For Volunteers
We believe in the power of young people.
Our Philosophy
We believe that the existing education system is not tailored to meet the needs of all pupils, that quality education is a fundamental right for all, and that young people have a key role in solving educational inequality.
We work to tackle unequal levels of access to resources and support, to enable primary school pupils to achieve their full potential.
Our vision is a society where all children irrespective of their background are able to achieve their full potential and where young people play an integral role in this.
Why we need you
The UK has one of the highest rates of educational inequality among wealthy countries in the world. This inequality is entrenched early on: Disadvantaged pupils leave primary school approximately 9 months behind their peers. It is also estimated that this year (2021/22) 200,000 pupils will leave primary school with inadequate literacy skills.
This educational inequality has long-lasting repercussions; research from the National Literacy Trust shows that children born into communities with the most serious literacy challenges have some of the lowest life expectancies in England. These disparities have been widened by the pandemic, due to unequal access to online teaching resources and support; 58 per cent of primary school students from the least affluent families did not have access to an individual study space, and they spent significantly less time on home learning than peers from more affluent families.
Although the government has recently launched high-profile initiatives, such as the National Tutoring Programme, this only equates to £50 per person – which only covers around three sessions of privately provided tuition. This means we are still seeing incredible demand for our support, particularly because we provide long term support to schools for free, and we have a strong track record of providing quality tuition.
We want to support as many pupils as possible, but we have a wait list of schools who want our support. We need more volunteers – we need people who are enthusiastic, willing to give up 1-3 hours a week (depending on role) and are passionate about supporting children to achieve their potential. If you think this could be you then please apply for one of our roles now!
Become more than a tutor
Young people have a key role in solving educational inequality.
Empowering young people has long been an important goal of NGOs, and it is a goal Students4Students shares too. However, we have taken it one step further; we don’t just empower young people to make a change we enable them to lead the change. Our member-led organisational structure means the young people who volunteer with us don’t just deliver our tutoring, but they also set our strategy, decide our policies and help shape the very essence of what Students4Students sets out to do. Our young volunteers are our organisation's leaders.
We have put young people at the heart of what we do because we believe that across the UK there are thousands of young people who share the same vision for a more equal education system that allows all children to succeed. We want to connect those who share this vision and use their passion, their ideas, and their drive to change in their local communities. We believe that young people can be change-makers.