COVID Intensive Learning Support Program evaluation support

Following disrupted learning during COVID lockdowns, the NSW Department of Education introduced the COVID Intensive Learning Support Program (COVID ISLP) in 2021. The program provided small-group tuition to more than 290,000 students, focusing on literacy and numeracy.

The COVID ILSP was a substantial statewide initiative, and was rolled out amidst ongoing lockdowns, natural disasters, and staffing challenges. The program was designed to be implemented flexibly in diverse school contexts, and the evaluation needed to proceed in a way that did not involve too much time or extra work for teachers and school leaders.

The NSW Department of Education engaged ARTD to work together with the department on the phase 3 process evaluation of the COVID ILSP. ARTD’s work focused on understanding the experiences of students, teachers, principals, COVID ILSP coordinators and educators in implementing the program, to help understand the impact of the program on schools and students.

ARTD worked collaboratively with the department’s internal evaluation team and the COVID ILSP program team on this evaluation. Our work included:

• interviews and focus groups in 20 schools, including 9 face-to-face school visits in metropolitan and regional locations
• a variety of techniques for engaging with students of different age groups, allowing students to participate in different ways if they didn’t want to talk (for example, choosing a picture or a word from a printed selection, drawing a picture, or writing on a post-it note)
• short surveys with more than 5,000 school students from years K to 12, with responses presented in pictures as well as words
• surveys with more than 2,800 school principals, ILSP tutors, ILSP coordinators and classroom teachers
• phone interviews with a small number of parents and carers.

We gained approval for our data collection and consent processes by working with the department and liaising with schools in advance so schools could obtain written parental consent for students to take part.

During the evaluation, ARTD provided regular updates to the department so that early insights could inform ongoing decisions about the program.

The positive response to the COVID ILSP program from schools, principals, educators and students showed that the small-group tuition model of support was valued across the system. The NSW Department of Education adopted this model in the Small Group Tuition program, which became permanent in 2024.