EMWPREP News
Team
Team Update
EMWPREP have been out and about over the last two months, leading partners’ annual institutional meetings and NCOP data officers meetings, and Emma Church has been involved with the OFFA conference.
Meanwhile, work is continuing to ensure that we will be compliant with the new GDPR regulations and, at our recent steering group meeting, we updated partners on progress through our ‘Implications for EMWPREP’ paper. Details can be found here.
We have been working alongside Aimhigher West Midlands to source the latest NPD data required to produce an update to our school profiles. Our initial request was submitted two months ago and has now been prioritised by DfE. In the meantime, we are working on a more efficient system to analyse the data once it lands and hope to be able to include the profiles in the organisation section of the new database for partners to use.
Database
Database Development
We are now in the final stages of finalising the new database, with the hope of rolling it out to all partners shortly. Meanwhile, we thought it appropriate to refresh the super users roles and responsibilities for the following tasks:
Training New Users:
- On behalf of new users you should contact a member of the EMWPREP team, providing the name of the individual, email address and level access required.
- Upon set up you will be asked to provide appropriate training in house and confirm when this is done to EMWPREP.
- To inform EMWPREP when any users leave your organisation or no longer need access to the database.
Amending Organisation Status:
- On behalf of users within your institution you are able to set schools/colleges to ‘live’ status in the organisation section of the database.
Deleting Activities:
- On behalf of users within your institution you are able to delete unwanted activities from the database. Caution should be taken when deleting events so if in doubt always check with a member of the EMWPREP team first.
Reporting:
- On behalf of users within your institution you are able to pull off analytical reports and details of participants whom we have permission to contact in future – Interim and End of Year repots will still be provided by the EMWPREP team.
EMWPREP Main User Contact:
- To disseminate any EMWPREP commutation to the users in your institution.
Excel Training
We are offering two hour excel training sessions during February, which will be run by Eliot. Six institutions have signed up so far, however there are still spaces so if any other partners are interested then please email Eliot – O.Hudson-Jones@lboro.ac.uk.
Further information, detailing the specific dates and arrangements, will be sent shortly to those who have shown an interest.
Reports
Deadlines for NCOP Reports
15th December – Bulk upload deadline (for inclusion in the end of year reports)
19th December – Bulk uploads added by EMWPREP
COP 2nd January – EMWPREP partner manual inputting deadline
8th January – Draft copies of end of year reports and draft specific evaluation (if applicable) sent to partners
COP 15th January – Feedback from EMWPREP partners on draft report/ evaluation
22nd January – Final report/ evaluation disseminated
26th January – Consortia to send Q4 returns sent to HEFCE
Cohort Lists
Each year EMWPREP works with local authorities (LAs) to help identify targeted cohorts of learners, using a combination of socio-economic criteria (Indices of Multiple Deprivation, Free School Meals etc.) and proxies for potential (% chance of students attaining Level 2 qualifications etc.), to assist schools in identifying appropriate students for inclusion widening participation interventions.
Currently three local authorities have confirmed willingness to share data again this year. Data will be available for analysis in December, with standard and NCOP cohort lists being sent directly to schools via their LA in January.
For further information about the process, and which LAs are sharing data, please email Emma Church – E.Church@lboro.ac.uk
Population Analysis
Eliot has produced an interactive dashboard which can be used to analyse yearly trends (historical and predicted) in the total population and the number of new HE ready young people, at certain geographical levels. The data can be split by region, local authority or LSOA level. This may prove useful when looking at the local picture for your institutions/ consortia.
If this dashboard is helpful, the next step will be to build a dashboard that can directly compare 2 individual regions/ LAs / LSOAs.
To use this dashboard, please click the here.
Feature
OFFA Symposium Summary
On the 27th November the EMWPREP Team attended the ‘Why Evaluate? A widening participation symposium’ in Sheffield; an event which encouraged ideas and debates about evaluation in widening participation.
During the morning, there were two panel provocations which identified some of the more controversial topics concerning evaluation, followed by debates between the panellists and audience. Also, we heard from two keynote speakers – Professor Christina Hughes and Professor Les Ebdon – who addressed topics such as the need for evaluation and the issues faced when evaluating.
One of the matters discussed was the challenge of engaging ‘hard’ WP students on programmes, who do not sign up to the activities. An audience member raised the point that it is these ‘hard’ WP students that are least likely to go into HE and therefore will benefit the most from activities. The panel and audience discussed the notion that institutions can be subjective when evaluating, and so to obtain ‘good’ results, they do not always ensure that the participants fully meet the WP criteria. Dr Neil Harrison (UWE) stated that it is a self-fulfilling prophesy, where institutions treat their evaluation as success.
Towards the end of the conference, Femi Bola made a thought-provoking point that the sector needs to be more honest, take responsibility and be active. Femi stated that there is a general feeling that “we are all really nice people” and that we are doing enough, however she stated, “there is an attainment gap for a reason”.
Following the provocations and keynote address, Emma presented her workshop ‘Why Track Impact’ along with Anna Anthony and Andrew Avery. Meanwhile, the rest of the team attended different workshops, such as ‘Developing an Evaluation Project’ and ‘Theories of Change’.
For a detailed summary of the OFFA Symposium, including information from Emma’s presentation and notes from each of the workshops, then please click here.
News
Our Links to the News
An insightful and matter of fact interview with Professor Diane Reay, whose personal experiences and academic research has led her to expose the stark inequalities that exist in the education system today.
Professor Reay draws attention to the restricted educational subjects offered to less affluent children and the disparities in education spending, where pupils in working class comprehensives get less money per head.
“Working-class children get less of everything in education – including respect”
External Training and Conferences
5th December (Central London)
The Teaching Excellence Framework – development and implementation post-Higher Education and Research Act
5th December (Central London)
NEON Summit: Primary Age Outreach to Secure Fair Access
7th December (University of York)
National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL) Annual Conference
7th December (Central London)
Next Steps for Improving Mental Health Provision at University
12th December (Central London)
Creating a Culture of Inclusivity for Disabled Students
23rd January (Central London)
Access Academy Training – Evaluating Outreach Work (Session 1)