Foundation
Project Description
This project will recruit members of Priority Groups to Foundation Degree programmes and offer individualised support prior to the programme, during the programme and where appropriate into employment. The project will address barriers to participation and undertake actions that support retention and success.
This project will enable people who are members of particular priority groups the majority of whom will be without existing qualifications, low level or outdated skills the opportunity to move on to and gain higher level qualifications.
The DfEE Research (by IER) reviewed barriers to going into HE through a survey of 2000 young people: included financial, motivation and (lack of) information. Our adult target group face further barriers, many of which relate to their status as members of disadvantaged groups and to family and care responsibilities.
In a project which centres on addressing a core barrier of not having the qualifications to move into higher level education
we will:
(a) Provide extended initial awareness raising, guidance, labour market information to help people make informed choices, meeting on the needs shown in the DfEE study.
(b) Combine this where necessary with initial confidence building, including delivery in centres in the community, recognising that having been outside formal education for some time is itself a barrier. We also offer first step provision in study skills, IT/ICT, communications and maths, recognising that lack of these skills is itself a barrier to progression.
(c) Enhance the Foundation Degree provision by providing additional support prior to entry, through the development and delivery of additional, relevant units and support whist on the programme and by providing additional support for access to employment. The project will offer a flexible programme, again recognising that this helps address financial barriers (including where people want to combine study with part time work, and barriers to access caused by family/dependant care responsibility.
Individual barriers will be identified in the initial review and support structured to overcome these. This support can include child/dependent care, through allowances, through support for people with dyslexia and other disabilities (including the use of adaptive technology), and through providing ESOL support. The guarantee of progression against subject to achievement itself addresses a barrier; adults are unwilling to risk investment of their time and effort against an uncertain outcome.
We have identified previously the wide variety both between groups and within groups necessitates that we develop the programme in such a way as to provide a level of flexibility both in design and delivery.
The training will be arranged in locations which are fully accessible for people with disabilities and we will ensure access to enabling IT/ICT technology to compensate for any particular visual and hearing deficit. As far as is possible wherever training takes place outside working hours it will be arranged at a time designed to be "family friendly" so that responsibilities of individuals in relation to family care can be easily managed. We have identified also that materials utilised must be appropriate in language, level and layout to individuals drawn from a variety of cultures/sub cultures.
Support materials will be available to participants in the form of hard copy materials and/or accessed via IT/ITC (in fact one of the approaches which we will support in this project is designed to overcome the problems of rural isolation through developing on-line interactive materials that can be used as part of a blended learning approach.
In addition we will provide practical support through the project to directly intervene to overcome barriers where those relate to issues around travel, childcare and equipment.
Thus through the use of IT, through the offer of direct support, through additional tutorial/study support and through offering financial support we will overcome the wide range of barriers that we elect our target group to experience. We will respond to constraints but also be pro-active in delivering training that responds to individual preferences.
