The equivalent of at least 18 full-time tutors have joined Warrnambool's government schools thanks to a $1.2 million investment from the state government.

The city's Catholic and independent schools also received $300,000 to hire tutors.

Students learnt from home for at least 17 weeks last year but educators say the overall impact of the interruption is not yet known.

Instead, teachers say remote learning affects each student's strengths and weaknesses differently and therefore individual support is the best way to close any learning gaps.

Students' motivation, organisation and resilience are also lower, according to some schools.

Warrnambool College tutor Louise Johnson is among four new staff who will act as a second teacher in classrooms this year to give students individual attention and boost their literacy and numeracy skills.

"Trying to manage a whole class - and students can be all at different stages in their learning - can be really challenging," Ms Johnson, a former Brauer College teacher, said.

"My time has been freed up so I don't have prepare lessons and my focus is on particular students, that's a privilege."

She says it's not only students with the lowest results who need her help.

"Some were high flyers who struggled with learning remotely," Ms Johnson said.

"I was thinking tutoring would involve working with some of the lower achieving students but we had to understand that remote learning affected a whole range of students.

"They were missing some essential components in the classroom like peer support and teacher feedback. Although you could get some of that remotely, it's not always possible."

Ms Johnson, a former English teacher hoping to improve students' writing, said the task was also to keep students engaged.

"Attendance patterns once they are set can be difficult to change," she said.

"Lockdowns can entrench those further. I also think students who have home environments where it could be difficult for them to find a place to study had higher levels of disengagement."

"Older age groups were more affected, probably because the learning content increases and the difficulty increases, so the chances of becoming disengaged also increases if you feel left behind."

Warrnambool College principal David Clift said the tutors would work with year 11s and 12s this term, and year nine and 10 students next term, before returning to work with senior students later in the year.

"We asked teachers to give a ranking of one to five on how students progressed in remote learning," Mr Clift said.

"They did that for every student in the school community for every subject. Then we went 'right, which students are getting ones or twos? And which year levels need it most?'

"Rather than being a scatter gun approach, we can be quite focused."

Brauer College received a similar level of funding to employ tutors but principal Jane Boyle said the school chose to employ about 20 part-time tutors.

Ms Boyle said the tutors were retired teachers and educators from other roles.

"Some VCE students need specific help such as how to answer certain exam questions," she said.

"Because of the interruption to their learning, it has now formed a gap."

Ms Boyle said some students' organisation and resilience needed particular attention.

"I haven't seen this proportion of students in year seven wanting to go home before and I think it's directly attributable to COVID," she said.

"It's because they were at home all the time and home is a lovely spot to be. It's a familiar environment and in many cases parents are now not there which means the students can do what they want."

Education Minister James Merlino told The Standard "the recruitment of tutors has been incredibly successful" with more than 3700 new tutors in schools across Victoria.

The government aims to employ more than 4100 this year using a $250 million investment.

"This is the largest single investment in individualised learning in the state's history," Mr Merlino said.

Principals have lauded the money as an investment in young people's education with potential long-term benefits.

"That's not going to come around again," Warrnambool College's Mr Clift said.

Brauer's Ms Boyle said it was unusual for students of all abilities to receive widespread support.

"Normally programs come in and it's trying to lift that very bottom group of students, whereas this is an opportunity to target all students' needs," she said.

Families are increasingly turning to tutors for private lessons outside of school hours too.

Warrnambool Kip McGrath Education Centre's Elisa Lehmann-Kay said the franchise had doubled its enrolments this year.

"Parents have seen their children are behind and they are seeking that help," Ms Lehmann-Kay said.

"A lot of them at the moment it tends to be their maths; they have struggled to do things on their own or with their parents at home, but reading and spelling are often big ones as well."

Online tutoring was available for the past six years but its popularity spiked after the lockdowns, Ms Lehmann-Kay said.

"Before, people were more scared of doing it," Ms Lehmann-Kay said.

"Because students have done remote learning online last year the parents are more open to it too and know it can work."

She said tutors could now reach more students in the wider region, especially from rural areas and neighbouring cities.

"People in Portland and areas further out can now have access as well," Ms Lehmann-Kay said.

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