Issue 21, May 2005
Contents
News from projects and partnerships: Focus on the East of England
Writtle College – Strand one HEFCE/DELNI funded project to improve provision for disabled students 2003/05
Aimhigher in the East of England
Bedfordshire and Luton spread the word
Cambridge and Peterborough focuses on staff development
Essex invites champions
Hertfordshire supports work on issues of equality and diversity
Norfolk takes the message further
Significant steps to Aimhigher in Suffolk
General Information
RAISE (Raising Aspirations into Science and Engineering)
Report examines placement support and fitness to practice in social work
Policy News
Events
Publications
Requests for information
Humour
News from projects and partnerships:Focus on the East of England
WrittleCollege – Strand one HEFCE/DELNI funded project to improve provision for disabled students 2003/05
Listening to students: the experience of disabled students in higher education
As part of the WrittleCollege project to embed disability issues in to mainstream College functions, they recently held a very successful staff development workshop led by Professor Mick Healey from the Geography Discipline Network of the HE Academy.
The workshop focused on research into the experiences of disabled students in higher education and was attended by a good mix of lecturing and support staff from both HE and FE within the college. Case study material was particularly well received and this is something the college hopes to follow up in the final months of their own strand one project: Dis-Tribute.
Feedback after the event was very positive. In particular the visit of an experienced researcher from outside the College was much appreciated. The exchange of views between staff who would not usually work together was found to be beneficial and something we plan to build on in future staff development events. The main comment voiced by many of the participants was that disabled students needs mirror the needs of all students and an inclusive approach helps all students achieve their potential.
More information on the Writtle College Distribute project can be obtained by contacting Rachel Hewings: Rachel.Hewings@writtle,ac.uk or Jonathan Price:
Information and project updates for the 2002/05 strand one and strand two HEFCE/DELNI funded projects to ‘Improve provision for disabled students’ can be accessed from the NDT website at:
Aimhigher in the East of England
The drive to see more young people not only entering higher education, but walking away after a positive experience and with the right qualifications, has been ongoing in the East of England.
With the devolution of Aimhigher into the separate areas of Bedfordshire and Luton, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, work on putting into place both staff and structures has been carried out. This has been done against a backdrop of the ticking clock of the funding for Aimhigher set against the need to establish vibrant and sustainable projects and plans.
Following the retirement in December of Professor Chris Green as Aimhigher East of England Lead and Chair, Carole McAlpine, took over the role as Chair of the region and Roger Woods, is holding the post of interim regional co-ordinator.
A new strategic action plan for the region has been approved based on the work by consultant John Clawley in early 2005. The regional team is now involved in managing a wide ranging Continuing Professional Development programme for both internal staff and a wider target group and a regional conference is planned for November 10 at Newmarket with the theme of new futures for Aimhigher.
An audit of baseline data to inform on the success of widening participation across the region is being undertaken by the regional Data and Evaluation Service, and evaluations of the Summer Schools programme and a mentoring scheme are being completed
Work continues on developing the Move Up website which will give students in the region a comprehensive list of both the courses offered and the possible progression routes up the progression ladder from Level 1 to Level 4. The aim is to ensure students are aware of where to go to make the next step up and not held back because their current education provider does not offer that course or qualification.
Improving communications is high on the agenda for the region with several areas developing their own website and a regional website under construction. A weekly email bulletin In Brief has been successful in informing practitioners across the region and a recent questionnaire by the editor Suzanne Kuyser confirmed that the frequency and format were meeting staff needs.
Jane Spirit, disabilities officer has been busy producing a brochure with case studies for students with disabilities considering higher education and has launched DAN, Disabilities Awareness Network, in conjunction with Aimhigher South East Region
Bedfordshire and Luton spread the word
Publications have been among the many activities of the Aimhigher team in Bedfordshire and Luton. A regular and colourful broadsheet format newsletter ‘Target’ is being produced for careers advisers and prospective students to higher education. Its bright and lively format is used to present relevant information from the latest on fees to the process of applying for a place through UCAS where a snakes and ladders board was used to give a highly visual story board of the process.
The team has also produced a neat booklet called Next Steps. This is a new and easy to follow guide to higher education for careers advisors to use while working alongside school pupils.
Simple graphics based around well-known road and motorways signs is skilfully used to give clear signposted information. Vocational routes are clearly mapped out and different routes to higher education given interest with local case studies. The case studies include Access and mature students and there is financial advice and a local contacts list.
As well as the new publications, for the first time the Bedfordshire and Luton Aimhigher team linked in an aspiration event for school pupils with another national initiative, The Big Draw.
Led by such well-known artists as Gerald Scarfe, the Big Draw is a campaign to get more young people drawing. In Luton pupils took part in a drawing event organised on one of the university’s campus. Linking it in with the Big Draw gave the event a raised profile and a more vocational skills focus to the experience. The pupils were helped in their creative efforts by staff and students from the University’s media and art department.
Aimhigher Bedfordshire and Luton contact Steve Kendall
Cambridge and Peterborough focuses on staff development
For Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, an area that includes the Fenlands, the unknown future of Aimhigher funding has been a major issue in planning widening participation activities.
Sandy Yatteau, area co-ordinator said, “Staff development seems the best way forward to tackle sustainability. We want knowledge and awareness to become embedded”.
Work on establishing a staff development programme for teaching staff in schools is therefore underway between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Aimhigher, the Dyslexia Institute and local further education providers. The programme will focus on the unseen disabilities, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and photo spectrum disorders which can be a barrier to higher education. Sandy said that while this may be an area Learning Support Staff are well aware of, generalist and subject teachers are not.
“We want teachers to have a basic understanding so teaching staff can cross refer students to other service providers. The staff development will provide them with the ability to give students signposting to better provision.”
Around £12,000 is expected to be spent county wide to reach up to 240 secondary school teaching staff. Sandy hopes to have the programme in place by the end of the summer term with the bulk of the work taking place in the autumn with a follow up six months later to evaluate the impact of the training.
Essex invites champions
In Essex Aimhigher was invited to create a new category for this year's annual Learning and Skills Council Essex Champions of Learning. This is now in its fourth year and part of the Learning and Skills Council Essex programme to promote learning and training. It is run in partnership with BBC Essex which runs its own category which listeners can vote for, highlights the applicants through to the final and gives a live broadcast of the award ceremony. The event is also given coverage by BBC Look East and the regional press.
There are eight categories covering every aspect of learning from Apprenticeships to lifelong learning and the prestigious awards ceremony with celebrity chef Anthony Turner will be broadcast live on BBC Essex in June.
The Aimhigher ‘Breaking the mould’ category recognises an individual who has, by the age of 30, shown determination and excellence to progress to higher education.
The individual must:
- Live/learn in Essex and be 30 years or younger on 24 March 2005
- Be working towards or have just completed a higher education qualification studying with an FE College, The Open University or by Distance Learning
- Have taken a vocational route to higher education (e.g. Apprenticeship, NVQ, National Diploma, RSA) rather than the traditional academic route (e.g. A-Levels, AS Level)
Suzanne Kuyser, marketing and communications officer Aimhigher East of England, is one of the judges for Champions of Learning. She says the Aimhigher award was designed to highlight both the vocational routes to higher education, and institutions other than the traditional universities offering higher education qualifications accessible close to home. Contact Maggie Weston, area co-ordinator on
Hertfordshire supports work on issues of equality and diversity
An Aimhigher Hertfordshire Equality and Diversity Group was formed last September with representatives from Hertfordshire Further Education Colleges, The University of Hertfordshire, Connexions, Hertfordshire Careers Service, Hertfordshire County Council and Disability groups.
The Group has set its priority as advising and supporting other activity groups, and developed an Aimhigher Hertfordshire Equality and Diversity policy which was agreed this January. The group has moved swiftly on and an Equality and Diversity development event for Aimhigher practitioners to help them embed equality and diversity into their activities is being held this month (May).
Aimhigher Hertfordshire is also engaged in encouraging more work based learners to progress into higher education and Helen Street has recently joined Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry as the Aimhigher Hertfordshire Work Based Learning Manager.
She will be working with employers, young people, independent training providers and the Hertfordshire higher education consortium to encourage employers and their employees to engage more fully with work based learning and learn how they can use it to progress to higher education. Contact Helen on 01727 813435 or
Mentoring is a strong element of Aimhigher Hertfordshire. This year 100 Year 6 children benefited from mentoring by undergraduates, in April celebrating the completion of the eight week programme with special events in their schools where they were awarded special certificates.
E-mentoring software has been obtained by the Aimhigher Hertfordshire Mentoring Activity Group to allow mentors to communicate with mentees without exchanging personal email address. This is being used initially as part of a peer mentoring scheme which pairs potential students with either physical or mental health difficulties with trained student mentors. Contact Jill Cochrane for more information on 91707 285227
Norfolk takes the message further
Aimhigher Norfolk is approaching the issue of reaching potential students in rural locations by taking the message out into the community. A new part-time advice service is being started in Kings Lynn this May with both of its two libraries agreeing to host part-time afternoon and twilight information and advice sessions on education and routes to higher education.
The advice desk is linked to the Learning Shop in The Forum in Norwich via the Learning Shop’s website The Learning Shop is staffed with representatives from the Adult, Further Education and Higher Education Institutions, Open University, WEETU (Women’s Employment, Enterprise and Training Unity) and Norfolk careers service. Contact
Aimhigher Norfolk is also using e-mentoring to reach into all corners of the county, regardless of geographic location, and has invested in e-mentoring software from Firefox with the aim, next year, of expanding on the more than 200 students currently being mentored.
Mentoring is also being used for promoting vocational progression; a pioneering health care e-mentoring scheme for 14 and 15 year olds was launched in February.
The scheme is designed to last for six months, with 10 medical students from the University of East Anglia e-mentoring 40 pupils from high schools across Great Yarmouth to encourage them to stay in higher education and consider jobs in the health care sector.
The scheme is aimed at raising awareness of the many different career paths and training opportunities within the health care sector. The mentors are all students who have completed training at the University of East Anglia in the School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practices, the School of Nursing and Midwifery or the School of Allied Health Professions, and can give support, raise aspirations and lend an insight into higher education in health care.
For more information contact Alex Cole, co-ordinator of the Norfolk Mentoring Network,
Significant steps to Aimhigher in Suffolk
Aimhigher Suffolk has begun talks with Suffolk EBP (Education Business Partnership) to examine mentoring for young people in the region in danger of not achieving their full potential. EBP also work with ambassadors in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and also the Construction Industry and this would dovetail nicely into our aims.
Suffolk is firmly established in a partnership with key personnel working on the Suffolk 14-19 plan, having become members of the Information Strategy Group. The Group will be venturing into Schools during May – July to deliver sessions entitled ‘Informing Choices,’ aimed at informing staff of the huge breadth of opportunity available to young people.
They have joined forces with HERO (the Higher Education Research Organisation) to link the national Aimhigher site ( with an area website for Suffolk and there have been exciting talks with Regional Aimhigher on ways to incorporate the ‘Move Up’ site onto the Suffolk site. This enables young people and parents/carers to examine online the next steps.
Concurrently, there have been discussions with Connexions on the incorporation of a curriculum map detailing 14-19 pathways. On a local level, Julian Illman, one of the area managers, recently accompanied a group of young people who as part of the YPiHE scheme (Young People into Higher Education) were given the opportunity to visit APU and experience a slice of student life.
The other Aimhigher Suffolk Manager, Fiona Fisk, took great pleasure too in being able to financially assist Stradbroke High school in funding a group of students to visit Newham College, Cambridge. As a result of the trip, four students then went to the Easter residential and feedback from both visits has been very positive. This is the first in a number of schools they hope to assist with a Development Fund we are beginning to set up.
And so, metaphorically, their table is being set; many of the key players are present but there are spaces still available. If you would like to know more about Aimhigher Suffolk or wish to become involved as a partner with Aimhigher Suffolk then contact them on 01473 343624.
General Information
RAISE (Raising Aspirations into Science and Engineering)
RAISE brought together a partnership of two national organisations (SETNET and the British Association for the Advancement of Science - the BA) with the University of Teesside to provide a range of key interactions in the Science and Technology curricula across the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber. Working through SETNET's local delivery agents (SETPOINTs) and the BA's regional officers, interactions have begun in the North East when Dr Mark Lythgoe, a neurophysiologist from Great Ormond Street Hospital inspired 800 young people aged 11-18 with his unusual path into science via dog training and other unusual professions! Followed with a major hands-on event at Northumbria University (Science Alive), and plans for an even bigger one at the University of Teesside, RAISE is now truly underway in the North East. As we go to press revision days are taking place for students taking their Science SATs next week in schools across the North East. Aimhigher co-ordinators in Yorkshire and the Humber will soon be receiving details of activities starting in September across the region.