This section of the methodology relates to statistics for the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) during the 2023/24 academic year, which was the fourth and final year of the NTP.
Funding for the NTP was allocated to schools to subsidise tutoring. Funding is based on the number of pupil premium (PP) students in the school. Funding allocations to schools for the 2023/24 academic year are published online (opens in a new tab).
Overview of statistics and data sources
The underlying data used to publish statistics for 2023/24 were collected through the School Census (opens in a new tab) and the National Tutoring Programme Year-End Statement (opens in a new tab).
For any statistics in the 2023/24 NTP statistical release that relate to the delivery of tutoring within the academic year, data is collected through the School Census. In 2023/24, the School Census took place in Autumn 2023 (5th October 2023), Spring 2024 (18th January 2024), and Summer 2023 (16th May 2024). Data on NTP delivery in 2023/24 was collected in the School Census through two pupil level data items (opens in a new tab):
- whether the pupil had received tutoring through any of the three NTP routes and
- how many cumulative hours of tutoring (to the closest 0.5 hours) the pupil had received up to the day of the census.
For any statistics relating to the delivery of tutoring across the entire 2023/24 academic year, data are based on responses to the Year End Statement 2024 as of 22 November 2024, which covers tutoring delivered during the school year from 1 September 2023 up to and including 31 August 2024.
Rounding
For variables in this publication, rounding (for example, adjusting a value to the nearest whole number or first decimal place) takes place as the final step in calculating the statistics. Therefore, the sum of statistics across categories may not match the total (for example, the sum of courses in each Local Authority may not match the total number of courses for England).
Comparing statistics across time periods
Please note that in-year statistics are based on responses to the School Census and do not cover the entire academic year. As a result, the estimated number of courses and school participation rate are expected to increase during the academic year, and comparisons of the variables for the volume of tutoring delivered across academic years should be made with the equivalent point during the academic year.
The data sources and methodology for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years are consistent, though users should take care if drawing comparison across other academic years, for example due to changes in data sources and methodologies. For the 2020/21 academic year and in-year statistics during 2021/22, there were three separate data collection mechanisms for each of the three NTP routes (academic mentors, tuition partners, school-led tutoring). From the 2022/23 academic year, DfE simplified its process for collecting data so that schools reported data for the three routes combined.
Courses started since the start of the programme
To estimate the number of courses that have been started across the entire National Tutoring Programme since November 2020, we add the estimated courses delivered across the 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24 academic years. Please see below for further information on the methodology for those respective values.
Starts on Courses by Pupils, 2023/24 in-year
Within the academic year, pupil level data from the School Census is used to estimate the number of courses started as of October 2023, January 2024 and May 2024.
For in-year statistics, where a pupil is reported as receiving up to 16 hours, we consider them to have started one course, above this we consider them to have started two courses. This is in line with NTP guidance to schools suggesting a course should be between 12 and 15 hours, with an additional margin of one hour above 15 hours to avoid counting marginal cases.
If a school has reported tutored hours or tutored pupils more than three times its funding allocation then it is considered to be an outlier. For those outliers, we replace the reported number of hours (pupils) at the school level with the school’s allocation of hours (pupils) multiplied by the average ratio of reported hours (pupils) to allocated hours (pupils) for all other schools that were not identified as outliers. To estimate the number of courses started in those outlier schools, we then estimate the average hours per tutored pupil at the school using the replaced number of hours at school level divided by the replaced number of tutored pupils at school level. We assume each tutored pupil received one course if this is less than 16 hours and two courses if above 16 hours. The data used for these statistics includes only pupils currently enrolled at the school at the time of census.
The number of courses at school level is then aggregated across the relevant category (for example, geographic area or school phase).
Not all courses delivered to pupils were 15 hours long in practice. The School Census does not record how many courses a pupil has received. The School Census provides data on whether a pupil is in receipt of tutoring and the number of hours of tutoring per pupil. A pupil may have started multiple courses, for example they may have received 8 hours of tutoring in total consisting of 4 hours of tutoring in two separate courses for different academic subjects. As a result, the statistics estimate that ‘at least’ a given number of courses have started during the academic year.
Within the academic year it is possible that a pupil may be part way through a tutoring course, so statistics on courses delivered are not provided.
Courses by Pupils, 2023/24 entire year
For the end-year statistics, school level data from the Year End Statement is used to estimate the number of courses delivered.
To estimate the number of courses delivered we identify the total number of hours of tutoring that a school has reported delivering and the number of pupils that the school has reported as receiving tutoring.
If a school has reported tutored hours or tutored pupils more than a threshold of five times its funding allocation per hour or per pupil, or average hours per pupil greater than a threshold of five times a 15 hour course, then it is considered to be an outlier against allocations. For the purposes of outlier correction throughout the 2023/24 year-end statistics, the methodology maintains the assumption of 15 allocated hours per pupil from previous years, although in practice the amount of funding schools received per eligible pupil was lower. This assumption results in a comparable proportion of the schools being treated as outliers based on hours data as in 2022/23, with less than 1 in 50 schools being adjusted.
For outliers against allocations, we replace the number of reported hours (pupils) based on the school’s allocation of hours (pupils) adjusted by the ratio of reported hours (pupils) to allocated hours (pupils) for all other schools that were not identified as outliers against their allocation.
Next, we estimate the average hours per tutored pupil at the school using the number of hours at school level divided by the number of tutored pupils at school level.
Then, we estimate the number of courses per tutored pupil as follows: if the average hours per tutored pupil within the school was less than 16 hours we consider that each of those pupils that received tutoring have started one course, if it was between 16 and 31 hours then we consider each of those pupils has started two courses, and so on with increments of 15 hours. This is in line with NTP guidance to schools that suggests a course should be between 12 and 15 hours, with an additional margin of one hour to help count marginal cases appropriately.
Please note that not all courses delivered to pupils were 15 hours long. Individual pupils may undertake more than one course.
Where a school is considered as not participating for the purpose of these statistics, it is not included in the estimated number of courses delivered.
The estimated number of courses at school level is then aggregated across school phase, local authority, region or England as required. That number is rounded to the nearest whole number.
School Participation, 2023/24 in-year
For in-year estimates, a school is identified as participating if it received a funding allocation for the NTP and reported tutored pupils through the School Census.
The percentage of school participation is estimated by dividing the total number of participating schools in a category (for example geographic area or school phase) by the total number of schools (as defined in ‘Other Notes’) within the same category.
Funding allocations for schools in 2023/24 (opens in a new tab) are published. It is important to note that a small number of schools have been given no funding for the NTP during the academic year, however we have kept these schools in the denominator to make comparison to NTP figures across years more consistent, for example as those schools would have been eligible for funding under the Tuition Partners route earlier in the programme. The total number of schools can change through time, for example as schools open and close.
School Participation, 2023/24 entire year
For end-year estimates, a school is identified as participating in the NTP if a school reported that they delivered tutoring through the NTP in the Year End Statement form, data on tutored hours and pupils is available, they were allocated funding through the NTP and they delivered a minimum of one hour per tutored pupil on average.
The percentage of school participation is estimated by dividing the total number of schools identified as participating in the NTP within a particular category (for example, at a local authority level) by the total number of schools in that category with pupils between the ages of 5 and 16 (see ‘Other Notes’ for definition of a school). The school participation rate is then rounded to the nearest first decimal place.
It is important to note that a small number of schools have been given no funding for NTP during the academic year, however we have kept these schools in the denominator to facilitate comparison to NTP figures from previous years when these schools would have been eligible for NTP funding through the Tuition Partners route (as a result care should be taken when comparing statistics for different time periods as data sources and methodology may differ).
Hours delivered, 2023/24 entire academic year
For the end-year statistics, school level data from the Year End Statement is used to estimate the number of hours delivered. Schools report the number of hours of tutoring that they have delivered.
If a school has reported tutored hours or tutored pupils more than five times its funding allocation, or average hours per pupil greater than a threshold of five times a 15 hour course, then it is considered to be an outlier against its allocation. For outliers against allocations, we replace the number of hours based on the school’s allocation of hours adjusted by the ratio of reported hours to allocated hours for all other schools that were not identified as outliers.
Where a school is considered as not participating for the purpose of these statistics, it is not included in the estimated number of hours.
The (replaced) number of hours at school level is then aggregated across school phase, local authority, region or England as required. The number is then rounded to the nearest whole number.
Number of pupils, 2023/24 entire academic year
For the entire academic year, school level data from the Year End Statement is used to estimate the number of pupils that have received tutoring. Schools report the number of pupils that received tutoring.
If a school has reported tutored hours or tutored pupils more than five times its funding allocation, or average hours per pupil greater than a threshold of five times a 15 hour course, then it is considered to be an outlier against its allocation. For outliers against its allocation, we replace the number of pupils based on the school’s allocation of pupils adjusted by the ratio of reported pupils to allocated pupils for all other schools that were not identified as outliers.
Where a school is considered as not participating for the purpose of these statistics, it is not included in the estimated number of pupils.
The (replaced) number of pupils is then aggregated across school phase, local authority, region or England as required. The number is then rounded to the nearest whole number.
Average hours of tutoring delivered to pupils per course, 2023/24 entire academic year
For the entire academic year, school level data from the Year End Statement is used to estimate the average hours of tutoring delivered per course.
Where a school is considered as not participating for the purpose of these statistics, it is not included in the estimated hours per course.
After correcting for outliers, we identify the number of (replaced) hours and estimate the number of courses delivered (see above) at school level. The average hours per course for each relevant category (e.g. geographical area or school phase) is then calculated by dividing the total number of hours for that category by the number of courses delivered for that category. For example, to estimate average hours of tutoring delivered to pupils per course for each local authority we calculate the total number of hours and total number of courses delivered for each local authority then divide the hours by the number of courses. The number is then rounded to the nearest decimal place.
As the methodology for the number of courses delivered assumes a maximum length of 16 hours per course this is likely to represent an underestimate of the average course length.
Pupil Characteristics, 2023/24 in-year
The statistics on pupil characteristics included in the publication use information on which individual pupils have received tutoring in a school at any point during the academic year up to the relevant School Census date regardless of subsequent changes to their enrolment. This is combined with contextual information about individual pupils including their personal characteristics from the latest available Spring School Census, which is based on a pupil’s enrolment as of that time.
This approach is taken as some pupil characteristics variables are only updated once a year in the Spring School Census and there is a lag in the availability of the pupil characteristics data following the School Census date, for example to allow for data verification. For example, the pupil characteristics statistics labelled as May 2024 (first published in December 2024) are based on whether a pupil received tutoring as of the Summer School Census in May 2024, and information on pupils' characteristics from the Spring School Census in January 2024. A small number of pupils with more than one record (less than 1%), for example who may have received tutoring in multiple institutions, are omitted to avoid double counting.
Pupil characteristics for the delivery of tutoring from January 2024 onwards are reported for male and female based on sex. Prior to this male and female is based on gender. This change is due to a change in the data items contained within the School Census.
If a school has reported pupils more than three times its funding allocation then it is considered to be an outlier. For outliers, we replace the estimated number of tutored pupils in that school with the school’s funding allocation multiplied by the average ratio of reported tutored pupils to allocated pupils for all other schools that were not identified as outliers. Similarly, for any outlier school we replace the number of tutored pupils from each characteristic group with the replaced number of tutored pupils in that school multiplied by the proportion of tutored pupils from that characteristic group for all non-outlier schools.
After correcting for outliers, the percentage of tutoring provided to each pupil characteristic group is then calculated as the number of pupils identified as receiving tutoring with a particular characteristic in a category (e.g. at local authority level) divided by the total number of pupils receiving tutoring in that category. Percentages are then rounded to the nearest first decimal place.
Please refer to the School Census (opens in a new tab) for further details of specific variables used to identify pupil characteristics. In summary:
- Eligibility for free school meals (FSM) during the previous six years: at each census the school records whether a pupil is in receipt of free school meals on the day of the census. Pupil records across census are matched after the Spring census each year to create a longitudinal record of FSM eligibility over six years.
- Sex: for School Census purposes sex in the 2023/24 school census is recorded as female or male. Prior to data from the Spring 2023/24 School Census (i.e. estimates prior to statistics labelled as January 2024 in this release), these statistics reported on male and female using the gender variable in the School Census.
- Special Educational Needs Provision: this is recorded by the school and includes pupils with special educational needs support or those with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.
- Ethnicity: is self-declared by a parent/guardian or the pupil. The statistics use the following six major groups: Any Other Ethnic Group, Asian, Black, Mixed, Unclassified and White. The unclassified group includes pupils where the information was not returned to the school or where the information was refused.
The number of pupils in statistics for pupil characteristics will not match the number of pupils in receipt of tutoring for the entire academic year. This is because they are created from different sources of information, and the School Census covers a shorter time period (up to May) than the Year-End Statement data used to estimate pupil numbers (up to August).