Recommendations
For the Office for Students 1 . Provide further clarity on the differences between targeted outreach and proactive support .
2 . Further consider the sustainability of proactive support activities , balancing the quantity of support offered to schools / colleges versus quality and ensuring activities meet beneficiary needs . To support this , the OfS could consider :
• Focusing activities on schools / colleges and underrepresented groups in the region , instead of having a wider regional focus
• Focusing proactive support on the most impactful activities and ensure that more sustained / longer-term support is provided to students through such activities
• Encouraging partnerships to continue developing activities which align with key priorities of school / colleges , including attainment . Although funding is available for learning recovery due to the pandemic , consideration could be given to proactive support also playing a role given that : a ) attainment is the prime concern for schools , thus could support engagement ; and b ) attainment gaps have widened due to the pandemic and seem to be widening . This means that access of underrepresented groups to HE could be more challenging in future as it requires students to gain relevant grades . Thus , the OfS could consider whether attainment initiatives might be beneficial as part of proactive support , in what format and in which circumstances , as well as how such programmes could be best evaluated .
For partnerships 1 . Partnerships could further enhance their delivery by :
• Exchanging examples of effective practice on how to avoid duplicating outreach activities in their areas , as well as how to best engage schools / colleges where saturation of relevant interventions is noted
• Exploring similar school / college challenges and groups of underrepresented learners in HE across regions so that they exchange practical solutions and resources
• Further enhancing their technology infrastructures to enable high quality virtual delivery
• Continuing to offer online and blended learning programmes and assess their impact relative to face-to-face support
• Developing CPD programmes to create a cadre of career advisors and teachers able to deliver outreach activities in order to increase capacity and potentially reach .
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