The howSpotlight: Our Local Matters PartnershipMost of our partner schools primarilyserve children and young people who livein communities with high concentrationsof poverty. Each of these communitiesis di昀昀erent, and it’s crucial that we avoidsimplistic narratives about people andcommunities that experience poverty.This year, we’ve been delighted topartner with the University of Manchester(UoM) on the ‘Local Matters’ programme.Run by Dr Carl Emery and Louisa Dawes atthe Institute of Education, the programmepartners with schools and otherorganisations to deliver action researchthat deepens our understanding of thelinks between power, poverty and place.Our whole team, and some of our tutors,took part in research workshops with theteam at UoM to unpack our own attitudesto poverty, with Carl, Louisa and the teamdebunking myths and stereotypes. Followingthe workshop, we’ve made changes to ourtutor training, ensuring all tutors are givenan opportunity to discuss experiences ofpoverty, as well as stereotypes and mythsthat exist about poverty, and that they havean accurate understanding of Free SchoolMeals and Pupil Premium.Since the workshops, our sta昀昀 teamembarked on three action researchprojects: 昀椀rstly, we’re looking at howwe currently use language in all ourcommunications to describe our tuteesand the communities we work in. It’s notalways easy to get this right, particularlywhen words such as ‘disadvantaged’ areroutinely used by the Department forEducation when monitoring the attainmentgap between pupils who have been eligiblefor Free School Meals in the past six yearsand their peers who haven’t. The gap isreal, and we don’t want to obscure it, butwe’re committed to using respectful andinclusive language that doesn’t see youngpeople and families experiencing povertyas somehow lacking. We’d love to workwith sector partners on how best wecan talk about the real di昀케culties manyof our bene昀椀ciaries and their families facewithout further marginalising them, andhow, wherever possible, we can genuinelycentre their voices.The partnership with Local Matters hassparked many interesting, and at timeschallenging, conversations within TutorTrust. We are much the better for it.A second group are looking at howwe collect feedback from tutees, usinga social justice framework to gatherevidence as to what tutoring feels likefor the young people we support andhow it 昀椀ts into their wider lives. Followingthis work, we’ll look to redesign the waywe collect feedback from our young people.A third group are examining the impactof our new fortnightly reading group inwhich sta昀昀 from across the charity readand discuss material related to poverty,class, place and marginalisation.The Tutor Trust Impact Report 2022/2319
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