Thread by @EmathsUK

I had been hoping that an appropriate solution for helping pupils from low income families access all the benefits of high quality tuition would emerge.

But no.

So... I guess I have to just put my money where my mouth is and make it happen...

...tuition is only valuable if it is:

• specific to the pupil (personalised)
• delivered by a maths pedagogical expert
• informed by current attainment & misunderstandings
• properly complementing school learning
• able to cover any aspect of mathematics (responsive)

...It's not ok to deny low income families access to tuition. They want it and they know the benefits.

Only 24% of pupils have a private tutor for maths - compounding the advantages they already have.

The other 76% can't afford it. But they repeatedly say they want it.

...So... in addition to supporting teachers through Complete Maths and Teacher CPD College, we're going to address this issue head on.

This summer, we'll launch our TUTOR.

TUTOR:
• pupils can learn anything from counting to calculus
• all tutors are expert maths teacher
• tutor responds precisely to pupil needs and takes them on a personal journey
• teachers & parents will get real time analysis
• unlimited tutoring time from just £1 per week

And... we're going to do something rather special for the summer holidays so that no pupil at all needs to be left behind.

I'm going to run a bunch of webinars in the coming weeks to explain everything. If you'd like to take part, we'd love to hear from you - contact @LaSalleEd

...A little bit more about TUTOR...

I am really thankful for the great team of expert maths teachers we have on board delivering all the instruction.

You'll probably recognise some of the names if you are familiar with maths edutwitter - they're a great bunch!

No limit will be placed on how much tuition pupils get.

I've heard 'researchers' this year say the most effective tutoring course is 15 hours. To which I aways ask, really? Better than 16?

We cover the whole of maths & pupils can do as much as they want at no additional cost.

Our TUTOR is a one-to-one intervention. No small groups. Which means every single pupil is on a truly personalised course, designed specifically to address their needs and help them to build firm foundations for school learning.

I'm really keen to ensure TUTOR also gives teachers what they need to support classroom learning. So live data is continuously sent to teachers showing how pupils are progressing and what level of maths they should be working at.

I know that the best way to ensure that TUTOR helps schools, colleges, teachers & parents as well as the individual pupil is to speak to as many of you as I can.

So, over the coming weeks, I'll be hosting live webinar discussions to explain how TUTOR works and get your input...

I'd love to hear from you.

If you'd like to attend one of the webinars to hear all about how TUTOR can support you and your pupils and to help me make the best solution possible, please fill in the form and we'll book a time with you

Sign up here: tutor.completemaths.com

...I'm absolutely committed to making supplementary education truly accessible to low income families.

Large surveys show clearly that £1 per week is the limit for the poorest 10% of households. So that's our pricing.

And if a family can't pay, we'll give it to them for free.

So, rather than costly models of tutoring that make it possible for schools to intervene only with a small number of pupils, we'll never ask a school to pay more than £1 per week per pupil for unlimited personalised tuition.

Now every single pupil can benefit from tuition.

We're working at pace to bring all of this together. I'll post regular updates to keep you all in the loop, including the very special announcement we have about the summer holidays.

To get all the info, please complete the expression of interest form tutor.completemaths.com

I want to publicly express my gratitude to the 40 expert maths teachers, the 5 developers, the designer, the project management team and the schools research team who are working their socks off right now to get TUTOR ready for the summer...

...and a very special thanks to all those teachers who attended the early ‘demonstrator’ webinars, whose feedback has been invaluable both in terms of making TUTOR a better offering and in spurring on the team with such positive and kind words.

TUTOR is, of course, for everyone. Whatever level of maths you wish to learn, wherever you are (primary, secondary, FE, workplace, offender, etc), you’ll get pinpointed support at the right level, helping you to move on.

The pedagogical and didactical approaches at the heart of TUTOR are rigorous and deliberately designed to give the best likelihood of creating memorable learning. We do not accept the oft held belief that some pupils cannot be successful in maths. Yes they can. Every one of them.

I’m so fed up hearing people, who know little about how learning happens, write off kids from low income families as though they somehow do not have the potential. It is a dreadful lie. Poverty does not mean low learning potential. And Learning is the best route out of poverty.

But it requires those pupils to also be held to the highest expectations and also experience the highest quality teaching. That’s what they will find in TUTOR - not some low aspirational game, but a serious and determined education based on the very best evidence.

Everything we do at @LaSalleEd is driven by our mission.

Please take a moment to read our mission statement here: completemaths.com/about

If this is a mission you agree with, then we’re happy to call you a friend and invite you to join us at our garden party on 13 August.

If you share our belief that high quality, personalised tuition which supports classroom learning is the right of ALL pupils, please do come along to one of the discussion webinars in the coming months to find out more about TUTOR tutor.completemaths.com

Our pledge once again: Although we will charge as little as £1 per week for TUTOR, if there is a family anywhere who is not able to pay, we will provide it for free.

Every single child has the potential to become mathematically literate. Ability to pay must not be a barrier.

I really do mean EVERY child has mathematical potential.

Being mathematical is not the result of some gift or innate talent or genetic fluke.

It is the result of a high quality educational experience.

We need to ensure it is accessible to everyone and especially the poorest.

I have to say, I am overwhelmed by the response we have had to announcing TUTOR. We're scheduling lots and lots of webinars in the coming weeks to enable me to meet everyone who has expressed an interest. Really looking forward to getting your input...

It's a pretty bonkers mission to be on - but the right one - to bring expert maths teaching to all families with no financial barrier.

This is only possible because of the amazing group of maths educators who are helping us get everything in place...

I want to publicly express my thanks to all of them. The impact they will have for many years to come on the very most disadvantaged children in the UK and beyond will be incredible.

These people have gone above and beyond over recent months. They're not all on Twittter, but...

My heartfelt thanks to:

@Kieran_M_Ed
@mrssbeecham
@NumberFluency
@AMercerMaths
@whisto_maths
@mathsteachlaura
@oddrobmaths
@boss_maths
@ClaireV221
@mrallanmaths
@mrshawthorne7
@mcconvillemaths
@FortyNineCubed
@B28MathsTutor
@Mr_AlmondED

And...

@atulrana
@VikkiPriddle
@MissSDoherty
@MorgsEd
@naveenfrizvi
@Kirstymaths
@CubbonSue
@BeckMaths

Every one of you is a hero. I'm in awe at your willingness to help pupils from all backgrounds and your professionalism in ensuring the highest standards.

A little bit more on TUTOR.

It's often the case that a tutor is working with a pupil aged, let's say 15, on some suitable problem, when an issue arises not with the topic at hand but with some fundamental mathematical idea from many years previous.

This presents a challenge...

...Understandably, a tutor who is trained to work at upper secondary level, for instance, may not be familiar with the most effective pedagogic choices to make when an early mathematical concept is the issue...

...This is why, with TUTOR, pupils are always instructed by expert teachers who specialise in the developmental stage of the mathematical issue arising.

If you'd like to learn more, join me in a webinar chat in the coming weeks by signing up here tutor.completemaths.com

I know lots of people claim to approach tutoring, intervention, instruction, etc with 'artificial intelligence'.

We prefer to use actual intelligence!

I've spent the last 17 years, with the help of many wonderful maths ed experts, actually taking the time to solve the issues...

...so all of the materials that pupils will work on after their instruction from an expert teacher have been carefully knitted together into a coherent map of mathematics, which means pupils are always building secure and intertwined mathematical understanding.

And we have planned the phasing of learning with a fine toothed comb. The TUTOR approach is rigorously detailed.

Pupils work on identified goals in a carefully sequenced way.

The learning sequence draws on all the best evidence around what is known about how learning happens.

Sequence outline:

• Diagnose & identify goal
• Check pre-req knowledge
• Expert instruction
• Pupil articulates meaning received through example-problem
• Pupil replicates
• Purposeful practice
• Deliberate practice
• Method selection & spaced retrieval
• Review
• Use

By continually addressing and overcoming very specific identified goals and then using this new foundation to move on to a next goal, pupils using the TUTOR approach are always working at the boundaries of their comfort zone, giving the perfect injection of motivation and joy.