With budgets becoming ever more squeezed, it’s often tempting to go for the cheapest option when it comes to choosing an intervention – but ‘cheapest’ doesn’t always equate to ‘best value for money’.
As a provider of maths interventions ourselves, we would recommend that schools first carefully consider the following five areas before allocating their spend, along with the key questions they should be asking of every potential provider.
1. Impact
With both short and long term interventions you must be able to reliably measure their impact. Be prepared to examine both the empirical data and qualitative impact arising from an intervention. Agree your ‘success’ criteria at the start so that the intervention’s impact is directly linked to the allocated budget spend. Any Pupil Premium funds must have an impact on Pupil Premium children; any other incidental impact on your other pupils’ is an additional benefit.
Always ask:
What are the short and the long term impacts you can expect from your intervention?
2. Individuals
Consider the individual needs of the pupils that will be involved and ensure the intervention can be personalised, since every child’s gaps or areas of challenge will be different. The best programmes include a diagnostic element, allowing you to pinpoint individual gaps to work on. They should also include opportunities for class teachers to input their own recommendations – after all, they’re the ones who know the pupils best.
Always ask:
How does your intervention cater for individual pupils’ needs?
3. Implementation
You’ll probably find that the intervention which needs minimal extra work on the part of staff is the one that will actually benefit your pupils the most. If an intervention is likely to add to your staff workload or take time to implement, chances are it simply won’t happen.
Always ask:
How long will it take to get this intervention set up in school?
4. Influence
An intervention shouldn’t simply be a one-off event; while you should see an immediate result by way of an upturn in pupil attainment, wider benefits from the programme should also be reflected in your pupils’ lessons outside of the intervention. Pupils receiving interventions will often tend to be disengaged and in need of help; an intervention could therefore be considered successful if it leads to changes in a pupil’s mindset and brings them back into the classroom, eager to learn.
Always ask:
What additional benefits will your intervention bring to the classroom?
5. Insight
An intervention programme should provide you with insights into how your pupils are progressing and what their next steps are. Having a good reporting system in place will enable these takeaways to be shared among key members of staff, helping them to better focus their lessons for the class as a whole.
Always ask:
How will your intervention provide teachers with insights into their pupils’ learning?
More so than ever, every penny in a school budget counts counts. By following these five ‘I’s, you’ll be better placed to make the right decision when determining the return you’ll get from investing in an intervention.
Rob Langman is the teacher experience lead for Third Space Learning’s 1-to-1 maths interventions
