Almost 20 per cent of the total $383 million will go to schools in south-west Sydney,and about 10 per cent will go to schools in western Sydney. Regional areas that spent less time in lockdown will also get less money.
Schools use the extra money to hire tutors - often casual,retired or trainee teachers - to provide small-group tuition for students who have fallen behind in key areas such as literacy and numeracy. Some money will be held back to target at students that tests show have fallen particularly far behind.
Anzac Park Public School teacher Julia Correll tutoring a student after last year’s lockdownKate Geraghty
While Dee Why Public School in the city’s north and Fairvale Public in the Fairfield area both have a similar number of students,Fairvale’s relative disadvantage - it has more students in the lowest quartile - means it will receive $575,000 compared with Dee Why’s $183,000.
Last year’s funding was based on disadvantage,but there was no regional difference as all students learned remotely. “The experience with COVID this year was different to last year which is why we have updated the way the support is allocated,” Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said.
The NSW government has not yet released an evaluation of the program. Julie Sonnemann from the Grattan Institute think tank,which first proposed the program to help students recover from lockdown,said there had been widespread support from teachers and principals.
“There’s been reports around the country,that tutoring has improved students engagement and students are reporting boosts in their confidence,” she said.
“With more time,I think we’ll know the actual impact of the program on student outcomes. There are certainly anecdotal reports from schools that the funding has focused their mind on how to do some of these tutoring interventions for students who are struggling.
“There has been a lot of variation in schools. We know that there is a question about what support has been given to schools that may not be using the funding that well. I would expect that the program will continue to be refined and improved.”
An evaluation of the tutoring program is due to be made public next month.
Meanwhile,Ms Mitchell said the government would spend $15 million to ensure primary school teachers had time off class to prepare to teach the new kindergarten to year 2 syllabus,which will have a greater focus on phonics in teaching reading than the previous one.
“Time for preparation and reflection is a core part of quality teaching,and this funding enables schools to build on existing release time allocations throughout the week to ensure teachers are ready to hit the ground running with the new syllabuses in 2023,” she said.
The NSW Education Department would also provide help such as training and teaching advice,such as sample programs and lesson plans.
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