allowed people who want to step up and play a crucial role in the recovery, because they’re socially-minded, to do that. It’s allowed them to get involved in the good fight, to help push back some of the turmoil of the last few years.”
Mr McConchie said the program’s positive impacts were significant, both those that could be quantitatively measured and those that couldn’t be so easily tracked.
“We’ve seen really clear impacts, particularly in literacy growth, which is nearly double the expected growth identified for targeted students,” he said.
“Numeracy growth has exceeded the targets as well. But I think it’s worth mentioning that the biggest wins are often hidden from the data. Teaching work is complex, and the tutors have worked with a wide range of students who have different needs and need different supports.
“We’ve got many instances where our tutors have really changed the attitudes of students and the families who are around those students to be much more supportive of education. You can’t really measure the impact of that, but it has far-reaching implications, I think.”
The veteran teachers-turned-tutors not only supported students, but also had a positive effect on staff, Mr McConchie said.
“The support schools can offer is only as good as the resourcing they have, and the TLIs have given staff another tool, another layer of support across a pretty tough time,” he said.
“We’ve had feedback from staff that they really value the program, they really value the support the tutors have been giving.
“We’ve had teachers going the extra mile, we’ve had the provision of internet and devices to all families, and I think the Tutor Learning Initiative is a really important part of that picture as well, of schools really reaching out and going as far as they can to support kids over a really difficult time.”
