Ipsos | Uni Connect Phase 3 : Attainment-raising Activity – Final Report
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programme , and learners that will benefit most from the programme who are more engaged with school and their attainment levels . Schools have also expressed that they would like more learners to be included in the programme , and for criteria to be expanded to include other groups of learners that are often overlooked or not captured by traditional measures :
“ Lack of aspiration is not confined to students from FSM / PP / LAC / PLAC [ Free School Meal / Pupil Premium / Looked after children / Previously looked after children ] backgrounds . EAL [ English as additional language ] students , for example , tend to work hard , but are often confused by a new and different education system and need to understand pathways . Students from other backgrounds may not receive as much parental support as they should and wander into jobs that are beneath their capabilities because their family has low aspirations . Too many students have a very narrow world view which PSHE [ personal , social , health and economic ] and citizenship lessons alone cannot address .” ( School staff , survey response )
Partnerships also expressed the desire to reach more learners in need of attainment-raising support but felt they would need significantly more resource to do so .
Some partnerships reported engagement issues amongst learners . Poor attendance and disengagement were reported by some partnerships , and feedback from third-party providers also recognised some behavioural issues . Delivery staff and partnership leads expressed some concerns that behaviour levels are particularly low in some schools following the pandemic , which has impacted delivery of some activities and means that most partnerships are reliant on school staff shadowing activities for behaviour management and safeguarding purposes . Though this was identified as another time-consuming aspect for schools to manage , school staff also identified behaviour as a barrier to delivery :
“ Some visiting staff had pre-Covid behaviour expectations of students which led to some vulnerable students quitting . While we are all working hard to get back to pre-Covid behaviours , an understanding of the struggles schools have been through and the massive impact this has had on students would be really helpful .” ( School staff , survey response )
Nevertheless , many partnerships reported positive engagement amongst learners , particularly during engaging sessions that were delivered in-person and outside of the school site ( e . g . campus visits ). Delivery staff and school staff emphasised the importance of selecting the correct learners for activities to ensure engagement is sustained . This would have been further enabled by ensuring that all activity content was tailored to these learners , particularly relating to their ability and age when including complex or new concepts ( e . g . learning theory ). The challenge of appropriately tailoring content to age and ability was identified amongst school staff , across both case study interviews and school survey respondents . Though most considered the activities to be accessible and engaging , some school staff found that some programmes took a ‘ blanket ’ approach to programme delivery and did not differentiate content when it was delivered to a range of year groups . As a result , school staff felt that the younger learners ( e . g . Year 8 ) were less likely to understand and thus fully engage with sessions . This challenge was further exacerbated if appropriate learners were not selected for attendance by schools , further demonstrating the need for transparency between partnerships and schools in the learner selection process . Acquiring parental consent was also flagged as an initial barrier , though this is considered a wider challenge across all strands .
The short-term nature of funding has been a barrier for partnerships , as leads emphasised the importance of longevity in securing buy-in from schools and partners and achieving longer-term outcomes . The nature of attainment-raising demands a longer-term approach to provide learners with
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