Ipsos | Uni Connect Phase 3 : Attainment-raising Activity – Final Report
28 and support has been poor . The support system is normally brilliant but since Easter , we were not able to change some tutors as the support system did not work as it should have , leaving some learners with tutors who could not provide adequate or engaging sessions .” ( School staff , survey response )
The logistical and practical demands of delivery within schools was another barrier for partnerships . The nature of the attainment-raising strand has meant partnerships have required more communication with subject teachers , who are not their “ normal contacts ” ( quote sourced from interview with partnership lead ). Communication issues with teachers have been a barrier to delivery as they are often time-poor and lack the capacity to facilitate delivery . At times , a lack of school senior leadership buy-in has also limited wider school buy-in to facilitate and embed activities within the school day .
“ It ’ s sometimes really difficult to pin them [ subject teachers ] down and to organise things , or sometimes a Year 11 geography teacher might not have the clout within the school to say , ‘ Right , we ’ re taking four lessons out of the curriculum [...]’’ so , the appetite ’ s there for them to do it but sometimes the mechanics of making it happen are quite tricky .” ( Partnership lead )
There is also a greater burden on school staff and more significant logistical barriers to delivery . For example , responsibilities for school staff included learner selection , provision of classroom space and timetabling . Schools often plan for the upcoming academic year in the spring term around Easter , and therefore Uni Connect engagement was not fully embedded in timetables for 2023-24 . This resulted in clashes for some learners and required school staff to help partnerships in overcoming timetabling challenges to ensure learners did not miss curriculum content . As a result , there were instances where some programme content was not covered due to the constrained timings allocated to delivery staff within the school day . Partnerships had to compromise between delivery within the school day around tight timings that secured attendance , and delivering programmes after school that naturally had lower attendance levels .
Most schools have selected learners based on the criteria provided by partnerships , but this process of selecting learners needs refining to ensure the most suitable learners attend . Partnership leads commonly reported that schools choose to protect learners in exam years ( Year 11 ) from external interventions . Although less frequently mentioned , it was interesting to note that partnerships also found instances where schools did not want to offer activities to disadvantaged learners and learners with ‘ borderline ’ grades . They explained that schools in areas with low attainment levels and disadvantaged learners are receiving many forms of support already , which can have an exclusionary impact on learners ( as well as taking them out of lesson time ) and can be difficult to manage for some schools .
“ I think schools are uncomfortable , particularly with the students we want to work with being those borderline students missing curriculum time . There is that challenge there , they become unaligned with their peers in the classroom and that becomes a problem in itself . We don ’ t want to create more challenges for those young people .” ( Partnership lead )
“ Attainment levels in [ area redacted ] are dire , but as a result , they ’ ve got so much being thrown at them and schools have fed that back . They cannot commit to all the support they ’ re being given , which sounds crazy , but they ’ d have to hire staff to manage the support they ’ re being given , and they haven ’ t got the money to do that .” ( Partnership lead )
As mentioned , schools have largely been considered as best placed to select learners . Schools and delivery staff recognised that there is a gap between learners that could benefit most from the
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