HeppSY Phase 2
In December 2018, the Office for Students (OfS) agreed that, through NCOP, in 2019-20 and 2020-21 the OfS will:
a. Continue to invest in targeted higher education outreach within the areas where it can have the most impact ensuring that it makes the most of the opportunity to strengthen evaluation practice and knowledge of ‘what works’.
b. Commit to supporting collaboration in the longer term by funding sustainable local partnerships (‘outreach hubs’) with cross-England coverage to help schools and colleges access the higher education outreach they need and provide a platform for wider collaboration, including with regard to joined up careers advice.
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. Through the local partnerships NCOP supports wider collaborative activity with local authorities, employers and local enterprise partnerships, as well as with key partners such as the new local careers hubs, careers leaders and the opportunity areas.
HeppSY’s goals for the second phase of NCOP are to:
- reduce the gap in higher education participation between the most and least represented groups
- support young people to make well-informed decisions about their future education
- support effective and impactful local collaboration by higher education providers working together with schools, colleges, employers and other partners
- contribute to a stronger evidence base around ‘what works’ in higher education outreach and strengthen evaluation practice in the sector.
We will achieve the goals for phase two through:
- providing impartial, sustained and progressive higher education outreach from a range of providers tailored to the needs of young people in target areas
- providing open, transparent and impartial routes for schools and colleges to access outreach activity from a range of higher education providers
- supporting a local partnership infrastructure now and in the future which can act as a vehicle for activity on a range of agendas relating to access and participation, including activity set out in providers’ access and participation plans
- robust evaluation at both local and national levels, including capability-building support.
New developments
Establishing a Progression Framework
Higher education outreach is most effective when delivered as a progressive, sustained programme of activity and through engagement over time. For phase two of the programme HeppSY has created a progression framework which sets out a clear statement of the specific changes that are expected for an individual learner over time as a result of the activities undertaken as part of HeppSY targeted outreach.
Download our Progression Framework
The creation of an Outreach Hub
Through phase two of NCOP the OfS will provide support for local collaborative outreach hubs operating across England. As well as delivery of outreach activity, the targeted NCOP outreach hubs will be expected to:
- Help teachers and advisors find out about the outreach activity available in an area by:
- Acting as a point of contact and information for all secondary schools and college their geographic remit.
- Hosting a website with details of the local outreach offer and signposting other information to support schools and colleges.
- Support schools and colleges in areas of low participation to access higher education outreach by:
- Engaging with those schools and colleges to understand their outreach needs.
- Facilitating access to existing outreach provision, either locally or nationally.
- Working collaboratively to help develop new or expanded outreach provision to meet identified needs, using the combined resources of the providers in the area and drawing on the investment set out in their access and participation plans where appropriate.
- Provide a platform for other local collaborative activity by:
- Engaging strategically with local authorities, local enterprise partnerships, employers and others to understand the landscape of educational disadvantage, high level skills needs and joined up careers advice in the area.
- As far as possible developing innovative and locally tailored approaches to address the challenges identified through the above engagement, drawing in additional funding and support from available sources to support this.
Safeguarding
HeppSY are committed to safeguarding participants, staff and visitors in all its outreach activities with young people. Safeguarding is a priority for the team and we aim to provide effective arrangements to ensure all learners are safe on University premises and where activity is delivered within their usual learning environment.
