A Tutor Against Educational Poverty
The European Commission is working on its forthcoming anti-poverty strategy. A successful Italian experiment offers a potential large-scale solution. A commentary by Michela Carlana
The themes of this article will be discussed at the event “The EU’s Anti-Poverty Strategy: An Evaluation and Next Steps,” co-organised by the Institute for European Policymaking at Bocconi and the European Commission, on October 20 at Bocconi University in Milan. You can find the full program and the registration link here.
The European Commission is working on its forthcoming anti-poverty strategy, to be presented next year. A successful Italian experiment offers a potential large-scale solution — addressing both learning gaps and the relational dimension that fuels inequality.
In Italy, educational poverty affects hundreds of thousands of children. It is not only those who drop out of school, but also those who attend without acquiring basic skills.
The 2025 Invalsi data are stark: by the end of lower secondary school, 41 per cent of students fall below the basic proficiency level in Italian, and 44 per cent do so in mathematics. These figures reveal an education system that too often fails to guarantee equal learning opportunities for all.
Yet educational poverty goes beyond test results. It is the struggle to discover one’s talent, to find encouragement and confidence to imagine a different future. It is the trap of low aspirations — a condition that imprisons those who grow up in environments where studying seems pointless.
The Tutoring Online Program (TOP) connects university students and struggling middle school pupils through weekly video calls: one hour of lessons, exercises, listening, and encouragement.
The programme was developed by LEAP (Laboratory for Effective Anti-poverty Policies) at Bocconi University, which evaluates the causal impact of public policies aimed at reducing poverty and inequality.
The evaluation, recently published in the American Economic Review, was conducted by Michela Carlana (Harvard and Bocconi) and Eliana La Ferrara (Harvard University) using a rigorous experimental methodology — a randomized controlled trial — to measure the causal effects of the intervention.
The results show significant improvements in students’ performance in mathematics and Italian, and a substantial reduction in the achievement gap with peers from more advantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
The strongest effects were observed among students from the most disadvantaged environments, where learning difficulties weigh the most.
TOP’s strength lies not only in helping students catch up academically but also in its ability to break the cycle of low aspirations and improve psychological well-being. Talking regularly with a university tutor helps students realise that studying is possible, that struggling is normal, and that their future is not predetermined.
There is also an unexpected outcome: tutors grow too. They learn to communicate, to listen, to understand inequality up close. Tutoring thus becomes a laboratory of citizenship — a concrete way to build social bonds between generations and across social divides.
Of course, no online programme alone can eradicate educational poverty. What is needed is a system capable of attracting and supporting motivated teachers, with adequate salaries and real career development opportunities.
But experiences such as TOP show that the community can complement schools, helping to reduce educational inequality — or at least contain it, until we find the strength to address the structural roots of the problem.
IEP@BU does not express opinions of its own. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the authors.
