COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS TO EXPLORE THE EFFECTIVE DELIVERY OF THE NEW FUNCTIONAL SKILLS QUALIFICATIONS Application guidance for projects
CONTENTS PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 2 PART TWO: APPLICATION PROCESS 7 PART THREE: RECEIVING A GRANT 9 PART FOUR: APPLICATION FORM HELP NOTES 12 APPENDIX 1: EVALUATION 14 APPENDIX 2: PROJECT OBJECTIVES 15 APPENDIX 3: UNDERSTANDING REACH 18 1/21
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION This grant programme is for collaborative projects related to delivering the new Functional Skills qualifications in England. Applications must be received by 4pm on October 31 st 2018 for a grant of up to 6,000 in cash and 2,000 of in kind support. This grant round is funded by the Education and Training Foundation and managed by Creative Education About this guidance This guidance will help you decide whether this is the right programme for you, as well as providing you with the information you ll need to plan an application. Read Part one: Introduction and Part two: Application process to find out what we fund and how to apply. Part three: Receiving a grant tells you about how we will work with you if you receive a grant. Part four: Application form help notes provides information to help you answer questions on the application form. Who we are The Education and Training Foundation The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) is the sector-owned, government-backed workforce development body for the Further Education and Training sector. Our mission is to support the continuing transformation of our country s technical and vocational education system by ensuring the sector has world-class teachers, trainers, assessors and leaders. This leads to ever-improving learner outcomes, a better skilled workforce and a stronger economy, country and society. Creative Education Established in 1989, Creative Education is one of the UK s largest private teacher development companies, providing support to thousands of teachers across the country every year. We operate all across the educational spectrum from early years through to further education with a range of services designed to inspire and empower teachers to transform the lives of learners. We have been a delivery partner of the ETF for the last four years delivering a range of courses to improve maths and English teaching, the Professional Exchange Network in the Thames Valley and managing over 35 collaborative research projects. Page 2
Help we offer Application workshops We will be hosting a number of workshops across the country to provide more information on the funding opportunity, help you to develop your application as well give you an opportunity to ask questions. Please check our website to find out when these workshops are and how to register a place for you and your colleagues. We recommend that you read Parts one and two of this application guidance before coming to any workshop. We also provide a range of resources and information designed to help you plan your project. You can find these online. Who we fund Under this programme, we fund applications from partnerships from: - Further Education Colleges - Independent Training Providers - Community Learning and Skills Providers - Employers funded to deliver training and Apprenticeships - Prisons - Independent specialist colleges - Sixth form colleges You will need to nominate a lead applicant. The lead applicant should provide a signed partnership agreement along with your application showing the involvement of each partner and how the project will be managed. A sample partnership agreement will be included on the project s padlet page. What we fund As part of this funding we will only fund projects that are collaborative. Collaborative projects allow practitioners and providers to work together to identify teaching and learning challenges and jointly develop, trial, explore and evaluate solutions. Projects can take different forms and include joint practice development and action research, and we recognise there are a wide range of approaches available. Whatever approach is taken projects will have some key characteristics: - Involving interaction and mutual development related to practice - Recognising that each partner has something to offer - Being based on the assumption of mutually beneficial learning Page 3
- Being evidence informed We want to fund projects that make a lasting difference for Functional Skills teaching in England. When we say project, we mean work or activity that: - is defined at the outset - has not yet started - will be completed by 14 June 2019 - will contribute to achieving the outcomes we describe. The assessment process is competitive and we cannot fund all of the good-quality applications that we receive. As a guide, the following are unlikely to win support: - projects outside England - projects that focus on delivering training to staff - projects that are designed to promote your organisation(s) - projects that do not engage with new Functional Skills qualifications - projects that do not engage with and aim to deliver meaningful outcomes for learners The difference we want to make We describe the difference we want to make to Functional Skills teaching through a set of outcomes. These outcomes reflect the full range of what we want to achieve and are drawn directly from our understanding of what collaborative projects can accomplish. You do not have to contribute towards all of the outcomes listed here. Different combinations can make a successful application. For example, a project could either: - contribute a little towards a number of outcomes; or - contribute a lot towards a few outcomes. We will consider the quality of the outcomes that your project will achieve. This means that contributing towards more of the outcomes listed here will not necessarily make your application stronger. We provide detailed descriptions of these outcomes in Appendix two: Project objectives. These tell you what changes we want to bring about with our funding, and include some suggestions of how you might meet them. Page 4
Outcomes for learners: With our investment, learners will: - make better progress in maths and English Functional Skills with learning that stretches and challenges them - be more engaged in maths and English Functional Skills - be well prepared for progression and future employment Outcomes for teaching staff: With our investment, teaching staff will: - be better informed about the requirements and subject content of the new Functional Skills curriculum - be better prepared to deliver effective lessons within the context of the new Functional Skills curriculum - have a better understanding of effective teaching - have developed their skills in relation to the ETF Professional standards Outcomes for Organisations: With our investment, organisations will: - be better prepared to deliver the new Functional Skills qualifications - better understand the benefit of collaborative research - better understand how to close the gap for disadvantaged learners As a minimum, we expect projects to achieve one outcome for learners and one outcome for teaching staff. Projects that do not aim to achieve outcomes for learners will not be considered. The Foundation s Professional Standards underpin these outcomes, particularly those related to teachers. It is important that all project participants have read and understand these Professional Standards. We expect these to be reflected in your application - in particular, in the way you design, carry out and evaluate your project. Costs we can cover Direct project costs Your application should include all costs that are directly incurred as a result of the project. Here are some examples of direct project costs: - employing extra/relief staff needed to carry out the project e.g. supply teachers - support from professionals who will give advice or carry out parts of your project - running activities which engage people with the new Functional Skills qualifications Page 5
- promoting your project to a wider audience - evaluating your project. We will pay for the cost of a mentor, to support you whilst you carry out your project. This does not count as a direct cost to your project. For more information, please read about mentors in Part three: Receiving a grant. Direct project costs do not include: - the cost of existing staff time; or - existing organisational costs. We are unable to fund capital expenditure, including the cost of purchase of any computer hardware or software. Your Contribution You do not have to make a cash contribution to the costs of your project. Whether or not you are able to offer cash contribution, we encourage you to gain support for your project in the form of non-cash contributions and volunteer time. Page 6
PART TWO: APPLICATION PROCESS When you submit your application we will let you know that we have received it. If we have any points of clarification then we will contact you. Otherwise, you are unlikely to hear from us until we have made a decision. We will assess your application and give you a decision no later than November 16th 2018. What we need to know about your project When you apply, you will need to know enough detail about your project to be able to provide us with realistic costs. The list below shows you the level of information we need to be able to make a judgement about the outcomes that your project will achieve. INFORMATION ON LEVEL OF INFORMATION People We will need to know about the group(s) of people that you will be working with. Who they are and what your work with them will achieve; what outcomes will be delivered each group. Include target numbers for each group. Activities We will need to know what activities you are planning to deliver. The choice of activity is up to you but we need to understand how these relate the outcomes you have selected. Include the number of instances and the dates when you expect to deliver your chosen activity. Partners We need to know who the partners are in the project and what roles they will play. We need to know the name of the organisation and the named person(s) within the organisation that will be part of the project. You will need to use the partnership template that we have provided. Outputs We will need to know what outputs you are producing, how many and the format that they will produce. Outputs can could be for example tools, templates, case studies, checklists, procedures, process documentation or guidance. How we assess applications When we assess your application, we will ask the following questions: - What is the focus of the project? - How will it contribute to more effective delivery of new Functional Skills qualifications? - What impact will the project have on the sector as a whole? Page 7
- What outcomes will the project achieve? - Does your project offer value for money? - What outcomes will the project continue to achieve after it ends? - What is the mix of providers involved? Are they representative of the wider FE and skills sector? Page 8
PART THREE: RECEIVING A GRANT Terms of the grant If you are awarded a grant, you will need to comply with our terms of grant. You can see our standard terms of grant on our website. The terms of the grant will last for the duration of your project. Promotion of your grant As part of your grant contract you commit to acknowledging your grant and promoting the Education and Training Foundation. Within the application form you will have an opportunity to give us an overview of the steps you will take to do this during the delivery of your project and after its completion. Your answer should provide an outline of how, where and when you will feature ETF branding at your project and on your website. You should also provide an overview of how you plan to promote ETF funding of your project in the media e.g. through local press/broadcast coverage, online and through regular social media activity, and at project events. You can access information on ETF branding here. Images If you are awarded a grant, you will also need to send us images of your project. You give us the right to use any images you provide us with. You must get all the permissions required before you use them or send them to us. Mentoring We will appoint a project mentor to support you while you carry out your project. You do not need this include this cost in your budget; we do this as part of the overall, in-kind support that we provide. If you receive a grant, you will be responsible for managing your relationship with your mentor and ensuring that you keep in touch with them. The project mentor can give you advice on: - general issues relating to how you carry out the project, such as selecting your project team or managing your budget; - specialist areas where your project team may lack experience for example understanding new Functional Skills qualifications - guidance on good practice for example in relation to available research and case studies The role of the mentor is to support you as you develop your project they will not manage your project for you. Page 9
Managing your Project You will be expected to appoint a project lead who will: - lead the project and maintain its momentum - arrange face-to-face meetings and regular online catch-up points - ensure that monitoring and reporting are competed - manage the project budget - be main point of contact for Creative Education and project mentors. We recognise that the timescales for the projects can be challenging so we have set out in the table below the progress projects that are expected to make. TIME WHAT YOU NEED TO DO Stage 1 3 November 3 December If you have been successful we will notify you and arrange a project kick off meeting. All project participants will be expected to attend this meeting. You will be introduced to your project mentor. We will also review your plans and you may be asked to refine your these based on feedback from decision making panel. You will need to complete this review by 3 rd December 2018. Stage 2 4 December 14 February With your plan reviewed you will now be expected to start work developing your intervention and ensuring that staff are fully prepared, including delivering any necessary training. During this period you will also need to identify which learner group(s) you will work with and collect any baseline data. Stage 3 14 February 30 April With staff trained and interventions developed you would use this stage to test the approach(es) with learners, collecting and analysing data on the impact that it has. Stage 4 1 May 14 June With testing done you will now be in a position to begin create any guides or materials to support dissemination, to disseminate your project via a variety of means to meet your reach targets and produce a final report. We will work with you and your project mentor at the end of every stage to review the progress you have made and your state of readiness for the next stage. In the event that you are not quite ready then we will work with you to overcome any challenges that you be facing. If, for example, you are being held up by getting resources designed and printed then we will work with you to identify alternative ways of producing those resources. Time is short and we want to make sure that you have the Page 10
best chance to deliver your project as you envisioned. Permission to start If you are awarded a grant, you will need to have our written permission before you start any work. In order to give you permission to start, you will need to provide us with: - your bank account details; - a signed copy of the grant terms and conditions. You can find a copy of the grant terms on our website. Grant payment Once we have received your signed copy of your grant letter. We will pay your grant in three instalments. 1. We will give you 50% of the grant up-front to be invoiced on or after the 14 th November 2018. 2. Once you have spent the first half of your total eligible project costs, we will give the next installment of 2,000. You will invoice for this on or after 14 th February 2019. 3. We will pay the final installment 1,000 of your grant when you have submitted your final report. You will invoice for this on or after 30 th June 2019. We may ask to see evidence that you have spent your grant in the form of timesheets, receipts and invoices. We can fund up to 100% of your total project costs. If you or another organisation is contributing cash to the project, then we will be granting you less than 100% of the project costs. We describe this percentage as the payment percentage. Evaluation You will be asked to write an evaluation of your project in a format we specify in your final completion report. Please see Appendix 1: Evaluation for an outline of the information you will need to collect during your project. These numbers will not, on their own, tell the whole story of what your project is about, and your evaluation report will also need to tell us about the quality of your project. You will also be asked to complete a case study using an approved programme template. You can find this template in the resource section of programme website. We may carry out our own programme evaluation research and may ask you for additional information on your project outcomes as part of your work. Page 11
PART FOUR: APPLICATION FORM HELP NOTES There is a word limit for some of the individual sections of your application. Word beyond the word limit will be omitted from consideration by the funding panel. Question 1: Project Title Provide a title for your project: this is how your project will be known in all public communications. Question 2: Project Summary The summary you provide will be used to by Creative Education and the ETF to describe the project to the public and in internal communications. Question 3: Project Impact, Outcomes and Evaluation Please use this section to tell us which of the outcomes you will reach through the project and how you will measure that they have been achieved. You can find out a bit more about these objectives on the next page. Question 4: Project Outputs Please use this section to tell us about the things that your project produce, how many will be produced and the format they will be produced in. Question 5: Project Approach Please use this section to tell us how your project will meet the objectives you have selected. What evidence do you have that suggests these approaches are likely to be effective. Question 6: Project Partners Use this section to tell us who your project partners are. You will also need to submit a partnership agreement that sets out how the partnership will be managed. You can find a Partnership Agreement template on the programme website. Question 7: Project Reach and Dissemination Use this section to tell us who the project will reach. You will need to tell us how many teachers and learners will be involved be directly involved and actively participate in the project. You will also need to tell us numbers that will be indirectly involved and to whom it will be broadcast to. You can read more about the way on which we define project reach in Appendix 2. We expect that the ratio of direct participants to indirect participants will be 1-3. Question 8: Equality and Diversity Use this section to tell us how your project will take account of equality and diversity. We expect that this will relate to specific issues facing each provider or partnership and could cover equality to access and or closing an achievement gap. Question 9: Professional Standards Please use this section to tell us the professional standards that you expect the project will Page 12
focus on. Question 10: Project Costs Please use this section to tell us how much your project will cost and how the costs will be disbursed across all the partners. The exact disbursement will be up to you but we do expect that the disbursement will be equitable and reflect significant roles for each partner. Page 13
APPENDIX 1: EVALUATION The quantitative information that we expect you to collect for your evaluation is outlined below. In addition to this we will collect, via anonymous survey, details of participants for equality and diversity purposes. We ask you to assist us in gaining completion of this survey. Activities We will want you to tell us how many activities were carried out using your grant. The activities we list are: - Meetings: days when the whole project team meets to discuss progress. - Creating resources: time spent developing learning or training resources. - Peer observations and learning walks: time spent observing colleagues delivering lessons other teaching session. - Other on-site activities: activities that take place at your site that you feel are not included under the other headings. - Other outreach or off-site activities: activities that have taken place away from your site that you feel you have not been able to tell us about. Training Training includes any structured programme of on-the-job training, skill-sharing, workbased learning and work experience. We ask you to distinguish between training for your staff and training for learners. You will need to tell us the number of people who received training. Impact measurement You will need to measure impact of the project. What you need to measure will be determined by the outcomes, activities and the groups that you choose. As minimum we expect you to record the extent to which project participants have developed their chosen professional standards and they extent to which their understanding of and confidence to teach new functional skills has increased. We will provide you with a template that you use to create baseline data and track the progress participants make. This template should underpin any other measuring that you may wish to undertake. Page 14
APPENDIX 2: PROJECT OBJECTIVES OUTCOMES FOR LEARNERS Learners will make better progress in maths and English Functional Skills with learning that stretches and challenges them Learners who receive the intervention will make demonstrable progress based on established or agreed success criteria. How you will know what you have achieved: You may take a number of complementary approaches to establish the progress made by learners as a result of your intervention. The timespan of the project makes it unlikely that you will be able to use final examination results in a meaningful way, however you could measure the progress on mid-unit assessments, predicted grades or other internal progress measures you may use. Qualitative data is also highly relevant here and you could make use of techniques such as lesson observations, learning walks and book study to establish the relative success of your new approaches. Learners will be more engaged in maths and English Functional Skills. Learners will be more likely to attend maths and English sessions, be more punctual and engage more enthusiastically when within the sessions. How you will know what you have achieved: Attendance rates may be a useful measure here to establish the relative engagement in maths and English. As this changes through the period of study it would be prudent to benchmark this against the same period/month in the previous year as opposed to the period/month directly preceding the intervention. Student surveys, before and after the intervention, as well as focus groups can also be a good way of capturing this type of data. Focussed lesson observations and learning walks also have value here. Learners will be well prepared for progression and future employment Students have a clear line of sight to the world of work and understand the role and importance maths and English plays in securing them meaningful employment. How you will know what you have achieved: Surveys, focus groups and questionnaires provide effective tools to establish learner attitudes here, as does engagement with employers to see how learners attitudes transfer to a work-based setting. Page 15
OUTCOMES FOR TEACHERS Teaching staff will be better informed about the requirements and subject content of the new Functional Skills curriculum There will be clear increase in teaching staff understanding of the new functional skills qualifications. This could include delivery of information sessions, training sessions or promotional activity How you will know what you have achieved: As a result of these improvements, you will be able to show that teaching staff involved in the project have increased their knowledge of the new functional skills qualifications either through staff surveys or focus groups. Teaching staff will be better prepared to deliver effective lessons within the context of the new Functional Skills curriculum There will be improvements to teaching staff capacity to deliver the new qualification. Teaching staff, as a result, of your activity will have a clear understanding of what they mean for their practice. The improvements might be the result of training, workshops or the production of training guides. Improvements might also result through structured exchange activity such as peer observations and learning walks. How you will know what you have achieved: The improvements will be recognised through changes implemented by practitioners, for example staff surveys will pinpoint change in practice. This will be supported by peer observation. Teaching staff will have a better understanding of effective teaching There will be clear understanding of what types of approaches work, why those approaches work and the limitations of these approaches. This understating will be built on research into what is known to be effective and the piloting and testing of any new approach. How you will know what you have achieved: Teaching staff and learners will tell you that the approach tried is of high quality, easy-to-use and appropriate for their needs and interests, that they enhance their understanding and that they improve their learning experience or teaching ability. Teaching staff will have developed their skills in relation to the ETF Professional standards Direct participants will have identified which of the professional standards that they will develop at the very outset of the project and opportunities to develop these standards will have been built into the project. Page 16
How you will know what you have achieved: Participants will tell you through a survey or focus group what impact participation in the project has had on their professionalism. OUTCOMES FOR ORGANISATIONS Your organisation will be better prepared to deliver the new Functional Skills qualifications Your project will engage with a range people across your organisation, beyond those directly participating in the project. The project will cascade learning through the organisation. How you will know what you have achieved You will set a target for and devise a plan for engaging across your organisation and collect a record of that engagement. Colleagues who engage with the project will tell you that they feel more prepared to deliver the new functional skills qualifications. Your organisation will better understand the benefits of collaborative research Working collaboratively and openly on common issues can be a transformative approach both to staff professional development and provider improvement. The process of working on a collaborative project can model these benefits and the importance of experimentation and permission to fail as well as strengthening links with other local providers. How you will know what you have achieved Staff surveys (before and after the project) around the Professional Standards will show that staff have developed confidence in those elements of the standards related to evidencebased practice. There will be evidence of staff members working together such as notes of meetings and details of action-research sets. There should be further evidence of collaboration both within and beyond the organisation after the lifetime of the project. Your organisation will better understand how to close the gap for disadvantaged learners Disadvantaged groups perform more strongly, and for those organisations where they achieve less well, the gap will close. In practical terms during the project lifespan this may be measured in terms of mid-unit progress as opposed to qualification results and achievement. How you will know what you have achieved Disadvantaged groups (however you define them and whichever ones you focus on) improve their rates of progress compared with their peers. Page 17
APPENDIX 3: UNDERSTANDING REACH This guidance provides projects with full definitions of direct, indirect and broadcast reach in the context of collaborative projects. If projects encounter any eventualities that are not covered by this guidance they should clarify this with their project mentor. This guidance will be updated with additional clarifications as they arise. PARTICIPANT TYPE AND DEFINITION Direct Participants Those who participate, and take an active part, in a project or attend a formal CPD session or event. A direct participant is someone who is part of the team undertaking a collaborative project. CLARIFICATIONS & EXAMPLES - Direct participants count once for every collaborative project they are part of, e.g. if Participant A s provider is a lead of one project and a partner in another, and the individual is part of both project teams they will count as 2 direct participants. However, individuals should be discouraged from taking part in multiple projects. - If a direct participant leaves a collaborative project team part-way through the project, they should not be taken off of direct participant numbers. Delivery partners should report this change in the narrative of their monthly report. - Participation in a collaborative project is the only qualifying criteria for a - direct participant, unless otherwise stated in the delivery partner s contract, - e.g. where a project incorporates training, and the delivery partner has a direct participant target for the training. Where this is the case direct participants count once for every activity they take part in, e.g. if Participant A is part of a collaborative project and attends a training that is part of the contract they will count as 2 direct participants. - Where the above bullet point applies, the delivery partner will also be asked - to report unique participants so that we can track overlap between the different strands of work. DATA REQUIREMENTS - Name - Organisation - Email address Page 18
PARTICIPANT TYPE AND DEFINITION Indirect Participants Those who benefit from the learning of direct participants through an activity or event where attendance is recorded. This is activity that direct participants undertake to disseminate their learning to others. CLARIFICATIONS & EXAMPLES - For people to count as indirect participants, the dissemination activity must: be delivered by a direct participant, be a live event (face-to-face or online), involve named participants and be specifically about their project (rather than being within dissemination about a range of different activities). - Examples of dissemination activities whose participants count towards - indirect participant numbers: o A training session for colleagues (e.g. a formal staff training session, a webinar) o A discussion with colleagues where resources and ideas are shared (e.g. as part of a staff meeting or a professional discussion as part of professional development) o A presentation to colleagues (e.g. at a staff meeting) o A presentation or workshop at a conference/event - Direct participants cannot also be indirect participants. DATA REQUIREMENTS - Name - Organisation - Email address Page 19
PARTICIPANT TYPE AND DEFINITION Broadcast Participants Those who benefit from the learning from projects and others through wider dissemination activity. This is any activity that is undertaken by the direct participants, delivery partner or other stakeholders to disseminate the learning from the collaborative projects. CLARIFICATIONS & EXAMPLES - Broadcast activity can be electronic or face-to-face. - Examples of dissemination activities whose participants count towards broadcast participant numbers: o An email about a collaborative project and its activity to colleagues, including emails where resources are shared (where an email is not solely about the project broadcast figures should only be counted for those who have clicked on links to further information about it) o Visitors to a webpage about the project and its activity and/or downloads of relevant resources (only unique visits should be recorded, and someone who accesses online information counts as one broadcast participant regardless of how many pages they visit/downloads they access) o A presentation to colleagues (e.g. at a staff meeting) or at a conference that is not solely about their project o Any activities that count towards indirect participation where the contact details of participants are not recorded for any reason - It is important that delivery partners do not double count broadcast participants. For example, if Participant D clicks on a link to a webpage about the Exchange in an e-newsletter and then downloads some - materials, this will count as one broadcast participant. DATA REQUIREMENTS Count only (Must be able to provide evidence of broadcast activity one request, e.g. copies of emails/ webpages, details of events) Page 20