1. Pupil Premium Plus Post-16 Evaluation. Interim Report
- Author
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Department for Education (DfE) (United Kingdom), Georgia Hyde-Dryden, Emma Andersen, Bethan Peach, Nikki Luke, Bonnie Butler, Alice McDowell, Alun Rees, Andrew Brown, Judy Sebba, and Leon Feinstein
- Abstract
From October 2021, the government introduced a pilot in 30 local authorities to support 16 to 18-year-old children looked-after (CLA) and care leavers (CLs) in general further education (FE) colleges through the extension of Pupil Premium Plus funding to post-16 (PP+ Post-16). The 6-month pilot was completed between autumn 2021 and spring 20221 , before funding was extended to a further 28 local authorities in autumn 2022 and subsequently extended to all local authorities in England in autumn 2023. The purpose of PP+ Post-16 was also extended in 2023/24 to provide funding to support all CLA and CLs at post-16, rather than focusing on support for CLA and CLs in general FE colleges. This mixed methods evaluation is formative in intention and involves an exploratory study of the use of the funding by virtual schools (VS). It also considers early evidence about progress towards the outcomes in the Theory of Change (ToC), developed during the pilot evaluation and updated at the start of this evaluation through a series of ToC workshops with VSHs. The outcomes are arranged in the ToC under 3 headings, which are outcomes relating to young people, post-16 settings and joint working. This interim report presents findings from year 1 of the evaluation (2023/24) based on a national online survey of VSHs, case study interviews in 6 local authorities involving interviews with a range of stakeholders, and documentary analysis. [This report was produced with support from the Cordis Bright and the Rees Centre, University of Oxford.]
- Published
- 2024