AIMHIGHER AND THE FE COLLEGE: Strategic synergy

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AIMHIGHER AND THE FE COLLEGE Strategic synergy?

• Dr James Tate and Sue Hatt,
• Aimhigher South West
• University of the West of England, Bristol

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INTRODUCTION

• Importance of FE to HE progression
• FE and working class learners
• Dearing and the special mission
• The launch of Aimhigher
• The FE role in AH policy pivotal

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METHODOLOGY

• Desk based research
• Literature review
• Policy analysis
• Review of FE websites in SW
• Fieldwork
• Questionnaires to FE Colleges (50)
• Interviews with AH area managers (6)
• Interviews with FE college staff (8)

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LOCAL MODELS

• National policy BUT local implementation
• SW 3 area partnerships 3 models
• FE learners as recipients of AH
• FECs as providers of AH to schools
• FECs as deliverers and recipients
• Factors affecting success
• Engagement in planning
• Clarity and coherence
• Alignment with FECs own agenda

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Strategic Alignment 1
Institutions refer to the involvement of senior
management as being key to the success of their
widening participation strategy. It facilitates
the decision-making process and promotes a more
integrated approach to widening participation
across the institution. Thomas et al (2006)
From the margins to the mainstream, Universities
UK/SCOP The extent to which WP and diversity
was championed at the most senior level had an
impact on how they were perceived and valued
within the institution, and therefore how
embedded they were in the minds of the
staff. Bridger et al (2007) Embedding widening
participation and promoting student diversity
what can be learned from a business case
approach? HE Academy
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Strategic Alignment 2
We are the curriculum managers. We do have an HE
strategy group, which is all the curriculum
managers and some of the programme managers . . .
. Senior managers recognise and say theres a
need for a role here but were the doers . . . .
Youve got to have people who have got that
curriculum knowledge. . . . the
Vice-Principal has a good awareness of
Aimhigher and he knows what he wants to do
with it and what role it fulfils . . . but it is
up to middle managers like myself to make sure
that those strategic goals are put into place and
embedded within curriculums
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Curriculum 1

• Middle-management involvement in Aimhigher
  significant because of their curriculum-awareness.
  
• Connecting Aimhigher activities to the FE
  curriculum is seen as justifying a school or
  colleges investment of student time and staff
  time in those activities.
• . . . . that is what schools would say to you.
  We cannot afford the day out, we cannot afford
  the staff for the day out and we cant afford the
  coach for a day out that doesnt have a return
  for students curriculum.

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Curriculum 2

• This would place a high value on Aimhighers
  masterclass/subject enrichment activities.
• This is consistent with the FE Questionnaire
  results where almost a quarter of events (24.7)
  were masterclass/subject-enrichment events.
• This return for students curriculum is
  relevant also to the continuance of the
  beneficial effects of Aimhigher in FECs beyond
  the lifetime of the programme itself.

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Post-Aimhigher

• Sustainability that having proven their value to
  an institution certain Aimhigher activities will
  be continued by that institution under an
  alternative source of funding.
• Embedding AH activity is incorporated within
  other larger events and activities organised by
  the institution.
• Legacy that the specific AH activities will not
  continue as such without AH funding but the
  lessons learned from those AH activities will
  continue to influence and inform the
  institutions many other activities so that the
  primary WP concerns of Aimhigher will persist in
  other activities.

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Sustainability
That having proven their value to an institution,
certain Aimhigher activities will be continued by
that institution under an alternative source of
funding. . . . . if you take something like
the masterclasses, you know, that we really
benefited from we would have to fund-raise . . .
. linked to every course is enrichment money . .
. . It could be that a proportion of that is used
. . . . So, yes, I suppose there could be other
sources there that one would have to look at
because this is so important.
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Embedding

• An Aimhigher activity is incorporated within
  other larger events and activities organised by
  the institution, and the embedding Aimhigher is
  seeking is one where the larger activities in
  which it is embedded will continue
  post-Aimhigher particularly activities embedded
  in curriculums.
• with continuance . . . . the progression weeks
  and that sort of thing would happen anyway,
  because we involved Aimhigher with us, we would
  run without them.
• without continuance . . . all the kids will
  benefit from it in the class by going on the
  trips, its Aimhigher funding paying for a coach
  or something, but if there are five Aimhigher
  students in there, then it covers them.

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Legacy
That the specific activities will not continue as
such in the absence of AH funding but the lessons
learned from those AH activities will continue to
influence and inform the institutions other
activities so that the primary widening
participation concerns of Aimhigher will persist
in those other activities. . . . . it is hard
to say what is Aimhigher and what is not, because
things are happening anyway with branded things.
We say it is Aimhigher, but with a lot of the
taster days and visits . . . we organise them
with other universities but it is just part of
their general marketing . . . . I still get what
I need from the universities even if they are not
seeing it as an Aimhigher offer.
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Key Points 1

• Strategic alignment must include not only senior
  managers but also the middle-managers (Curriculum
  Managers) who are responsible for the actual
  implementation of any such alignment.
• For this implementation to be successful,
  strategic alignment must also be understood in
  terms of how well Aimhigher activities can be
  made consistent with, and complementary to, the
  college curriculum.

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Key Points 2

• The customary use of the term embedding may be
  clarified in terms of different classifications
  of the ways in which the beneficial effects of
  Aimhigher might continue post-Aimhigher
  sustainability, embedding, and legacy.
• Our understanding of what is meant by
  embedding must include policy and practice
  being embedded within curriculums.
• Strategic alignment, curriculum development, and
  embedding are not three separate issues for
  Aimhigher. Rather there is a direct connection
  uniting these three things as elements of a
  coherent whole.

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CONTACT DETAILS

• Jim Tate (James.Tate_at_uwe.ac.uk)
• Sue Hatt (Susan.Hatt_at_uwe.ac.uk)
• Aimhigher South West
• Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
• University of the West of England
• Coldharbour Lane
• Bristol BS16 1QY
• www.aimhighersw.ac.uk