Co ntact det ails: The Viewpoint Organisation, Gower House , 4 Pant Y Blodau, Penc oed, B ridgend C F35 6LX
Tel: 01656 865 858 and E: adminvpt@vptorg.com
View
POINT
for use in Aimhigher projects
Aimhigher
Originally launched by the
government in 2001 as ‘Excellence
Challenge’, Aimhigher aims to widen
participation in higher education by
raising the awareness, aspirations
and attainment of young people
from under-represented groups, i.e.
groups that are currently under-
represented in HE at the national
level or in certain types of higher
education institution or subject.
These include:
.
young people from
neighbourhoods with lower than
average HE participation
.
people from lower socio-
economic groups
.
people living in deprived
geographical areas, including
deprived rural and coastal areas
.
people whose family have no
previous experience of HE
.
young people in care
.
minority ethnic groups or sub-
groups that are under-represented
in HE generally or in certain types
of institution or subject
.
disabled people
Evaluating Aimhigher
programmes
The Aimhigher Evidence
Programme (previously known as
the National Evaluation programme)
comprises five strands of activity
including a tracking survey of young
people, data linking and analysis,
area studies, surveys of educational
providers, and regional and area
monitoring and evaluation by the
nine Regional Partnership Boards
(RPBs).
Evidence-based practice in
Aimhigher projects
Managers with responsibility for
evaluation have needed to develop
improved systems for listening to
and reporting on the views of young
people who are participating in
Aimhigher projects. This provides
information essential to evaluating
the impact of Aimhigher activities.
For these systems to be effective
however, they need to:
Be Accessible
for young people
so that they have easy access to a
system that they can use whatever
their age or level of ability, or
where they choose to participate
e.g. home, school, and for
professionals, so that they can
easily access up-to-date reports
whenever and in the form that are
required.
Be Engaging
– Viewpoint A-CASI
[or
A
udio
C
omputer
A
ssisted
S
elf
Interviewing] employs a medium
that is familiar to young people and
is most likely to engage their
interest. Research has shown that
using A-CASI, interactive,
computer-based programmes
engages almost all young people,
most significantly including those
young people who are most
unlikely to participate in more
traditional methods and ‘vote with
their feet’ when invited to
participate in consultation or user-
feedback processes.
Produce relevant Reports
– for
managers and practitioners working
in Aimhigher, easy access to a
system that produces a range of
reports for internal and external
use is essential. As with all
Viewpoint reports, Aimhigher
Viewpoint enables professionals,
who have access permissions, to
generate a range of tailor-made
online reports against national and
local measures. Viewpoint’s online
Analysis programme can also
produce engaging and accessible
reports for feeding back findings to
young people – an essential part of
any consultation process.
Northamptonshire
Aimhigher
began using
Viewpoint in the summer of
2005.
Prior to launching this evaluation
initiative, young people and
Aimhigher professionals worked
together with Viewpoint to
design web-based interactive
questionnaires that enable young
people participating in
Northamptonshire Aimhigher
activities to provide direct
feedback on the ongoing
effectiveness and quality of
Northamptonshire Aimhigher
services.
This work also involved designing
a range of easily accessible online
reports that would provide
Northamptonshire Aimhigher
professionals with up-to-date
information on what young
people were saying about their
services.
Using Viewpoint Analysis, local
professionals could compare
feedback by key characteristics of
the young people participating
including age, gender, and
ethnicity, as well as being able to
track their perceptions over
time.
Since then, young people have
continued to access their
Viewpoint A-CASI questionnaires
online as a routine part of their
participation in Aimhigher
activities. In Northampton,
young people participate when
they attend the Aimhigher
project on Northampton
University open days. Being
online, young people can also
feedback using Aimhigher
Viewpoint in their schools, at
home or other venues.
These questionnaires combine a
repetition of standard questions
pre- and post- activities to
measure any differences in their
responses and to provide
Aimhigher professionals with
direct self-reporting information
about young people’s
perceptions of quality and
impact.
