Tutors
LOCAL SOLUTIONS FOR LOCAL PROBLEMS
Kingston upon Hull is the second most deprived local authority in England for Education, Skills and Training (Indices of Deprivation, 2019). For several decades, Hull has struggled with poor quality education and a high level of deprivation and unemployment. As a result, many pupils achieve below the national average in their examinations, especially those from low-income households. In 2021, 32% of children in Hull came from relative low-income households and 26% were absolute low-income (Kingston upon Hull Data Observatory). Because of the prevalence of economic disadvantage amongst Hull pupils, many schools end up using their funding to supply pupils with basic items that their families cannot afford, such as food and school uniforms.
While Kingston upon Hull’s deprivation levels is a concern, it has the benefit of being a university city. Our founders saw the advantages this could bring to Hull’s local problems and set out to leverage the intellectual capital of the university by linking young students and recent graduates with local pupils and migrants.
This arrangement offers our tutors the opportunity to build their work experience, develop new skills and create useful network contacts while providing the beneficiaries of our education programmes with high-quality tuition which helps raise their educational attainment and self-confidence.
Recruitment and Training
Our recruitment strategy is selective, and typically recruit 1 in 3 applicants. The application has score-based assessment questions. Candidates must meet minimum qualification requirements (at least A or 7 in maths and English GCSEs and three A-Levels to minimum B grade) to progress the shortlist. Ideally, have experience work with children, young people or adults, or at charitable organisation.
The interview panel assess the applicants’ communication and tutoring ability, looking for examples of maturity and reliability and a commitment to our organisation’s values. Applicants must provide two references, one from their former place of employment or one of their university supervisors and sign a self-disclosure form. Job offers are made conditionally on the return of a clean Enhanced DBS check and completion of mandatory training. Their DBS and training must be renewed annually.
We have three training programmes: the first and most important is essential training. This trains tutors for their first tutorial session and uses information on near-to-peer delivery and mentoring and befriending techniques. The instructor for this is certified for delivery. It can be delivered in person or remotely.
During essential training, tutors receive an accompanying applicant pack and training manual for reference. Tutors study the training manual and must pass an accompanying online test. Additionally, they must refresh information covered in essential training annually if they wish to continue their employment with us.
Toranj Tuition has formal accreditation for the delivery of mentoring and befriending training from the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). Furthermore, before we could become an Approved Tuition Partner for the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), our training process was thoroughly reviewed by the body.
Monitoring and Development
New tutors are overseen by the Project Manager, who supervises their six-month observation period. During this time, the Project Manager and Project Coordinator provide close support to ensure the tutor is comfortable and excelling in the role.
As part of our employer responsibilities, we also offer Career Development Planning (CPD) through our Employability Passport.
Employability Passport
In 2019, Toranj Tuition was granted an Employability Passport by the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Humber Learning Consortium (HLC). This programme enables us to deliver training and provide certification in employability skills. It is currently available for our tutors – for our employer CPD responsibilities – and adult education learners enrolled on our ESOL for Work and Employability programme.
The Employability Passport is designed around seven key employability skills which were highlighted by the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) as the most popular skills sought by employers. These skills are self-management, teamwork, business and customer awareness, problem-solving, communication and literacy, application of numeracy and application of it.