Guidance

Education recovery support

Updated 13 April 2022

Applies to England

Overview

This guidance provides information about the programmes and activities the Department for Education (DfE) is funding to support education recovery and children and young people’s wellbeing.

There are programmes and activities for children and young people of all ages, prioritising those that need help most, including disadvantaged pupils and students, and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

This guidance is for leaders and staff in:

• early years (EY) settings
• primary schools
• secondary schools (including sixth forms)
• providers of 16 to 19 education
• special schools, special post-16 providers and alternative provision
• infant, junior, middle and upper schools

Changes to the previous version

Changes to the guidance since its first publication include:

• additional information on the new training for early years staff
• the addition of information on the pre-reception early language continuous professional development (CPD) programme
• the addition of information on the accelerator fund and support available for core skills
• updated information on the 2020 to 2021 catch up premium and 2021 to 2022 recovery premium
• removal of sections on summer holiday 2021 activities
• further information on tutoring in schools
• reformatting to ensure guidance is accessible for different sectors and settings

Early years

CPD: new training for early years staff

The Government has made available up to £153 million of new funding for training for early years staff to support the very youngest children’s learning and development.

This includes stronger practice programme, comprising 3 elements:

1. new, universally accessible online training to upskill practitioners and improve their knowledge of child development, so they are better able to support the development of children in their care
2. for those settings in need of most support, access to mentoring support for early years practitioners to help strengthen children’s learning and development, along with bespoke whole-setting and leadership support, again targeted at settings most in need
3. a network of Stronger Practice Hubs to encourage evidence-based practice improvements via local networks

It also includes:

• an expansion of the Professional Development Programme for frontline practitioners, to provide national coverage
• a review of level 3 qualifications, leading towards a reformed, evidence based level 3 qualification
• an expansion of training to increase the number of staff in group-based providers, and childminders, with an accredited level 3 SENCO qualification. This will lead to better identification of SEND, and better support for children with SEND
• substantially expanded numbers of places for initial teacher training in EY, to increase the supply of qualified graduates to the sector
• programmes to train EY practitioners to support parents with the home learning environment, giving priority to families that would benefit the most

The first offer will be available from the 2022 to 2023 financial year.

CPD: early years professional development programme: second phase

We are investing up to £10 million in a second phase of the early years professional development programme (PDP) to support staff in pre-reception settings to work with children who are most at risk of falling behind. The programme will include a focus on personal, social, and emotional development (PSED), and will also cover elements of workforce mental health and wellbeing.

See EYPDP: Building on Success for more information.

Curriculum guidance

Non-statutory guidance is available for teachers and leaders in reception who are responsible for the curriculum and its teaching.

See the Teaching a broad and balanced curriculum for education recovery (non-statutory) guidance for more information.

Hungry Little Minds

The Hungry Little Minds website contains tips and practical activities that parents can do at home with children from newborn to 5 years old to support their early learning.

Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI)

Two thirds of State-funded schools with reception pupils have accessed the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme for free. The registration window closed on 22 October 2021. For more information about the programme please visit The Nuffield Foundation.

STEM learning

A suite of courses are available to support education recovery in early years settings:

• developing and leading excellence in the early years foundation stage
• making an impact in early years foundation stage (EYFS) suite of CPD
  • science as an enabling environment for early literacy skills
  • using the outdoors to promote ‘understanding of the world’
  • a science leaders’ guide to developing good practice

Schools

Additional funding: catch-up premium

A one-off universal £650 million catch-up premium was available for the 2020 to 2021 academic year. Schools can carry any unspent funding forward to future academic years and should use the funding for specific activities to support their pupils’ education recovery.

Additional funding: recovery premium

The recovery premium provides over £300 million of additional funding for state funded schools in the 2021 to 2022 academic year. Building on the pupil premium, this funding will help schools to deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting the most disadvantaged pupils.

See recovery premium funding for guidance on eligibility criteria how to use the funding and reporting and accountability requirements.

We’ve announced an additional £1 billion of funding to extend the recovery premium over the next two academic years (2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024). More details will be published in due course.

Additional funding: accelerator fund

Our £22 million accelerator fund will scale up proven approaches to reduce the attainment gap, enabling schools in the regions worst hit by learning loss to easily access effective practice shown to accelerate pupil progress. It will fund programmes delivered via 2 routes:

• Maths and English hubs
• The Education Endowment Foundation

Accelerator fund programmes delivered via Maths and English Hubs

£10 million is being provided to participating schools with support in maths and English, rolled out from Autumn term 2021. Specialist training and materials will be provided to support focused sessions to boost numeracy and literacy skills and help pupils catch-up in these core subjects.

Schools with high proportions of children from disadvantaged backgrounds will be prioritised for the schemes to support those most affected by the disruption to education.

To find out more about how to participate in the maths programmes schools can contact their local Maths Hub or visit the NCETM website. Information is available on offers covering reception to year 2 at primary, and year 7 at secondary.

At present, the funding for English is only available for state-funded primary schools and special schools that meet the following criteria:

• they must have a minimum of 22% of their pupils eligible for pupil premium or service pupil premium
• they must be in one of the 60 local authority districts for targeting

To find out more schools should contact one of the following English Hubs:

• North: Jerry Clay English Hub
• Midlands: Learners First English Hub
• South: New Wave English Hub

Accelerator fund programmes delivered via the Education Endowment Foundation

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) will receive over £10 million as part of the Accelerator Fund to support the availability and scale-up of well-evidenced programmes and help disadvantaged pupils catch up.

EEF will prioritise 3 Regional Schools Commissioner regions that have experienced substantial learning loss:

• East Midlands and Humber
• North of England
• West Midlands

There are 8 projects recruiting schools, across a variety of types of settings. This includes trials of approaches that show promise in raising attainment, as well as programmes shown to be effective in previous EEF trials being offered to schools at a subsidised rate.

To support schools to address challenges in the wake of the pandemic, the EEF, in partnership with the Research Schools Network, is delivering a free bespoke offer of twilight training sessions and a 6 module training programme.

This is in addition to the recent announcement to re-endow the EEF with at least £100 million, lasting for at least the next decade, to ensure that schools will continue to have access to the very best evidence.

You can find further information about the projects, including how schools can get involved, on the Education Endowment Foundation website.

Tutoring in Schools

The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) is a government funded, sector-led initiative designed to support schools to address the impact of COVID-19 on pupils’ progress and attainment.

We recognise that each school has pupils with varying needs so have developed a tutoring proposition that provides a high degree of flexibility and choice. Since it began in November 2020, over one million courses have been started through the programme.

For this 2021 to 2022 academic year there are 3 routes to subsidised tuition:

• school-led tutoring: flexibility for schools to choose their own tutors. For further information on how to plan and deliver this tutoring route, see the School-led tutoring guidance
• tuition partners: approved subsidised tuition available to all schools
• academic mentors: employed to work in-house to provide intensive support to schools with higher numbers of disadvantaged pupils

Schools now have the flexibility to deliver tuition over the summer holidays should they wish to. This includes tuition provided via tuition partners, academic mentors and school-led tutoring.

DfE has redirected £65 million to the school-led tutoring route to continue to provide schools with the autonomy and support they require to deliver high quality tutoring to their pupils who need support the most. Schools will receive this additional funding as part of their third and final SLT payment in May 2022. This funding can be used until 31 August 2022, including for school led provision over the summer.

Recently we set out plans for the next year of the programme; In the 2022 to 2023 academic year schools will receive £349 million tutoring funding directly to help reach pupils most in need of support. This will simplify the system and give schools the freedom to decide how best to provide tuition for their children, which could include one on one or small group tutoring through teachers or teaching assistants, and continuing to work with external tutoring specialists and academic mentors.

Further information on the programme is available on the NTP website.

Continuous professional development

Teachers can access world leading training and development, appropriate for whatever point they are at in their career, following additional funding being made available to provide 500,000 teacher training opportunities.

Early Career Framework (ECF)

The ECF reforms provide a funded entitlement to a structured 2 year package of high quality professional development, which is available to all new teachers. Since September 2021, schools can now use a DfE funded training provider who will design and deliver a comprehensive programme of face-to-face and online training to meet the new statutory induction requirements that underpin the ECF reforms.

The latest information and how schools can sign up to a provider-led programme, is available in the early career framework reforms guidance.

National Professional Qualifications (NPQs)

In Autumn 2021, we introduced a new and updated suite of NPQs. The existing NPQs in Senior Leadership, Headship and Executive Leadership have been refreshed, ensuring that they are underpinned by the latest evidence of what works.

The existing NPQ in Middle Leadership has been replaced with 3 new specialist NPQs for teachers and leaders who want to broaden and deepen their expertise in the following specialist areas:

• leading teacher development
• leading behaviour and culture
• leading teaching

All teachers and leaders employed in state-funded schools, as well as those employed in state-funded organisations that offer 16 to 19 places in England can now access a fully funded NPQ from autumn 2021.

The latest information and how to apply, is available in the National professional qualifications (NPQs) reforms guidance.

We are also introducing 2 additional NPQs which will be available from autumn 2022: the NPQ for Leading Literacy and the NPQ for Early Years Leadership.

Additional continuous professional development (CPD) support for teachers

Science

Support for science teachers and tutors from early years to post 16 and includes:

• CPD for existing and aspiring tutors of science and maths
• CPD for secondary science teachers teaching outside of their specialism
• physics for non-specialists
• chemistry for non-specialists
• curated collections of resources

You can find out more about CPD for secondary science teachers and primary school teachers to support the effective teaching of science on the Stem learning website.

National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE)

A support package comprising:

• curated online CPD
• 500 hours of resources and assessments from key stage 1 to key stage 3
• links to wider local support through subject matter experts and 34 computing hubs

The package also includes the Computer Science Accelerator (CSA) programme, specifically targeted to upskill 8,000 GCSE computer science teachers and the Isaac Computer Science platform to provide resources and support for A level teachers and students.

See the Teach Computing website for more details and Isaac Computer Science website.

Maths Hubs programme

The programme offers a range of free teacher CPD and resources to schools across England, with projects covering early years through to post-16. This includes new support for education recovery, such as:

• primary maths video lessons
• materials to compliment the DfE’s non-statutory Teaching mathematics in primary schools curriculum guidance
• CPD as part of the new core skills offer

You can find out more about the support available by visiting the NCETM website, and contact your local Maths Hub to join professional development programmes.

Curriculum guidance

This non-statutory guidance is for teachers and leaders in key stages 1, 2 and 3 who are responsible for the curriculum and its teaching. It offers suggestions to help schools decide how to prioritise elements within their curriculum for education recovery.

See the Teaching a broad and balanced curriculum for education recovery guidance for more information.

Curriculum resources

• Oak National Academy: the online classroom serving millions of children, will continue to be available to schools and young people through to Easter 2022. Oak National Academy provides video lessons in a broad range of subjects for reception up to year 11. Specialist content for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is also available

• Isaac Physics: free, topic-based physics learning support for GCSE students and schools

• Isaac computer science: free, topic-based computer science support for students transitioning to A level.

• National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE): offering diagnostic assessments to support teachers of GCSE computer science and KS3 computing. Teach Computing Curriculum contains everything to teach computing at key stages 1 to 4

• Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP): provides free online courses that support year 11 students transition to level 3 study including, transition to A level mathematics course to build confidence that they are ready to start A level mathematics and core mathematics skills course to revise the maths skills they will need for post 16 courses

16 to 19 education

Additional teaching and learning hours

As part of the 2021 Spending Review, the government announced an additional £800 million over the next 3 academic years (2022 to 2023 until 2024 to 2025 academic years) to fund an average of 40 additional learning hours across each academic year for all 16 to 19 students (and up to age 24 for students with an education, health and care plan (EHCP)). This will provide students with further opportunities to catch up on the vital teaching and learning they need to progress.

The 16 to 19 funding: Additional hours in study programmes contains further guidance on the new requirement for additional hours from the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

Repeat year for students due to complete their 16 to 19 education

To ensure that those with the least time left in education had the opportunity to progress, the government gave providers of 16 to 19 education the option to offer students in year 13 (or equivalent) the opportunity to repeat up to one more year, in the 2021 to 2022 academic year, if they had been particularly severely affected by the pandemic.

Funding guidance for young people 2021 to 2022: repeat of part or all of final year of programme for 16-19 students guidance contains more information.

16 to 19 tuition fund

The 16 to 19 tuition fund has been extended and will continue until the end of the 2023 to 2024 academic year, allowing students to access one-to-one and small group catch up tuition. Young people will be able to catch up in subjects that will benefit them the most, including maths, English and other subjects that have been disrupted, including vocational and/or academic learning.

We are also broadening the eligibility of the fund to include disadvantage in addition to low prior attainment in the 2021 to 2022 academic year. This allows institutions to offer tuition to all disadvantaged students who have been impacted by the pandemic, while still maintaining focus on low prior attainment.

16 to 19 funding: 16 to 19 tuition fund guidance contains for more information, including eligibility criteria.

Curriculum resources

• Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP) Preparation for higher education mathematics provides a suite of resources designed to help students revise some of the later content of A level mathematics
• Isaac Physics offers free, topic based physics learning support for A level students and schools
• Isaac computer science learning is a free platform for students and teachers of A level computer science, containing full curriculum coverage for the AQA and OCR examination boards

Wellbeing and socialisation

The following free resources are designed to support pupil and teacher wellbeing, mental health and socialisation.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Support

DfE have announced a range of support to improve mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges. This includes:

• guidance on whole school and college approaches to mental health and wellbeing
• funding for senior mental health leads training
• funded support through the wellbeing for education recovery programme

Holiday activities and food

Local authorities (LAs) are co-ordinating access to school holiday clubs during the 2022 Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. Access will be free for disadvantaged pupils and their families. LAs are encouraged to make places available for any children to pay to attend. Holiday activities and food programme guidance includes more information.

Active Recovery Hub

The Youth Sport Trust - Active Recovery Hub includes practical ideas from sports organisations to get young people moving throughout the day.

Education staff wellbeing

The education staff wellbeing charter sets out the actions that government and other organisations, including Ofsted, will take to improve the wellbeing of staff in schools and colleges.

Continuous professional development (CPD)

A mental wellbeing training module is available to help subject leads and teachers understand what they should teach and improve their confidence in delivering mental wellbeing as part of the new curriculum.

Reducing school workload

Support and practical resources are available for schools to help reduce school leader and teacher workload. These include the school workload reduction toolkit produced by school leaders, teachers and other sector experts alongside the DfE.

Support for children and young people who are disadvantaged, vulnerable and/or have special education needs and disabilities (SEND)

Recovery programmes have been designed to allow early years, school and college leaders the flexibility to support those pupils most in need, including the most disadvantaged and vulnerable and those with SEND who attend both mainstream and specialist settings and include the following key examples.

Additional funding

The recovery premium for the 2021 to 2022 academic year reflects disadvantage funding eligibility. Schools with more disadvantaged pupils will therefore receive larger allocations but will have flexibility to direct funding based on their assessment of needs. Special and alternative provision settings will also receive additional funding weightings for the recovery premium. For the 2021 to 2022 academic year the per pupil rate will be: £145 for mainstream schools and £290 for special schools (including special units in mainstream schools), alternative provision and hospital schools.

Information for the additional £1 billion of funding to extend the recovery premium over the next 2 academic years (2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024) will be published in due course.

Tutoring

The expansion of our tutoring programmes allows schools and colleges the choice and flexibility to meet the diverse needs of their pupils through a range of tutoring provision.

Schools have the flexibility to target pupils most in need of support, however particular consideration should be given to providing tutoring support for the most disadvantaged pupils. For the 2021 to 2022 academic year, school-led tutoring allocations are being calculated from the number of disadvantaged pupils on roll. Schools in qualifying Local Authority District areas, and those where pupil premium pupils form more than 20% of the school roll, can also apply to be matched with an academic mentor.

Special and alternative provision settings will receive additional funding weightings for school-led tutoring. The grant can be used to support catch-up in the broader curriculum, for example practising and consolidating techniques in speech and language therapy.

The eligibility of the 16 to 19 tuition fund has been broadened for 2021 to 2022, allowing institutions to offer tuition to all disadvantaged students who have been impacted by the pandemic. The fund will also continue to support SEND students and 19 to 24-year-olds with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) through the provision of one to one and small group tuition.

Teaching resources

Oak National Academy offers specialist content for pupils with SEND. This covers communication and language, numeracy, creative arts, independent living and physical development. Additionally, Oak National Academy offers therapy-based lessons and resources across occupational, physical, sensory integration and speech and language therapy. Visit the Specialist Classroom for more information.

Further details can be found in specific programme guidance documents.