All 11 to 18 year-old students at Guernsey States-funded schools and The Guernsey Institute will be able to access tailored online maths tuition, following a new partnership between Education and Complete Mathematics.
The new arrangement has been funded as part of Education’s three-year Covid-19 recovery plan, which was agreed by the States Assembly in June as part of the updated Government Work Plan.
Students will be able to access Tutor, which is an online tuition programme. Tutor can be used by all students aged 11-18 but is particularly intended to support students whose learning was negatively affected by Covid-19. The initiative is being aimed at secondary and post-16 students as this age group has regular maths homework and Tutor can replace much of this while having the benefit that it is personalised to the need of each learner.
Students can access Tutor in the classroom (with the support of teaching staff) or independently at home. It provides diagnostic tests to make sure students are accessing material at the appropriate level. The platform encourages students to keep learning by giving them experience points and awards, based on how they use the programme.
Tutor is the product of Complete Mathematics, which was founded in 2013 to support teachers of maths through conferences and an online Career Professional Development platform.
Prior to the States agreeing the additional funding as part of GWP, feedback from school-based staff highlighted the need for extra resources to ensure students receive additional and different support, both academic and from a wellbeing perspective, to bounce back from two years of pandemic disruption.
The agreement with Complete Mathematics is part of work to provide additional support for disadvantaged or affects learners within core subjects. Many other initiatives are also being developed as part of the recovery plan.
Nick Hynes, Director of Education, said: “We were delighted to receive the support of the States for our Covid bounce back plan. The activities of the plan are completely aligned with the priorities and commitments of our Education Strategy; for example this initiative is about using partnerships to continuously improve education and developing our curriculum in line with best practice.
“Our students experienced two years of significant disruption to their learning and, while the hard work of staff meant the pandemic didn’t prevent young people accessing learning, this will have impacted the learning of some students more than others. Through additional investment in initiatives such as this with Complete Mathematics, we’re seeking to ensure all young people have access to additional support if they need it.’
