Introduction
Background
In January 2020 , the Office for Students ( OfS ) launched the UniConnect programme ( www . officeforstudents . org . uk / advice-and-guidance / promoting-equal-opportunities / uniconnect ), which aims to offer activities , advice and information on the benefits and realities of progressing to higher education . The programme is intended to complement and add value to the work that higher education providers undertake through their access and participation plans , in particular work that is best delivered in collaboration .
As part of this , OfS tasked The Southern University Network ( SUN ) to become a central point for all schools within Hampshire , Dorset , and the Isle of Wight and support them in achieving Gatsby Benchmark 7 “ Encounters with Further and Higher Education Providers ”. The expansion of remit now includes schools in the North Dorset area who are currently not receiving any outreach provision from pre-existing University outreach nor SUN .
Initially the aim of the project was to make contact and engage with identified schools to understand the needs of both senior leadership teams within schools and students from these schools . Specifically , the research sought to understand what young people from OfS target groups could find useful in terms of HE outreach provision e . g . the type of activities , content of activities and access to activities . This was to be done though the following :
1 . Senior staff , including careers teachers at the targeted schools to complete a questionnaire
2 . Semi- structured interviews with one or two of the staff completing the questionnaire
3 . Focus groups with approximately 6 – 8 students from two of the schools .
The project commenced on 1 October 2020 but was suspended between 21 January 2021 and 31 March 2021 because of the second UK national lockdown due to Covid-19 . Due to these restrictions , and the wider implications of the pandemic on schools , it was not possible to meet the original aims of the project . This resulted in not conducting focus groups with students or being able to recruit any member of the senior leadership teams
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