Why Ending Pandemic Tutoring Support Has Left Learning Gaps Unresolved
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario Ministry of Education funded tutoring programs to help students who had fallen behind. The need was clear: months of disrupted learning left many students struggling academically, socially, and emotionally.
What has received far less attention is what happened next.
Those publicly funded tutoring supports were quietly wound down, even as educators and families continue to report that many students are still working to close learning gaps. In their place, schools have increasingly leaned on peer tutoring models — asking students to support other students.
While peer tutoring may have value as a supplemental tool, relying on it as a primary academic support raises serious concerns about effectiveness, equity, and expectations.
Being Good at a Subject Is Not the Same as Teaching It
There is a critical difference between understanding material and teaching it effectively.
Teachers spend years in postsecondary education learning pedagogy, assessment strategies, differentiated instruction, and classroom management. They are trained not only to know content, but to explain it in multiple ways, identify learning barriers, and adapt to different student needs.
Peer tutors — even high-achieving ones — do not receive this training.
A student with strong grades may understand math, science, or English well, but that does not automatically translate into the ability to teach another student who is struggling. Explaining concepts, diagnosing misunderstandings, and adjusting instruction are professional skills — not natural byproducts of academic success.
Peer tutoring can complement professional instruction. It should not replace it.
The Cost of Private Tutoring Is Out of Reach for Many Families
As publicly funded tutoring has faded, families are increasingly being told — implicitly or explicitly — to fill the gap themselves.
In the GTA, private tutoring often costs $60 to $90 per hour, with some services charging upwards of $75 an hour. For families already facing rising costs for housing, groceries, transit, and childcare, regular tutoring quickly becomes unaffordable.
The result is a widening divide:
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Students whose families can pay receive extra help
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Students who cannot are left to rely on informal or peer-based support
That is not an equity-based education system. It is one that shifts responsibility — and cost — onto parents.
Peer Tutoring as a Cost-Saving Measure?
Schools and boards often present peer tutoring as a positive, community-building initiative. And in limited, structured contexts, it can be.
But when peer tutoring becomes the default response to unmet learning needs, it raises an uncomfortable question:
Is this about educational best practice — or budget constraints?
As boards face financial pressure, peer tutoring is attractive because it is low-cost or no-cost. But cost efficiency should never come at the expense of instructional quality — especially for students who are already behind.
Students should not be expected to compensate for the withdrawal of professional supports.
The Long-Term Risk to Student Confidence and Outcomes
There is also a human cost to relying on peers.
Students who are struggling academically may feel reluctant to seek help from classmates, fearing embarrassment or judgement. Others may receive inconsistent or incorrect guidance, compounding confusion rather than resolving it.
At the same time, peer tutors are placed in a quasi-teaching role without training, oversight, or accountability — a responsibility they were never meant to carry.
This approach risks undermining confidence on both sides of the equation.
A Missed Opportunity to Reinvest Where It Matters
If the province acknowledges that learning loss occurred — and there is broad consensus that it did — then the removal of tutoring supports deserves scrutiny.
The question is not whether pandemic-era programs should last forever. It is whether adequate replacements were put in place before those supports were withdrawn.
For many families, the answer appears to be no.
Teaching Is a Profession — and Support Should Reflect That
Education depends on trained professionals for a reason. Teaching is not simply knowing; it is guiding, adapting, and supporting students through challenges that are often invisible.
Peer tutoring can have a place — but it cannot and should not replace professionally delivered academic support, especially for students who are struggling the most.
As The Learning Curve continues to examine education across the GTA, this issue deserves attention: Students still need help — and asking them to teach each other is not the same as providing it.
📘 The Learning Curve is GTA Weekly’s weekly look at education in the Greater Toronto Area—because every student’s journey deserves attention.
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