The FE sector needs a “policy roadmap” to ensure best use of digital technology, a report launched last week has said.
The report, by think tank The Education Foundation and entitled Digital colleges: the journey so far, examined digital best practice in the college sector and what a digital future would look like. It called for FE and policy leaders to “move past the ‘bright lights of tech’” and move towards creating “digital colleges” — “embracing a mindset that utilises digital technology and engagement across its organisation”.
The report looks at the Digital Colleges Programme, which was set up in June to highlight good practice, and share it across the sector.
The authors, Education Foundation co-founder Ian Fordham and associate director Nathan Martin, said there was “no simple recipe for digital transforming institutions or the sector” but called for “a set of clear sector-wide owned definitions of a Digital College and understandings, shared and agreed by principals and senior leaders.”
They also identified five elements for a college seeking to use technology more effectively, including leadership from the front by principals, good infrastructure where technology interacts and integrates well and aiming to be “digital by default”.
The list also included a warning for providers to be ready for the requirement for at least 10 per cent of a course to be delivered online as set out by the Further Education Learning Technology Action group in March and said leadership should have “agility and adaptability” and an “entrepreneurial approach”.
Robin Ghurbhurun, principal and chief executive of Richmond upon Thames College, which was highlighted for its good practice in the report, welcomed its publication.
“Its focus is not on a new paradigm or promise, but on pragmatism, for far too long the digital box has been empty and the challenge for college leaders is to fill it with purpose,” he said.
South Staffordshire College and North Hertfordshire College were also praised for their digital infrastructures in the report.
South Staffordshire College principal Graham Morley said: “We are committed to pioneering new ways of enabling our communities to exploit the opportunities of living in a digital world. The work of the Digital Colleges programme and report is about facilitating this transformation and influencing thinking. It is enriching the debate as we move forward in the digital age.”
Fourteen FE colleges were winners at the Beacon Awards,
They were announced at the Association of Colleges (AoC) conference in Birmingham.
Among the winners were Leeds City College, whose employer engagement initiative has to almost 11,000 apprenticeships, and South Devon College, whose health programme saw an 80 per cent increase in learner and staff exercise.
The award for continued engagement in education and/or training for 16 to 19-year-old learners went to East Kent College, while the award for outstanding leadership of improvement was won by National Star College.The staff development award went to Kirklees College, while Bridgend College won the award for practical teaching and practical learning.
The prizes for transformational leadership by governing bodies and for improvement in teaching and learning through peer coaching were scooped by Abingdon and Witney College, while Heart of Worcestershire College was recognized for its effective use of technology in FE and skills.
Bridgwater College took the prize for inclusive learning for high needs students while Canterbury College won the award for student services.
Forth Valley College got the award for innovation, while Weymouth College won two prizes, one for its careers education and guidance and the second for sport in the curriculum.
‘I’m a true Wolveronian,” says Wolverhampton-born Rajinder Mann, who left the UK for India shortly after birth only to return five years later unable to speak English.
“But I’m just as much a Punjabi Indian woman, and just as much a Sikh woman.”
The chief executive of the Network for Black Professionals adds: “I am who I am today as a result of my education.”
Mann’s father, Bhag, had left Punjab, India, in 1954 to come to the UK to work in Black Country factories.
From left: Mann’s daughter Pirandeep, her mother Ajit, Mann and her son Amandeep when Mann received her honorary doctorate in 2013
But her mother, Ajit, went back to India with newborn Mann. And despite speaking no English herself, Mann’s mother was “diligent” in her attempts to help Mann and her younger brother, Bhupinder, learn the language upon returning.
“As a child, we were told to copy word for word chapters from a book, and then she would compare and assess the neatness of the writing — that was part of our growth,” she says.
“She did believe in education, they both did, and I’m very thankful for that.”
Mann has “fond memories” of the household, which soon came to include two younger sisters, Gurminder and Davinder.
“They never denied us anything — at Christmas time we’d get stockings and we’d have oranges and the odd gift,” she says.
“Looking back, I don’t know how my mum, who didn’t speak the language, knew that was what people did at Christmas.”
I was in the hospital with my English and history books, gave birth, and then I was back to my books
Mann knew from around the age of 14 she wanted to be a teacher, but her parents’ attitude to her education was not matched by her school.
“I was very clear I wanted to do a Bachelor of Education — don’t ask me how or why I knew this — I was encouraged just to do a certificate in education, but I wanted a degree,” she says.
“But there were lots of battles at school, with people saying: ‘You’re going to have an arranged marriage so what’s the point of you doing A-levels? You’re not going to university.’
“There was that negativity in the schools.”
Fortunately, Mann had a “partner in crime” in her best friend, another Asian girl called Pardip, who wanted to study law at university.
“Indian girls staying on to study were quite unheard of,” she says.
“So that helped, having someone with whom I could share those ambitions.
“We were of a small handful of girls who were allowed to study away from home, and that was a huge achievement and very much down to my parents’ belief in education.”
Mann got her wish and went to Warwick University, but very early on during her time there, her parents dropped a bombshell on her.
“Unbeknown to me, they were fixing up an arranged marriage,” she says.
Above: Mann, aged eight months, while still living in the UK as a baby
“My friends had been in a similar position, but I never I thought my parents would do that to me.
“They were very keen to get me to university but there was a lot of community pressure.”
Mann’s husband, Makhan, arrived from India in the same week she started university, which, she says cheerfully, was “a challenge”.
“I was just shown a photograph and told this the person I was going to marry,” she says.
“I was very anti, but it was a fait accompli, in many ways, and I just accepted it — I suppose I felt that it was my destiny.”
Despite this, Mann is quick to point out she bears her parents no ill will over the marriage.
“From their point of view, they only wanted the best and I’ve got nothing against arranged marriages,” she says.
Determined to continue her studies, Mann transferred her degree to Wolverhampton.
“And when she became pregnant in her final year, she refused to let it get in her way, first disguising her pregnancy beneath a large coat and then turning down the opportunity to take a term out when she finally told the university.
Two weeks after giving birth to son Amandeep, she sat her final exams.
“I was in the hospital with my English and history books, gave birth, and then I was back to my books,” she says.
“It was sheer determination.”
The experience must have been difficult, but Mann grins broadly as she tells me about it.
She qualified as teacher in 1980, but unfortunately the path to her dream job was not as simple as she’d hoped.
“I’d get interviews and their jaws would drop when I’d turn up because they weren’t expecting an Asian woman,” she says.
“There were setbacks and knocks like that on a few occasions. I thought by having the qualifications, that would enable me to progress, but I don’t think that’s always the case.
“I think being a woman, being an Indian woman, all of those things, the barriers, the stereotypes do get in the way, and those have shaped my career history.”
Mann didn’t get into teaching, and instead got involved with community work and community education.
Once again, there’s no self-pity about the way Mann talks of her experiences, which “sparked” a lasting interest in inequality in education.
Mann in South Africa in 2003
“It was very frustrating but you just get on with it,” she says.
After working for various local authorities in community support and equality roles, an MA in race and education, and the birth of her daughter Pirandeep, Mann took up a post as North Birmingham College’s outreach co-ordinator in 1988, which she says, allowed her to combine her qualifications and her experiences.
At 40, Mann took stock, and decided to get a divorce.
“I started questioning life, and I felt I was being hypocritical, not true to myself,” she says.
After a stint at Bilston Community College and the National Institute of Continuing Adult Education and co-ordinating the Black Leadership Initiative, Mann found herself at Network for Black professionals, becoming its chief executive in 2013.
“The sector did change and has gone through a process of change, since then but I think we’re going backwards because people are frightened of saying you’ve got to do targeted interventions,” she says.
“I’m not for separatist provision, but at the moment you’ve got to have that in order for people to be able to compete effectively in the mainstream provision.
“You have to have a long term, sustainable approach rather than a reactionary approach — what it requires is that you use evidence to support the change you wish to see, and I feel that that isn’t being done, not in the FE Sector.”
And Mann isn’t done with her own education yet — although she has an honorary doctorate from the University of Wolverhampton the idea of a PhD is tempting, she admits.
“I’d like to do something on the the impact of the network — we’ve gone from four to 17 black principals in a decade, that’s a huge achievement,” she says.
Sadly, one of the driving forces behind Mann’s education, her father Bhag, did not live to see her honorary doctorate or her OBE awarded.
Mann’s 50th birthday, from left: Friends, Manjot Dhanjol, Shobha Asar-Paul, former Malawi deputy high commissioner to the UK Flossie Gomile-Chidyaonga and Mann
“Going to the palace was an amazing experience for my mum and I always wished my dad had been there to see it — it was part of his dream,” she says.
“He would have been so proud of the honorary doctorate — my mum was in
floods of tears.
“I would never have dreamed I’d get that sort of recognition, for a girl from a Wolverhampton state school.
“Yes, I knew I wanted to teach, but I had no idea where that was going to take me.”
It’s a personal thing
What’s your favourite book?
The Help by Kathryn Stockett. The key thing is that it’s about women pushing a the boundaries and how important it is to have people who are really wanting to make a difference
What do you do to switch off from work?
I’m not very good at switching off from work if I’m honest. I like being at home, because I have to travel quite a bit so I like touching base. I like cooking, fusion cooking, so Asian and English and whatever else really — even if it’s Italian it still becomes Italian Indian because I like my chillies
If you could invite anyone to a dinner party, living or dead, who would it be?
Bobby Kennedy and JFK, Nelson Mandela, Hilary Clinton, Obama, Gandhi, and the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak Dev Ji
What’s your pet hate?
Hypocrites. I feel very strongly that you have to walk the talk. Other pet hates include people jumping in front of you in queues and people who swear. I hate that
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I knew very clearly that I wanted to be a teacher. I don’t know what drove me to that
Norton Radstock College principal Shirley Arayan is to retire at the end of the month having held the role for nearly 16 years, it has been announced.
She made the decision to retire at the beginning of the year, but the date was formally announced by chair of governors Chris Dando this week.
Mrs Arayan who started teaching part-time when her own children were small also worked at South Bristol College before moving to Norton Radstock College as a lecturer in health and community care in 1986.
She worked as vice principal to four others before becoming principal in 1999 and said: “When I arrived at the college there were 42 wooden huts on the site and 100 16 to 18-year-olds enrolled; now we have purpose built buildings and 800 plus students including apprentices.
“I enjoy talking to the students the most; there is a perception that teenagers are awful and that’s not true — we have some really great students here.
“I’ve seen different generations of the same family at the college and quite often I’m stopped by people who say: ‘Do you remember me? You changed my life’.”
Interim principal will be the college’s current vice principal, Henry Logan.
Mr Dando said: “The governors would like to thank Shirley for the significant contribution that she has made to the college and would like to wish her a long and happy retirement.”
Meanwhile, Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (Cache) chief executive Nick Cutland is also leaving his organisation at the end of the month, having reached the end of his six-month contract.
He will be replaced on an interim basis by Sarah Johnson.
Mr Cutland said: “I have greatly enjoyed my time working with Cache and all the many colleagues I have got to know and work with over the last three-and-a-half years.
Ms Johnson’s began her career teaching and developing Access courses in London. She has developed quality improvement systems and processes within OCN, the Learning and Skills Council and several colleges.
“I am pleased to be returning to the awarding organisation world at a time of change for the sector,” she said.
Marilyn Hawkins, Cache chair, said: “In the board’s appointment of Ms Johnson, Cache’s customers and all our partners can be assured that they will continue to receive the excellent service they have come to expect from Cache.
“We would like to thank Mr Cutland for everything he has done for Cache and wish him great success for the future.”
A system of ‘Local Offers’ for children and adults with special educational needs went live in September. Kathryn Rudd reviews the progress and finds worrying results.
For young people with disabilities and their families, the much-awaited Children and Families Act promised a more coherent and aspirational approach to their education.
The Act promised a joined-up education, health and care plan, instead of endless assessments and wrangling between departments about who should pay for what.
It heralded new independent advice and guidance — central to which was an information portal in each Local Authority (LA), the ‘Local Offer’.
This was a huge undertaking for each LA, particularly at a time of stringent cuts and with reduced capacity.
They needed to provide comprehensive information for people with disabilities aged from birth to 25.
They also needed to include information about out-of-county, specialist providers who were listed on the Section 41 list.
Young people and their families would be allowed to name organisations on this list as their ‘preferred provider’ on Education, Heath and Care plans.
On September 1 the first Local Offers went live. Well, a few did. Many had got notices on their websites saying some of the Offer had been completed and they were working on the rest.
Many had seconded a local special school head to lead on the implementation of the Local Offer so understandably the majority had prioritised their school age provision.
We sent information to LAs about what we could offer — the majority of LAs did not respond and only two initially put us on their Local Offers.
A significant proportion of Local Offers did not mention out-of-county specialist colleges (and indeed some didn’t mention specialist providers that were in-county)
We were thrilled when one LA actually approached us to ask whether we could provide them with information for their Local Offer.
We have been researching what is available and our research demonstrated that National Star, and indeed other specialist providers, were largely invisible across Local Offers.
Natspec, the Association of Specialist Colleges, undertook more research at the end of October and a significant proportion of Local Offers did not mention out-of-county specialist colleges (and indeed some didn’t mention specialist providers that were in-county), many did not provide a link to Natspec, and more worryingly didn’t provide a Section 41 link.
This is changing on a daily basis and LAs are putting information out, although many are now struggling with old information cluttering up their Offers and confusing the situation still further.
So, on the ground, what is happening? Parents say it is reinforcing inequality. If you have a skilled parent or advocate who can work the system and fight, you stand a chance of getting to the college of your choice.
One of our parents kept a diary last year of her fight to access National Star — she recorded more than 600 hours of work with different agencies to access the college that best met her daughter’s needs and aspirations.
Young people and their parents are telling us that even if you know the Local Offer exists you actually need to already know what you are searching for as they are just so complex to navigate.
With all this added complexity, advice and guidance by careers staff, schools and independent supporters becomes even more critical.
However, parents are reporting they are getting inaccurate information. Some parents have been told there is no provision for students with complex needs in county even when the local specialist college has “outstanding” provision for these learners. Others have been told that to get to a specialist college they will need to self-fund.
I seem to remember a lot of talk about a “level playing field” across pre and post-16 provision.
We want to know the reality for young people with disabilities, so in partnership with parents we have established a survey to enable their voices to be heard. Visit here to take part.
And the one college that actually asked us for information for its local offer – it took us off two weeks ago.
Proposals to change the way traineeship providers are funded were rejected following the government’s eight-week consultation on the issue. Andy Gannon explains what this, plus some of the changes that were sanctioned, means for the sector.
Amid ongoing media rumours of yet more pressure on budgets after the next election and a looming Autumn Statement, this week’s government response to the traineeships funding consultation may have made some slightly more pleasant reading for many in the FE sector.
What seemed, in the summer, to be a consultation heralding potentially wholesale change to the funding system around the relatively new initiative that is traineeships has, it appears, turned into an acknowledgement that we can make better use of data on student outcomes, but that any real change in this area has to be ‘incremental’.
This message alone should allow us some space to rejoice. After being pummelled with reform after reform for the past four years, it seems that some sense has prevailed. You don’t get to assess the benefits of any new initiative if you constantly tinker around with it.
Whether this new-found love of funding stability is a sign that that message has been understood for good, or is simply a sign of political pragmatism six months ahead of a general election will only become clear in time, of course. But, for now, it is a positive.
And, more than that, what the response does include is tinkering which expands the opportunities for young people and employers to engage with traineeships — applying the same criteria to those over 19 as those under 19, increasing eligibility and acknowledging the important possibility that a traineeship may prepare someone for further learning, rather than a job or an apprenticeship.
In our recent Future Colleges report, the 157 Group called for policy change to be tested against four key principles — stable structures, equal treatment, freedom to innovate and durable funding. In some ways, this week’s response meets all four of those criteria.
It doesn’t change the fundamental structure of the programme or its funding system, and it therefore provides some small sense of durability within which providers can plan. It removes some of the artificial age divide at 19, which, as we know, stems from nothing other than the way in which government organises itself and has nothing to do with how young people actually experience the world. And, in emphasising the need for programmes to be individualised, it genuinely encourages innovation.
Many colleges, in particular, will now see real opportunity to expand their traineeship offer
Many colleges, in particular, will now see real opportunity to expand their traineeship offer in partnership with employers of all sizes. And that can only be a good thing.
Aside from the question of political motivation, there remains one fly in the ointment, however. What is really meant by ‘making better use of data on progression and outcomes’?
We are also awaiting the response on the recent BIS consultation around outcome success measures, which was curiously quiet about how these measures might be used, and Ofsted has merely said it will take all measures into account when forming judgments.
History teaches us that, once data is available, we have a tendency to interpret it simplistically — to compile league tables and set minimum standards, and then to reform our funding and accountability systems to enforce the achievement of those standards.
But we all know that learner outcomes are affected by a plethora of factors — including personal and economic ones — of which the quality of their college experience is only one.
‘Making better use of the data’ should mean that we use it to understand this complete picture, and interrogate it intelligently so that it can inform the development not just of our approach to funding and accountability, but to policymaking itself.
Whether our system is mature enough to be able to do that is the one question that this week’s response leaves unanswered.
A review of English and maths accreditation is welcome, but should not result in new qualifications, says Charlotte Bosworth.
In the Skills Minister Nick Boles’ introduction to his speech he mentioned a moment full of risk, his analogy was to make a party political point about the choice the electorate face in May’s general election, but for me the analogy works well for the place we find ourselves in as a sector.
In my foreword to the FE Week Reader’s Manifesto, I mentioned the political football nature of reform and constant churn that has affected our sector for too many electoral cycles.
I believe that although relatively policy light, the two inputs we had on the first day of the AoC Conference from the Skills Minister and his Shadow Cabinet counterpart suggested that this initiative churn shows no sign of abating.
Nick spoke of English and maths and the need to review the best ways to accredit these, including in said review employers, providers and exam boards.
But we must not rush to create new qualifications or assessments nor must we rush to re-title something that as a qualification type is still in its infancy and beginning to gain credibility with employers.
Liam Byrne spoke of three shifts needed in FE — for FE to become the new spine of professional and technical education, to have as many people going into apprenticeships as university, and for FE to become closer to business.
These are laudable aspirations, but we must ensure we continue to provide services through FE that cater to the needs of the entire cohort and we must avoid the rush to an apprenticeship arms race over numbers of starts.
The quality of provision is still more important than the quantity. But Liam also spoke of his party’s vision for Institutes of Technical Education, and this for me is an area of concern.
We must look at how we create capacity in the institutions that we already have, rather than creating further complexity to layer onto our already complex system
Through policy churn we have, in some places, lost a sense of the purpose of different types of education and provision.
If Institutes of Technical Education is a plan to create another layer of different types of institutions then we must resist it.
We should be able to look critically at where we are as a sector and if there is a gap to fill to meet the technical education needs of learners, then we must look at how we create capacity in the institutions that we already have, rather than creating further complexity to layer onto our already complex system.
The Skills Minister also spoke of the outcomes of the traineeships funding consultation that the government ran in the summer.
The announcement signals a greater parity between arrangements for traineeship funding between 16 to 18-year-olds and 19 to 24-year-olds.
Our response to the consultation had argued for greater consistency in programme management.
One of the key issues is that in the way that the government department’s responsibilities are split, there is an artificial policy divide at 19. We are pleased that the announcements in the government response to the consultation address this in both learner eligibility and approach to funding.
I was also pleased that, in the announcement, the government is looking at an “evolutionary” approach rather than a revolutionary one in the move to a greater focus on outcomes.
In the simplest terms, the answer to the consultation’s central question about whether there should be a greater focus on positive outcomes was ‘yes’. However, I think we must be clear about what behaviours we want to drive.
In schools policy, we have seen the all-pervading effect of performance tables and their ability to drive school curriculum offer and qualification choice.
But the often hidden message is that education is broader than just the exam syllabus. So we must ensure that in this evolutionary approach we keep in mind and guard against the introduction of a new set of ‘performance measures’ that to help those easiest to help and to forget those young people who need time and support.
Andrew Morris looks at how problems affecting FE practitioners are being a tackled with an appreciation of the need for evidence, and how this evidence might be used to bid for research funding in tough economic times.
South Staffordshire College and Thurrock Adult Community College are anything to go by, a significant change in the use of evidence is taking place.
Teachers and managers from these and many other organisations discussed the practicalities of using research at the latest workshop of the Learning & Skills Research Network (LSRN).
The What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth, the College of Policing and the Alliance for Useful Evidence — all established in the last five years — bear witness to this recent upsurge.
In education, the remarkable success of the Education Endowment Foundation’s ‘Toolkit’ of evidence-based practices in teaching and learning has been used by more than half of secondary schools in its three years of existence.
Numerous organisations are now helping get the right kind of evidence in the right format to those who need it most — practitioners and decision-makers at
the frontline.
What this means in practical terms for the learning and skills sector is illustrated by the work of Michael Smith and Paul Roberts, team leaders at Barking and Dagenham College.
Having identified an important college-wide issue — initial assessment procedures that assigned too many students to the wrong level — they set about collating information, looking at existing research and proposing a new approach to the senior team.
With their support a pilot scheme was developed and carefully tested. As Michael said: “We were then able to move forward with knowledge and understanding from
the testing.”
Innovation requires a degree of risk-taking and leaders have to weigh this up in allocating budgets
Chris Davies, director of curriculum at South Staffordshire College, reinforces the importance of first identifying a serious college-wide problem and then taking an evidence-based approach.
A study he had undertaken revealed that 40 per cent of staff non-teaching time was spent on activity not related to teaching. On the basis of this changes were made, such as aligning central administrative staff with curriculum areas on each campus.
From the many examples of evidence-use brought out at the workshop, some idea of the practicalities began to emerge. “Stop waiting for government initiatives” was one piece of sound advice; “stop counting beans” was another, equally pithy.
The key message, repeated in case after case, was to start by identifying a key problem that seriously affects student learning and then arm yourself with knowledge and evidence.
To do this, requires space and time for reflection and experimentation. Finding these scarce resources was a recurring theme.
The solution demonstrated in many successful initiatives is to make use of existing structures such as professional development days and to focus on problems that will help the organisation move forward.
No doubt the new grants announced at the workshop from the Further Education Trust for Leadership will help, providing financial and professional support for a number of new practice-based studies.
Encouragement from leadership teams proves an essential ingredient in the view of most project leaders. But for budget-holders it is not easy to decide where to invest.
Research does not generally provide simple answers guaranteed to improve outcomes — by definition it addresses unknowns.
Innovation requires a degree of risk-taking and leaders have to weigh this up in allocating budgets. So what can project leaders do to persuade a reluctant leadership team? Be pragmatic seemed to be the advice from participants — if the leadership team is accountancy-minded, base your research on the data they collect. If a research investment carries a big risk, look for previous studies first, then pilot it on a small scale.
The overarching message from initiatives in different parts of the sector is that evidence-use is not just an individual affair — it flourishes when a collaborative approach spreads across an organisation. Trust is the key — trusting relationships in which sound evidence and professional judgement justify the risk of investing in innovative approaches.
In such an environment an evidence-using culture can develop which, over time, offers the prospect of better outcomes for both learners and the bottom line.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg fleshed out his idea, first revealed in February, for a UCas-style system for post-16 vocational learning this month. Mary Curnock describes the progress UCas has made with its system that already meets such requirements.
The Deputy Prime Minister called again for a ‘UCAS-style’ system for younger students who need to make decisions about their post-16 education choices. He joins a list of senior politicians and leading commentators who have made the same call at various times over recent years.
The benefits of the UCas centralised admissions service for higher education have long been recognised. It provides a single point of information, a comprehensive course search, and a common, fair and streamlined admissions service which is available for a generation that expects to use digital interfaces for almost everything it needs.
A highly valued benefit of the service is the rich data it provides about progression to higher education.
UCas has now deployed its expertise to provide a similar service for post-16 progression.
UCas Progress (UP) lists all post-16 learning opportunities in England and Wales and students can search for subject, by course-type, by geographical location or provider type.
They can apply for courses online, and they can access plenty of information and advice to help them make informed choices about post-16 studies.
More than 100,000 courses through 4,550 providers display GCSE, A-level, vocational, work-based and apprenticeship courses.
Swansea local authority working with UCas Progress more than halved its Neet numbers
Currently, we’re registering more than 2.5 million page views per month and our advice pages received 350,000 views alone in the last four weeks.
The service is free of charge for students, whether they register through a school or self-register at home. Course listings are also free of charge for providers.
A modest subscription — typically £500 to £2,500 a-year — is made for providers who want to be switched on to receive, track, monitor and report on online applications.
More than 1,000 providers are using the application service already and more are being added all the time.
One user is Etone College, in Warwickshire, which found that UP not only enables them to streamline the application process and track outcomes, but also to increase awareness and aspiration for progression to higher education through UCas in the future.
In many cases, the UP service has been adopted at a Local Authority level, where our tracking services provide aid planning, track and reduce Neets, manage the September Guarantee, and ensure that RPA requirements are met.
For example, Swansea local authority working with UP, more than halved its Neet numbers from 6.9 per cent in 2009 to 3 per cent in 2011 and has sustained that level since.
It has used UP to track and report on student progression, enabling limited numbers of outreach staff to target their interventions where most needed.
Ensuring that young people stay in some form of education or training until they are 18 requires consistency of approach and UP ensures that learners get all the information and advice they need to make informed decisions, with a simple application process.
UP also supports those working with students; giving teachers and advisers dedicated tracking tools, as well as the reports, insight, and data needed to fulfill their statutory obligations.
UCas already provides a range of similar services for undergraduate admissions, post graduate courses, teacher training, and conservatoires. In each case, we develop our services around the needs of users — students, those who support them, and education providers.
Our services are developed and enhanced with the guidance of user groups so that it is our customers who dictate their content and scope, and have a stake in the success of the service.
As an independent charity, we are happy to work closely with government departments to ensure our data conforms to common standards, but it will be our service users who dictate how our services develop, including UP.
We welcome the Deputy Prime Minister’s support for this initiative but we have no reason to delay until September next year. UP is available now.
