Viewpoint being used in a Connexions partnership to help a
young person to communicate with their adviser
An Adviser, facilitating a group of young people aged 13 to 17 yrs, who were involved in
designing content of a Viewpoint ONLINE questionnaire package, took feedback from the group at the end of a session.
One young person commented that he always felt awkward approaching his Personal Adviser because he thought they were
grumpy and would think he was a nuisance, like other adults he had approached in schools he had attended.
'I found it easier to put what I was thinking into Viewpoint. I didn't really get on with my PA (Personal Adviser)
but felt awkward asking for a new one, I put this in Viewpoint and a few weeks later someone from Connexions contacted
me to say they had got me a new PA'.
A Connexions Partnership, North West Region
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Viewpoint challenging a practioners views about using new
media to communicate with young people
A group of Connexions personal advisers described
themselves as initially sceptical about using Viewpoint, or any PC based
system, to communicate with young people using their service. To evaluate
Viewpoint ONLINE,
one personal adviser designed a paper-based questionnaire
to get the views of the young people who had used the programme in their
partnerships initial pilot – fully expecting that the results would produce
negative feedback about Viewpoint. The personal adviser described what
happened next:
"At first I was very sceptical about Viewpoint, as I'm a bit of a technophobe and didn't think there was
anything wrong with collecting views using paper and pens. Some of the comments that young people have
typed in Viewpoint would never have been shared by a young person with a PA they barely know. I have certainly
changed my opinion about Viewpoint now. It also means I can be getting on with other stuff while a young
person fills in a questionnaire. We are looking at other topics to use Viewpoint to consult young people about."
Personal Adviser, Connexions Partnership, North West region
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Viewpoint used to enhance communication with young people with moderate learning difficulties in an Education and Connexions setting.
Connexions and SEN education practioners and managers
have been involved in designing Viewpoint ONLINE
to enhance the ability of young people with moderate learning difficulties
to evaluate their
transition planning
process – in particular at year 9. One educationalist, specialising in
communication with young people with moderate and
severe learning difficulties takes up the story:
"Viewpoint has helped to us to identify shortfalls in the way we help and support young people with moderate
learning difficulties prepare for their Transition review. These shortfalls have been made evident in the comments
made by young people about the quality of support and information they expect and need throughout the review process,
using Viewpoint to provide their views in their own way and in their own time."
"The review process has now been changed so that the young people are better prepared for their reviews.
One example of how things have changed relates to a key finding through using Viewpoint i.e. almost half the
young people were only told about their review on the day they had it. We are now in the process of revising
the way our transition reviews are delivered – including when and how young people are made aware of their
review meetings - giving the young people a greater opportunity to express themselves in their reviews".
Connexions and LEA, West Midlands region
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Connexions and Schools – working together to give young people a say.
There are thousands of young people in our region and we wanted to consult them about their option choices in Year
9 and later after Year 11, and about the advice help and support they needed. The Viewpoint Organisation helped
us to set up a suitable cluster sampling approach and to use schools ICT suites to access the Internet.
As a result of this Internet based approach, both schools, and Connexions, now have information available to
improve options for pupils, and the help and support provided for them.
Information collected from pupils has also been used in school in discussion and debate to contribute to citizenship
education, and to inform young people’s councils in school. Some schools have been able to demonstrate that the OFSTED
requirement on consulting pupils and reporting their views about their involvement in school life are met.
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