Jacky Lambert, an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh’s College, has been lauded in an article in the Daily Mail for her Tutor The Nation scheme which matches university students with pupils in state schools for free online tutoring.
Jacky said the pandemic had taken “social mobility back ten years and we have to act.” She told the newspaper that, “The huge response to the call for NHS responders earlier in the pandemic had shown how willing people were to help” and that she knew a lot of undergraduates and graduates would be willing to volunteer their time.
The charity is currently running a successful pilot from Oxford, and has moved to rolling out the scheme nationwide.
The scheme is open to undergraduate students, graduate students, and recent graduates, and is targeted towards state school pupils in years 10, 11, 12 and 13, with a specific focus on areas of deprivation where pupils are in danger of underperforming. Volunteer tutors can commit to as little as one hour per week and must undergo a DBS check, the cost of which is covered by Tutor The Nation.
One of the Oxford students involved in the scheme, Ben Hyman, said: “’I felt it was a real shame knowing that there are bright kids who could be much more successful but who are missing out on opportunities – and now I could help do something about it. Some of this stuff is hard to learn on your own or through textbooks, so it really helps to bounce off someone who can help fill in the gaps.”
The charity can be contacted at volunteer@tutorthenation.org.
