Continuum Centre for Widening Participation Policy Studies - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Karina Berzins Research Fellow

Continuum

Centre for Widening Participation Policy Studies University of East London www.uel.ac.uk/continuum

Continuum

Centre for Widening Participation Policy Studies

• First research and development centre of its

kind in the UK

• Launched April 2003 by the Minister for

Lifelong Learning & Higher Education

• Established to undertake research and

consultancy into widening participation policy and practice

• Operate in the space where policy, practice

and research meet

Background – Making Connections

Practice Domain

Research Domain Policy Domain Widening Participation to HE

Today

• Background of our data work - Newham
• In depth look at the type of LA reports we can

develop

• Exercise - data, data, data
• Look at institutional level report
• NNCO research project - Reaching East and

Reaching London

The data partnership model and wider interest:

Demographics, Educational journey and destinations

Background – The Partnership Story

• Longstanding programme of research, started

purchasing data in 1999

• Primarily interested in local patterns of HE

participation in London, particularly in East London

• View increased HE participation and skills as a key

drivers for regenerating local communities and securing social investment

• Collaborations with national, regional and local

government and most recently London Councils

Case Study 1 Local Partnership

Case Study 1 – Partnership with the Local Borough of Newham

‘Education and skills are key drivers of socio- economic change and employment in Newham’

Large local authority with a population of over 310,000 UEL is located entirely within the borough boundaries

Newham in Context – Key Characteristics

• 3rd most deprived local authority in England (IMD

2010)

• Highest birth rate in the UK & youngest population in

the UK

• This impacts on education system and future education

planning

• Most ethnically diverse population in the UK (36%

Asian, 35% White, 25% Black or Black British)

• High percentage of residents with no or low-level

qualifications

• Highest unemployment in London (12%) UK 7.7%, and

high youth unemployment.

Policy Imperative – Local Knowledge

• They needed evidence about young people achieving

higher-level qualifications to inform policy and planning

• A high percentage of young people study outside

Newham at age 16, so did not know anything about the outcomes of their 16-18 and HE

• Important to understand the progression of young

people to higher education, and their post-study destinations and employment

• Wanted to know whether young residents progressed

to selective universities and whether young graduates

• btained graduate jobs

Research Partnership – Evolving developments

• Strong history of partnership between LB

Newham and UEL, the only university located in Newham

• Discussion with UEL and Continuum led to a

collaborative project using HESA data to look at the progression to HE of Newham young residents and subsequently extended to look at graduate employment destinations

Research Questions – Deepening Understanding

• Which universities do Newham young residents progress

to?

• What type of institutions did they progress from and which
• nes?
• Do more young residents progress to HE from 16-18

institutions outside of Newham?

• What subjects do they study at university?
• What degree classifications do they achieve?
• How many go on to further study?
• What are their post study destinations?
• What industries/job roles do the young graduates enter?

Key Findings – Patterns of HE Participation

• HE participation of young Newham residents had

increased significantly over a seven year period

• The highest growth was in progression to post-92

HEIs (similar to UEL)

• Newham young residents are progressing to

Russell Group and pre-92 HEIs – but more are progressing from school sixth forms than from sixth form colleges, and mainly from school sixth forms outside of Newham

Implication for Local Policy

• The research represented a step change in the

way Newham understood the educational journey of young people from the borough. Also how each phase of education influences the

• utcomes at the next phase and beyond
• A recognition that mainstream 16-18 provision in

Newham was not catering for the needs and aspirations of the most able young people at 16.

• To improve Newham’s A level performance, they

need to retain more of their high achieving GCSE students in Newham for their 16-18 study

Impact on Provision – Making a difference

As a result, Newham have been working with a group of their schools since 2012 to develop a collaborative sixth form centre in the borough for high achieving GCSE students Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre, an A Level centre, specialising in Science and Mathematics opens in September 2014

Borough report example

School level data

• Look at one type of report that we can create

for a particular school.

• Uses data sets we used for the Newham

project

• Would this be useful?
• How would you use this?
• What else could we include?

Institution based report

Thinking about data

Data, data, data

• How do you collect

data?

• How is it stored?
• How/why is it analysed?
• How often?
• By whom?
• What other "outside"

data do you use?

• How do you feel about

the data you use?

• What would help you?

Focused Reports – Useful Knowledge

• Design & produce automated reports in pdf

format

• Borough report – Mini taster reports for each

London borough. Indicates how many local residents attend a HEI, where they go, how well they do and whether they gain employment

• Previous institution reports – Similar to above but

aimed at the school/college the student attended prior to HE study

• Subject report – Similar format, but aimed at HEIs

examining HE participation by subject

Update on NNCO/ Linking London- Mapping outreach research partnership

• Partners:

– University of East London – University College London – University of Greenwich – Ravensbourne – Goldsmiths – Linking London – NNCO- HEFCE

• NNCO scheme details:

– Explicitly aims to encourage more young people into Higher Education – Nationally coordinated approach to work with schools, colleges and HEIs – Scheme involves around 4,300 secondary schools and 200 universities and colleges – 33 local and 3 national networks to support SPoCs – HEFCE funding £22m for 2 years

Three strand project partnership (Developing the Map)

• Reaching East – UCL & UEL
• Reaching London – University of Greenwich &

UEL

• Reaching creative industries – Ravensbourne

&UEL

– Suite of three research projects examining the

• utreach offer taken up by schools and colleges in East

London (and eastward from London), pan-London, and a smaller bespoke piece of research examining creative industry subject area outreach

Hot and Cold HE participation spots

The eastern arc of low HE participation- Reaching East strand

Source: HEFCE- Polar data

Project outputs- 2015/17 (Mix methods approach)

• Provide an in-depth understanding of the

delivery and impact of outreach work in the East of London and pan London area, through the mapping exercise (year one)

• Gaps, needs and capacity analysis (year two)
• Culminates in a seminar series in 2016/17

which will bring together all outreach partners and stakeholders

• Sustainability planning

Reporting Timeframe

• Reaching East

– Interim reporting March 2016 – Final report and Toolkit Jan 2017

• Reaching London

– Final reporting July 2016

• Reaching Creative industries and Goldsmith's

Reaching Out

– Interim reporting July 2016 – Final reporting April 2017

Contact Details

Karina Berzins Research Fellow University of East London Email – k.e.berzins@uel.ac.uk Tel: 0208 223 2544