Current

Adult Learner Accounts (ALO) Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy
The White Paper 'Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances' announced that the LSC will trial a new type of Learner Account for adult learners from Autumn 2007.  Adult Learner Accounts will be trialed in East Midlands and in the South East and will be initially targeted only at Full Level 3 learners.

The key aims of the evaluation are to review the success of the Adult Learner Account trials against their objectives and provide the evidence base about any future roll-out.  

This two-year study is underway with an interim report following the first waves fieldwork in September 2008. 

Train to Gain
Train to Gain (TtG) is a new service to help businesses across England get the training they need to succeed and stay successful.  The introduction of TtG is a major stepchange in enabling employers to develop the skills of their employees and, in doing so, improve business performance.

The LSC will carry out detailed evaluation of TtG to determine the performance and impact of the programme.  An initial evaluation of the broker service has been completed.  Further, long-term, evaluation of TtG has commenced and will continue until early 2009, with reports being published at the end of each wave of evaluation.  This evaluation is in three parts:

• Employer.
• Employee.
• Operational (includes more detailed analysis of the broker service).

Findings from Wave One can be found on the published page.  Wave Two findings will be available in August 2008.

Evaluating and Evolving the Career Development Loans (CDL) Programme
Career Development Loans (CDLs) are bank loans - provided by three high street banks - which are intended to encourage people to invest in their own learning and to improve their skills and employability.

A major evaluation of CDLs has recently been completed.  The reports will be published in January 2008.

New Deal for Skills
New Deal for Skills was announced by the Chancellor in his March 2004 budget and is a joint initiative between DfES and DWP with collaboration from the Department of Trade and Industry and HM Treasury.  It focuses on moving people from welfare benefit to employment through up-skilling and takes forward the recommendations from the National Employment Panel report.

Two separate evaluations of ALO are taking place as described below:

• Adult Learning Option (ALO):
  
• ALO offers financial support to low skilled, longer term unemployed and inactive benefit claimants to take voluntary full-time learning for up to 12 months, where this might improve their chances of moving into work.  The pilot is to encourage better use of Level 2 participation by benefit claimants in learning activity, as well as increasing support for those most in need.  ALO will test the effect of increased voluntary access to full-time training on take up of learning opportunities, successful completion of courses and labour market outcomes.
  
• The evaluation of ALO pilot commenced in November 2006 and is planned to be complete by December 2008.  The overall aim of the evaluation is to inform future roll-out of ALO in terms of its impact, demand and costs.
  
• Evaluation of Skills Coaching Trials and Skills Passport:
  
• Skills coaching will support the individual to identify actual and potential barriers to improving their skills, to develop employment related goals and to access learning provision to improve their chances of sustained employment.  The aim being to increase the employment rate of those with the lowest qualifications, taking account of the economic cycle, and significantly reduce the difference between their employment rate and the national average.
  
• The aim of the evaluation, which commenced in October 2006 and is due to report by August 2007, is to gauge the impact of Skills Coaching on out of work individuals; particularly low-skilled women and ethnic minorities on skills/qualifications gained and progression into sustained employment.  The evaluation will provide an evidence base to demonstrate the value of the service, it will indicate the elements of skills coaching most helpful to customers and it will present options for progressing the service beyond the trial period, to achieve viable long term sustainability, for consideration by Ministers.

Voluntary and Community Sectors (VCS) Engagement - Working Together Strategy
In May 2004, the LSC published Working Together, its strategy for work with the voluntary and community sector (VCS).  The strategy was developed through consultation with the VCS and other interested agencies, and is now LSC policy.

The strategy makes it clear that the LSC views the VCS as a key partner in achieving its objectives.  It recognises that “the knowledge, creativity and sensitivity it can bring to the widening participation agenda in particular is enormously valuable”, whilst also understanding that VCS organisations are both employers, with a role to play in workforce development, and a potential source of vital information and expertise.

The current evaluation project consists of an on-line survey of current and ongoing local VCS contacts based on 2005/06 data.  This is due to end in November 2006.  A further evaluation project is planned for June 2007 based on 2006/07 data.  This will compare findings from 2005/06 against those from 2006/07 and will influence decisions regarding re-tendering for 2007/08.

Evaluation of the Foundation Learning Tier (FLT)
The Foundation Learning Tier is a joint programme of work between the LSC and the QCA to establish an inclusive and appropriate curriculum offer below Level 2 for learners from age 14.  The programme evaluation has three strands of work that build upon the evaluation work undertaken in 2006/07:

• external delivery of the first year of phased implementation
• programme management arrangements
• arrangements for the longer term evaluation of the Foundation Learning Tier and the implementation of Progression Pathways.

Impact of the Vocational Qualification Reform Programme (VQRP) and Publicly Funded Trials of the Proposed Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) of the LSC
The LSC is leading a strand of the VQRP which includes tests and trials of the proposed QCF in 2006-2008.  This evaluation project will support the LSC in driving forward reform through planning and funding and assess the impact of the VQRP and QCF on the core processes that enable that to happen.  It will also inform planning for the transition from the current system to the new one which must be done through the LSC Business Cycle and the agenda for change funding reforms for instance.

Evaluation and Modelling of the Discretionary Learner Support Fund (LSF)
The discretionary Learner Support Fund (LSF) exists to provide financial support to those learners who are struggling to remain in learning because of its costs. Allocations of LSF are made by the LSC to colleges (or to local authorities for sixth forms). Subsequent awards of LSF to individual students are determined by the college.

Evaluation of L3 provision
There is no single LSC-funded programme that delivers all Level 3 qualifications. Instead, Level 3 qualifications are delivered through a range of LSC-funded programmes aimed at both young people and adults through vocational and academic routes. Learning is delivered by a range of providers such as Schools, Sixth Form Colleges, General Further Education Colleges (GFEC), independent training providers, Local Authorities (LA), Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) and third-sector providers.

The diversity of provision, providers and learners undertaking LSC-funded Level 3 programmes means that there has yet to be a thematic evaluation of Level 3 conducted by or on behalf of the LSC.

The main aims of this evaluation project are:

• To understand the relative contribution of different programmes and routes delivering Level 3 qualifications to young people and adults.
• To determine if those Level 3 qualifications are perceived as economically valuable skills.

The secondary aims of the research will be to understand the relative merits and benefits of each programme in meeting the needs of different groups if individuals and on the wider goals of employability and progression.

Economic Impact Analysis
The LSC has commissioned Strathclyde University to develop an economic impact analysis of the FE sector to produce evidence of return on our investment in broad economic terms.

The analysis will treat the FE system as an industry and examine the direct and secondary economic activity generated in England by its institutional expenditure in terms of employment created and output generated.

A full final report and executive summary including all of the headline results together with further analysis where appropriate is planned for publication in September 2007.