EMWPREP News

Team

Team Update

It has been an eventful couple of months for EMWPREP, with the long awaited launch of the new database and EMWPREP hosting their first focus group training session. During this time we have also completed further work on GDPR. At the end of February, partners will receive their interim reports.

In December we successfully ran a one day workshop on focus groups which was well attended by EMWPREP members. The session was run by Professor Karen O’Reilly and aimed to help partners use focus groups as an evaluation method to assess the impact of outreach and/or recruitment activity on participants.

EMWPREP will be providing some follow up materials and guides in the forthcoming months to help assist with the planning and delivery of focus groups. We are keen to run more training sessions in the future, therefore if there are other topics you would like to be covered, then please email Emma Burr – E.L.Burr@lboro.ac.uk

EMWPREP have been continuing work in respect of the new GDPR regulations. At our forthcoming steering group meeting we will be presenting an update of our progress on the ‘GDPR: Implications for EMWPREP’ paper. For early details, please click here.

As mentioned in Issue 4, EMWPREP has begun the process of liaising with our local authorities to provide updated cohort lists for schools to help identify appropriate students for inclusion in widening participation interventions.

Whilst three local authorities initially confirmed their willingness to share data, only two sets have been received and analysed to date. However, we are currently chasing outstanding data and hope to produce more cohort lists soon.

For further information about the process, and which LAs are sharing data, please email Emma Church – E.Church@lboro.ac.uk

Database

Data Collection Forms

EMWPREP launched the new database on 16th January which can now be accessed using the new web address: https://www.emwprep-database.co.uk/ . You can gain access using your current username and password.

We have undertaken a programme to update to the database platform, as well as optimise and refresh the design/ layout. New additions to the database include a postcode lookup, new targeting reports, participant track section and advanced security measures.

Whilst the majority of work is now complete on the database, the participant section is still under development and will see further changes to layout/ fields once new consent forms are confirmed in line with GDPR in the forthcoming months.

Over the next few weeks we expect to continue to iron out glitches within the system and would request that all errors, queries and new suggested modifications are logged via the contact form under the help section. Additionally, in this section you will also find a FAQ page where you may be able to find an answer to your query.

New user guides will be sent out in due course and we are offering an additional super user/ refresher training in April.

If you wish to attend the session, please use the below doodle poll to indicate your availability. Please bear in mind that there are limited spaces for the training session.

Excel Training

Thank you to those of you who have expressed an interest in the excel training. Currently there are five dates confirmed for Eliot to travel to partner institutions to deliver, with a couple more in the final stages of being arranged.

Reports

Interim Report Findings

NCOP End of Year Reports

The NCOPs have now received the final versions of their end of year report, alongside a more detailed analysis of the participation from the target wards. Some consortia have requested that for the Q6 report onwards, data relating to the number of participants that have been input onto the database, but not linked to events, is included – this is currently being looked into and we will keep you informed of developments in this area.

NCOP Report Findings

The following are key overall findings from the NCOP end of year reports:

During 2017 2,020 activities were delivered by our NCOP partners, of which 66.9% were CAT2
Consent forms were collected for 9,367 individual young people, of which 48.0% were from an NCOP target ward

2,705 (28.9%) of the individual consented participants attended more than 1 activity

The most popular activity type during this period was for mentoring (961 activities), followed by workshops (260 activities)
NCOP consortia worked with a total of 289 schools. For 225 of these schools, at least one consent form was collected, and 200 schools attended more than one activity

NCOP Specific Evaluation

Thank you for those who have chosen which activity they would like to be analysed for their NCOP specific evaluation. If you have not already made a submission, then please start to consider an appropriate event.

News

Our Links to the News

We have all suspected that there are disparities in children’s career ambitions due to their gender, class and nationality, but this new study by the Education and Employers Careers Charity makes the differences clearer than ever before.

Their visual findings show that whereas girls are more focused on academic success, boys’ career aspirations are influenced by popular culture. Jobs in social media were ranked as the second most desired job for boys in the UK.

‘Children in poorer countries have higher career aspirations than UK’

External Training and Conferences

6th February (London)
Disabled students – funding, inclusivity and access

7th February (Birmingham)
HEFCE’s third national conference on learning gain

27th February (London)
The future for curriculum design and learning gain

6th March (Salford)
Stand Alone conference ‘Engaging Estranged Students’

6th March (London)
Next steps for the UK’s outward student mobility strategy and involvement in Erasmus+

6th March (Liverpool)
Succeeding with non-traditional learners in HE

8th March (London)
Next steps for funding regional projects and the future for Local Enterprise Partnerships

27th – 28th March (Derby)
Boundaries in student tutoring and support: working together to enhance student wellbeing