SLN Three Year Report

24 Nov 2008

The SLN was funded by HEFCE from September 2005 for a period of three years, and after an initial phase of development we produced a two-year delivery plan, covering the period 2006-08. Our delivery plan set out a series of ambitious targets with the aim of supporting vocational learners in Sussex to progress into and through higher education.

The Sussex Learning Network is led by the University of Brighton on behalf of a partnership of stakeholders in vocational higher education across Sussex. These partners include the providers of further and higher education, employer representative bodies, and those offering brokerage. The SLN was one of the first of 30 Lifelong Learning Networks to be funded by HEFCE, with a remit to improve progression for vocational learners into higher education, through curriculum review and development; progression agreements, and improved information, advice and guidance. We have achieved significant successes in a number of key areas of activity, establishing the SLN as an important focus for the development and delivery of vocational higher education in Sussex. The core team of seven, supported by forty staff drawn from universities and colleges across Sussex, has worked to deliver new opportunities for learners to engage with vocational higher education, to study and to progress. Surrounding this work has been a strong programme of staff development and communications, and a commitment to rigorous monitoring, project management, research and evaluation.

The SLN Three Year Report has been endorsed by HEFCE, and is designed to be useful to a range of audiences, each of whom will be looking for something different. It is intended to work primarily on the web, and therefore makes use of links to other documents and sites. You can also make use of the links to the various sections of the report to skip straight to the section that interests you. You can of course choose to print the full report or the relevant sections, and it has been designed in a print-friendly format to enable this.

The purpose of this report is to demonstrate the impact achieved by the Sussex Learning Network over its first three years of activity. This information is provided in various ways:

• If you are looking for an at-a-glance overview, the executive summary recalls the SLN’s seven objectives, and outlines the impact achieved in each of our areas of activity.
• For an account of how we have gone about our work, the main body of the report documents our approach and takes a critical look at each area, in the context of what we set out to achieve.
• Finally, there are three appendices that give the detail of our progress towards the specific targets set out in our delivery plan; the measurables we set to track achievement against each of our seven objectives, and a detailed budget breakdown.

Next steps

As one of the first Lifelong Learning Networks to approach the issue of sustainability, the SLN will attract interest from LLNs and others as we implement our plans.

• Looking forward to delivery of the Leitch agenda, our curriculum development activity in particular has identified opportunities for further engagement with employers and the development of a higher education curriculum that is appropriate and flexible enough to meet their needs. This has led to a proposal to HEFCE to fund development of a Centre for Work and Learning. This three-year project will build on and extend the work of the SLN, maintaining the strong networks and relationships already developed, with a focus on employer engagement, responsive curriculum and development of the brokerage role.
• We have successfully secured funding to sustain our information, advice and guidance work for an additional two years through the Learning at Work Information Service. This service will extend the existing Learning Opportunities in Sussex service in scope and scale to cover the whole of the South East region. This will be jointly funded by the four Lifelong Learning Networks in the South East, the Sussex Learning Network; Hampshire & Isle of Wight LLN; Kent and Medway LLN, and Progress South Central (covering Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey), together with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)
• Our progression work forms part of the bid for the Centre for Work and Learning, but will be sustained regardless of the outcome of that bid by the commitment of all institutions concerned to the Sussex Vocational Progression Accord until 2010, including membership of the SVPA Management Group to oversee and maintain the SLN’s work on progression. A priority for 2008-09 is to work in partnership with Aimhigher Sussex to build the new 14-19 Diplomas into our suite of progression agreements.
• Finally, in developing a ‘network of networks’, we have established a number of cross institutional groups. These groups focus on different aspects of our activity including planning, marketing, data collection and information, advice and guidance. The structures by which these groupings come together are sustainable, and partners have expressed enthusiasm for continuing to meet in this way.

In addition to this report, we will conclude this first period of funding with the publication of an e-book, with a wide range of contributors examining some of the key issues that Lifelong Learning Networks are tasked with addressing.

Download: SLN Three Year Report [2329kb]