The Learners Collective (TLC) is proud to announce an exciting new partnership with Etio Global to deliver critical training as part of the Attendance Mentoring Pilot Expansion (AMPE) project. This £15 million Department for Education (DfE) initiative aims to evaluate how mentoring may reduce persistent absence in schools across England.
Delivered by Etio on behalf of the DfE, the Pilot takes a ‘mentoring-first’ approach to address the national attendance challenge. Over the next three-and-a-half years, nearly 60 mentors will be recruited to support more than 10,000 secondary school students across the country who are persistently or severely absent.
TLC joins leading education partners – ImpactEd, Thrive and Oasis Community Partnerships – to provide expert training for mentors. With a strong track record of its Scholars mentoring thousands of disadvantaged students as one of only 66 DfE-approved Tuition Partners of the National Tutoring Programme, TLC brings a depth of expertise in pupil-led relational mentorship.
A Bespoke Training Programme
TLC’s training was designed and delivered by Rory Gaskin, Founder of TLC, alongside Corrine Pearson, Trust Vice Principal QofE/PP Strategy at Haberdashers’ Academies Trust South. This three-part training program, tailored to the specific demands of the AMPE, draws on the latest research and TLC’s unique approach to mentorship used across its programmes. It equips mentors with the knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver impactful, pupil-led mentorship – with trust and belonging at the core of their practice.
Key content includes:
The barriers preventing some students from attending school;
Why some students struggle with the school environment;
The multi-layers of influence on a young person’s need; and
How to balance relational mentoring with goal-oriented outcomes.
Rory shared his personal motivation for the project:
“With 150,000 children absent from school for half or more of the academic year, addressing the specific barriers young people face attending school is more important than ever. I was once one of these students, and so I genuinely believe in the transformative role mentors can play in fostering trust and belonging – which are central to improving attendance.”
He added:
“Through our partnership with Etio, we’re shifting the narrative from an ‘attendance challenge’ to an ‘attendance opportunity’. We have designed a training programme which empowers mentors with the tools to truly understand their students, collaborate with schools, and deliver meaningful lasting impact. Simply put, it’s a chance to change the lives of thousands of young people.”
Holly Bevan-Yorston, Senior Project Manager at Etio said:
“We’re delighted to be working with The Learners Collective as one of our training partners in supporting our mentors prepare for this exciting new programme. Mentoring has the potential to be transformative for young people. By utilising the expertise of TLC, we can ensure our mentors have understanding, skills, and abilities to build meaningful relationships that we hope will help pupils overcome some of the challenges they are facing, now and in the future.”
About The Learners Collective (TLC)
TLC is the modern-day evolution of supplementary education: an online tutoring platform offering a unique blend of academic and personal-professional mentorship, delivered by diverse, academically-gifted Scholars with inspiring life stories. In short, we help students build grades, life skills and character to excel in exams - and beyond.
Since 2021, TLC has partnered with schools across the UK to deliver our successful online near-peer school programme – providing over 25,000 hours of learning to thousands of pupils, mostly from traditionally disadvantaged and ethnically-diverse backgrounds. With its distinct focus on academic, personal and professional mentorship, students develop academic excellence alongside the soft-skills and self-belief to flourish in all environments.
About Etio Global:
Etio (formerly Tribal Education Services), part of Tribal Group plc, is a specialist consultancy that has been providing education services to governments internationally for over 25-years, including an extensive portfolio of work in the UK with the Department for Education. Etio’s UK portfolio currently comprises an array of projecting, including: the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM); Multiply Adult Numeracy Programme; National Professional Qualifications (NPQs); and the Isle of Man schools external validations.
If you are parent, teacher or school leader interested in finding out more about our School Programme or how we can support your pupils’ attendance, please contact us via e-mail.