How to maximise your return on learner destination tracking campaigns

How to maximise your return on learner destination tracking campaigns

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Creating opportunities, building careers

Contents

Introduction

Page 3

Why track and why track now?

Page 3

The challenges of effective learner destination tracking

Page 5

Three reasons to review why and how you track

Page 7

Tracking policy: In-house or outsource?

Page 11

Conclusions

Page 12

Ten ways to improve your tracking results

Page 13

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Introduction Futures Advice, skills and employment is a leading non-profit organisation specialising in supporting young people and adults who need help preparing for work or training. We also operate the National Careers Service across the East Midlands and Central Eastern England. During February and March 2015 we undertook a research project into tracking learner destinations with the aim of gaining a better understanding of: • • • • • •

the growing importance of tracking destinations how providers use tracking information for continuous improvement what the key challenges and barriers are to effective tracking how providers are taking advantage of business development opportunities improving the quality of tracking data, analysis and reporting the best ways to increase response rates

A survey was designed and providers of all levels of Ofsted inspection grades were invited to take part from across the country. We received 67 responses. Why track and why now? Collating learner destination information had not, until fairly recently, been a requirement for education and training providers. So what has changed?

The introduction of job outcome payments for many providers has brought into sharp focus, not only the need to track destinations, but to do so in a robust and on a wholeorganisational level. The Skills Funding Agency introduced job outcome payments in 2012/13. The European Social Fund, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and City Deal also base funding decisions on learner job outcomes. The Skills Funding Statement, BIS 2014, announced that the government has been working on three core measures: • destination (into further learning or into/within employment) • progression (through learning) • earnings changes (following completion of learning).

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In 2014 new requirements for the collection of data for individual learner records (ILR) was published by the Skills Funding Agency. This included the requirement to record destination and progression outcomes including obtaining employment or going onto further study. The importance of tracking learner destinations goes beyond fulfilling the requirements of funders. It provides evidence to all stakeholders of best practice, high standards of learning, a commitment to learners, continuous improvement and business development opportunities. What the experts say “The ability to judge the true effectiveness of provision will depend, among other things, on the availability of robust data on learners’ destinations”. Ofsted “Knowing where our learners are going when they leave provision is necessary, not only for funding purposes but also to ensure that we are aware of where, how and why students leave courses”. National Institute of Adult Continuing Education “We expect providers to place a greater emphasis in 2014/15 on capturing destination information”. Government Skills Funding Statement *Source: Report by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS).

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The challenges of effective learner destination tracking

Q. If you do your tracking in-house, which factors do you find most challenging? Time Many learning providers reported that they need dedicated resources to carry out destination tracking. As the chart above shows, 75 per cent of the respondents said that ‘time’ was the most challenging factor.

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Turnaround The comments made by providers in our survey highlight some of the difficulties associated with tracking that can significantly increase the time spent tracking and therefore the cost. Some of the issues that respondents said they found challenging included: • “Contacting students once they have left” • “Catching students or their parents during the day” • “Students not responding” Having the right resource The survey results revealed that 86 per cent of the respondents used administration staff to undertake their tracking. Some employed teaching and training staff to do this work. This raises three key issues: 1. Hidden costs: Additional conversations with a selection of providers exposed the fact that overtime costs and multiple calling were not always accounted for. 2. Inexperience: Using staff that are not specifically trained to contact learners can affect the quality of the intelligence that is received. 3. Impact on teaching and training time: A number of respondents expressed a concern that tracking work reduces the time spent actually teaching which places further pressure on already stretched resources. Analysis and reporting

The combination of using inexperienced staff and the lack of time can often lead to a last minute scramble for information that impacts on the response levels and quality of the information being gathered.

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Three reasons to review why and how you track

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1. Ofsted inspections Both our survey and informal feedback from schools and colleges points to Ofsted’s increased focus on the need for additional tracking information. Eighty per cent of respondents stated that tracking was now either much more important or more important for them now that learner destinations are increasingly of interest to Ofsted, the government and funding bodies. Of the respondents that reported Ofsted’s renewed focus made ‘no difference’ to how they approached tracking, 78 per cent had an Ofsted inspection outcome of either Outstanding or Good. This suggests that they had always placed a great deal of importance on tracking learner destinations. This is further supported by the fact that 80 per cent of respondents reported that tracking was ‘very valuable’ in relation to Ofsted inspections. Eighty three per cent said that the main reason for tracking was evidence for Ofsted inspections. 2. Continuous improvement Seventy three per cent of the respondents did not use or were not aware of any use of the data gained through tracking being used to influence curriculum planning. A possible explanation is that questions to inform this were not included as part of any tracking exercises.

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It is interesting to note that 71 per cent of respondents that answered yes to the question above had an Ofsted inspection grade of ‘Good’ and the remaining 29 per cent ‘Outstanding’. This means that the 75% that answered no or don't know were graded ‘Requires Improvement’ or ‘Inadequate’.

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3. Missed business development opportunities Forty seven per cent of respondents said that they had re-engaged learners as a result of tracking activity. However, 41 per cent stated they did not know if any learners had been reengaged. These are missed opportunities as this data could be used to design courses that are relevant to learners and the needs of the local labour market.

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Tracking policy: In-house or outsource? The research indicates that the decision to track in-house or to outsource could be influenced by the size of the cohort to be tracked. Almost half of providers that track in-house were tracking fewer than 500 or 1,000 learners. Thirty two per cent outsourced their tracking of which 44 per cent tracked cohorts greater than 2,000 and 37 per cent tracked the destinations of more than 1,000 students.

Of the providers that outsourced their tracking, 37 per cent achieved a response rate of between 60 per cent and 80 per cent. Twenty seven per cent achieved response rates greater than 80 per cent. When asked what the most important factor was when deciding whether to outsource or not, 73 per cent said achieving high response rates was a driver followed by the need for quality analysis and reporting.

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Conclusions •

Destination tracking is evolving and increasingly important to providers particularly now that it is a focus of Ofsted and other bodies.

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The greatest barrier to effective tracking is a lack of time.

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Using inexperienced staff may be affecting response rates and the quality of information and analysis.

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Providers appear to be opting for whole-organisational tracking rather than selected cohorts.

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Providers are not taking advantage of continuous improvement and business development opportunities.

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Potential key information is not being widely shared across departments within schools or colleges or acted upon. Therefore, there are missed opportunities.

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Hidden costs may be masking the real cost of in-house tracking.

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Ten ways to improve your tracking results 1. Good preparation: Is your management information system geared up to be able to track learner outcomes? Is your database of former students accurate and up to date? If outsourcing, be sure to tap into the expertise of your tracking partner. 2. Market and social research qualification: Seek support with survey design, scripting and data analysis and reporting from a qualified source that has expertise in tracking. 3. Use mixed method approaches: Test different methods and measure and monitor them continually. The approach may need to change subject to the requirements of your funder or your organisation’s priorities. 4. Keep multiple contact details: Don’t rely on one contact method. Ensure you have phone, email and addresses for former learners. Keep your records up to date as it will save time later and increase your response rates.

5. Personalise: If making contact by post or email, try to personalise the approach. Refer to the course and any pertinent details in order to attract their attention and engagement. 6. Use experienced advisors: Keys to a successful tracking campaign is gaining trust and establishing rapport quickly. Using inexperienced staff can be counterproductive. 7. Be tactical with calling times: This boils down to trial and error and of course experience. But be sure to measure and monitor against past results and continually adapt as required to keep your response rates high. Calling at different times of the day and outside of standard working hours can boost response rates. 8. Exceed Ofsted/funders’ expectations: Be Ofsted ready at all times. Robust detailed tracking information can play a significant part in a successful assessment outcome. 9. Include questions for continuous improvement and business development: Your tracking goals should go beyond the bare minimum; it provides an opportunity to gather insight that can help you market your offer and discover new revenue streams. 10. Share tracking planning and information with key colleagues: A vital strategic component to maximise the return on your investment in whole-organisational tracking is to involve all relevant departments. Be clear with your goals and communicate insights to develop an action plan. 13
