Student Resource Package – Targeted Initiatives

Tutor Learning Initiative (Reference 129)

The Tutor Learning Initiative (TLI) provides funding for schools to employ tutors to provide targeted small group instruction to students identified as performing significantly below their age-expected standard in literacy and/or numeracy.

Eligibility

TLI funding is provided to all government schools except for:

• camp schools, irrespective of their listed school type ( 'Camp' school types, Somers School Camp, Outdoor School, Rubicon Outdoor School)
• hospital-based schools (Monash Children’s Hospital School and Yalingbu Yirramboi)
• selective schools (including John Monash Science School, MacRobertson Girls High School, Melbourne High School, Nossal High School and Suzanne Cory High School)
• Centre for Higher Education Studies
• Parkville College
• Victorian School of Languages.

Funding

TLI funding allocations are calculated by the Department using NAPLAN data, with allocations based on the number of students assessed as ‘Needs Additional Support’ in NAPLAN reading and numeracy.

Funding is provided to schools through the Student Resource Package (SRP) as a 100% credit allocation.

This funding includes tutor on-costs for superannuation and payroll tax. When hiring staff, it is important to factor in these on-costs as they are not separately itemised within the budget.

Schools can choose to use additional funds, for example through Equity Social Disadvantage, to expand delivery of the TLI program within the school.

The allocations for the TLI have not yet been updated and reflect the same allocations included in the indicative release. TLI will be recalculated and incorporated in the revised SRP scheduled for release at the end of Term 2.

Primary, secondary, and primary/secondary combined schools

Primary, secondary and primary/secondary combined schools are funded based on the number of students requiring additional learning support in literacy and numeracy, where the per student rate is equivalent to the cost of delivering a standard tutor learning program (3 sessions of 45 minutes per week, for groups of 5 students), for 20 weeks) by a Classroom Teacher 2-3 as according to the Victorian Government Schools Agreement.

The minimum funding allocation is set at $26,500 per annum for primary schools and $30,000 per annum for secondary schools, funding approximately 0.2 FTE, ensuring schools have sufficient funding to deliver at least 4 groups of small-group intervention, 2 each for reading and numeracy.

Per student rates for primary, secondary, and primary/secondary combined

Primary (Prep to Year 6 including primary ungraded) per funded student rate: $1,276.135.

Secondary (Year 7 to Year 12 including secondary ungraded) per funded student rate: $1,448.592.

Number of eligible students for primary, secondary, and primary/secondary combined

2023 and 2024 NAPLAN data is used to identify students assessed as Needs Additional Support (NAS) or Exempt in the domains of Reading and Numeracy.

This is then used to extrapolate out and estimate the number of students needing literacy and/or numeracy support for the year levels with no new NAPLAN data.

For the purposes of funding, it is assumed that students absent from NAPLAN follow the school level distribution of NAS and Exempt students. The number of absent students is multiplied by the school level average percentage of NAS and Exempt students. The calculated percentage of absent students estimated to be NAS is then also extrapolated out to year levels with no new NAPLAN data to account for the additional estimated need. See 'Primary School Example' below for an example of this calculation.

For schools with no students who sat NAPLAN in 2023 or 2024 (for example, new schools), the corresponding system average % of NAS and Exempt students for primary or secondary year levels will be used.

For senior secondary schools, the year 9 system average % of NAS and Exempt students is used to calculate funding.

Funding formula for primary, secondary and primary/secondary combined

Primary

Provided if Primary enrolment > 0

Primary funding = Max of [Primary floor $26,500]

or

[Primary funded count × Primary per student rate]

Secondary

Provided if Secondary enrolment > 0

Secondary funding = Max of [Secondary floor $30,000]

or

[Secondary funded count × Secondary per student rate]

Combined

Total school funding = primary funding + secondary funding

Primary school example

School A is a primary school with 300 students distributed across the primary year levels with:

• 200 students with recorded NAPLAN outcomes (50 students in each NAPLAN grade in 2023 and 2024)
• 100 students in the other primary year levels.

Students who have sat NAPLAN

At School A, there were 30 students who were NAS/Exempt in Reading and 50 students who were NAS/Exempt in Numeracy. As such, School A will receive funding for 80 students who have sat NAPLAN.

Students who have not sat NAPLAN

The percentage of students who need additional support in Reading and Numeracy is extrapolated out to the other year levels.

For School A, this is 30/200 = 15% of students for Reading and 50/200 = 25% of students for Numeracy.

School A has 100 students in year levels which have not yet sat the new NAPLAN, so extrapolating out gives 15% × 100 + 25% × 100 = 40.0 funded students (rounded up to 1 decimal place).

Additionally, School A had 20 absent students in Reading and 20 absent students for Numeracy. Extrapolation based on the percentage of students at the school who qualify for TLI support will also be applied to NAPLAN Absent students. In School A, this works out to be 20 × 15% (Reading) + 20 × 25% (Numeracy) = 8 students. This is then further applied to the other primary year levels by using the school absent % × school TLI funded % for each NAPLAN domain. For School A, this would be (20/200) × 15% × 100 (Reading) + (20/200) × 25% × 100 (Numeracy) = 4 students. Therefore, based on NAPLAN Absences, we get an additional 8 + 4 = 12.0 funded students (rounded up to 1 decimal place).

Therefore, out of the students who have not sat the new NAPLAN there will be 40.0 + 12.0 = 52.0 students who will be funded for TLI.

Total funding

The total number of students in School A attracting funding is 80.0 + 52.0 = 132.0 students. Total funding amount is 132 × per student rate = 132 × $1,276.135 = $168,449.82 (rounded to 2 decimal places). As this is higher than the funding floor for the primary component of $26,500, School A will receive $168,449.82 as their final TLI allocation.

Special and language schools

The funding model for specialist and language schools will remain the same as the previous (2023) TLI funding model, with updated floor amounts.

Rates for special and language schools

Primary per student rate: $157.98 (referenced as Pri_total_rate in calculation below).

Secondary per student rate: $178.77 (referenced as Sec_total_rate in calculation below).

Special social disadvantage per student rate: $424.96 (referenced as Pri_SD_enrol_rate in calculation below).

Special secondary social disadvantage per student rate*: $480.88 (referenced as Sec_SD_enrol_rate in calculation below).

*Applied for special and language schools with only secondary equivalent enrolments

Funding formula for special and language schools

Primary years and primary age equivalents

Provided if Primary enrolment > 0

Primary funding = Max of [Primary floor $26,500]

or

[Pri_total_enrol × Pri_enrol_rate + Pri_SD_enrol × Pri_SD_enrol_rate]

Secondary years and secondary age equivalents

Provided if Secondary enrolment > 0

Secondary funding = Max of [Secondary floor $30,000]

or

[Sec_total_enrol × Sec_enrol_rate + Sec_SD_enrol × Sec_SD_enrol_rate]

Combined primary and secondary years or age equivalents

Total school funding = primary funding + secondary funding

Use of funding

Schools must only use their TLI funding to employ tutors to provide targeted small group instruction to students identified as performing significantly below their age-expected standard in literacy and/or numeracy.

Accountability

Schools receiving TLI funding are required to:

• provide small group learning support to all students across Foundation to Year 12 who are identified as performing significantly below their age-expected standard in literacy and/or numeracy
• provide a tutoring program in each of literacy and numeracy. The programs must include a documented sequence of sessions, designed to support the specific learning gaps of participating students
• plan to provide each identified student with a minimum of 40 hours of timetabled small group learning support per year (in groups of up to 5 students), noting that that if a student has been identified as needing additional support in both literacy and numeracy, then the school should plan for the student to be provided 80 hours of small group learning support
• measure attainment for each participating student using a standardised assessment tool at the commencement and the conclusion of the year
• record and update information about which students are identified for TLI support by checking and adding TLI tags on CASES21
• ensure students' Individual Education Plans (IEP) reflect participation in tutoring (where applicable)
• appoint and record tutors on eduPay using the TLI code: 80026.

More information

For queries regarding funding, contact the School Financial Management Support Unit at schools.finance.support@education.vic.gov.au

For further information on TLI, refer to the Tutor Learning Initiative PAL page or contact tutor@education.vic.gov.au