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An Investigation into the IAG Provided for Year 11s Regarding their Post 16 Options

An Investigation into the IAG Provided for Year 11s Regarding their Post 16 Options. Dr Carol Fuller and Tony Macfadyen. Research Aim. To understand how students feel about current IAG provision To understand how well informed students feel they are in terms of the choices they are making

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An Investigation into the IAG Provided for Year 11s Regarding their Post 16 Options

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  1. An Investigation into the IAG Provided for Year 11s Regarding their Post 16 Options Dr Carol Fuller and Tony Macfadyen

  2. Research Aim • To understand how students feel about current IAG provision • To understand how well informed students feel they are in terms of the choices they are making • To find out who students talk to for IAG and the relative importance of these • To establish what students know about the Diploma and vocational training and their attitudes to these.

  3. Method • Survey questionnaire of 420 students in first wave of data collection • 11 secondary schools 37% Boys 63% Girls % of achieving 5 A* - C GCSE (Incl. English and Maths)* • 3 higher than national average • 3 average • 5 lower than national average

  4. Method • Second wave of data collection –issues • 210 of students from first wave • 8 schools 34% Boys 66% Girls • 5 Focus groups drawn from student volunteers in 3 schools – N = 25

  5. Results - Post-16 Intentions • 61% of students plan to follow the ‘traditional’ post-16 route (A/S and A levels) • 20% of students plan to do either a Diploma or vocational course Focus Groups: A levels seen as ‘better’ and ‘normal’ Alternative routes seen as ‘going off track’

  6. Results – IAG • 70% of students felt they had received enough IAG to make good post-16 choices • 60% felt school had been ‘quite’ helpful in terms of IAG • 12% felt they did not know enough • 20% felt school had not been helpful at all • Almost a quarter of students from ‘below average’ schools felt school IAG had not been helpful

  7. Connexions • Mixed views as to usefulness • For students who knew what they wanted to do, seen as very helpful: “…when I went there they got booklets out and leaflets about Universities, then showed me about all of the different jobs and salary and the requirements I would need to get into University, where it all is on the thing and how you can get into it and they gave you a lot of information and then if they find out more they will send it home to you so I think they were quite good”.

  8. Connexions not seen as helpful for students who did not know what they wanted to do: • Girl 1 - I didn’t find Connexions helpful at all. Originally I wanted to be a dancer so I asked about opportunities to go to dance college and she said she’d research into it and get back to me but she never did so I’ve had to make up my own plans. I tried to look into what colleges were around here but there weren’t any. • Girl 2 -…they help you while you are there but then it just stops. • Boy - …I don’t think we do enough of it. You don’t know enough about anything so you don’t know where to go for help.

  9. Who Gives IAG • First wave - parents, siblings and friends appeared most important • Second wave – students asked to rank options • 45% ranked parents as most important • 26% ranked Connexions • 16% ranked school staff

  10. How can schools improve IAG? • Second wave included a list of options based on open-ended responses in the first wave • Top three responses were: 1st - Taster Days – spend a day trying a course etc. 2nd - Personalised IAG 3rd – Information sheets on what courses are required for different types of jobs

  11. The Diploma • First wave 37% students knew nothing about the Diploma • Second wave 25% still knew nothing • Only 1% thought it had a practical component • Only 4% thought it was something vocational • Most knew it was equivalent to 3.5 A levels • Viewed as academically less demanding: ‘basically if you can’t do A Levels you just do like a diploma’

  12. Why not do the Diploma? • 58% of students said their schools hadn’t told them anything about it • 19% of students felt it wasn’t suited to an academic student • 41% of students felt they didn’t know enough “I don’t really know what they are or what they are worth so I guess it makes it hard to know whether to do one or not”. • Only 23% of students said they would consider doing it

  13. Attitudes to Vocational Study • 81% of students feel vocational course are important • Yet only a quarter of students would consider doing one • Reasons given were: ‘they provide an alternative to school for those who are less interested in academic education’ ‘they are for those not suited to school’ ‘they are for people who do not want to do A Levels’.

  14. Attitudes to Vocational Courses (cont.) • Vocational courses were seen as a less secure route to university • Job specific so therefore limited • 33% of students with parents in skilled and unskilled manual work would consider vocational course • 20% of students with parents were in professional and non-manual occupations would consider vocational course

  15. Linking this to the Diploma • Diploma seen as vocational, job specific, less academically demanding and not valued by universities: • I think you need to be more academic... it’s good to have practical skills but if I want them I can do voluntary work... it’s better to stay on the academic side • I just wanna go straight, I don’t wanna do diploma…for some reason I see them as going off track... it’s not normal, the way it has always been. I think A Levels are more flexible. Diplomas only qualify you for a few jobs • A levels are better because you might change your mind • Yes. If you did one in PE then broke your leg you wouldn’t be able to do anything. It would be hard to change to something else.

  16. Points for Consideration • Students largely happy with IAG but significant minority are not • Students want personalized IAG – perhaps explaining the importance of parents • Diploma not seen as a viable ‘academic’ post-16 route by most • Mis-conceptions regarding the Diploma dominate and no doubt impact on reluctance to consider it as a post-16 option

  17. Recommendations • Much more personalized IAG desired and required – perhaps IAG focus should shift to personal tutors within schools to enable this? - however, this has implications for teachers skills and training needs • All parents need IAG in terms of various pathways. Particular issues relate to those parents that are harder to reach. Perhaps information sheets would be beneficial to those parents who do not typically come into school? • Offer taster days for various routes so students can ‘try before they buy’

  18. Recommendations (cont) • Raising awareness as to what the Diploma is – bring current Diploma students into schools (and those that go on into university in the future) • To prevent an academic divide, target information at all students and parents (regardless of background), emphasising the value of the diploma as a route to university

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