Along with proposals put forward by the Education White Paper (2003), education and training providers are working towards enhancing opportunities available to learners, of all backgrounds, to enable and encourage their engagement in learning and training.
The notion of widening participation not only targets increased engagement of traditionally under-represented groups in education and training but, just as significantly, widening participation strategies aim to retain learners' involvement in education and training, and secure their progress, both in their chosen careers and future qualifications.
Much of the education and skills-based research conducted by Pye Tait has considerable relevance to the Government's overall widening participation agenda.
In order to identify successful ways of tackling social exclusion, a clear understanding of the barriers facing hard to reach or disadvantaged learners, and their respective learning and training providers, must first be developed. Once these barriers have been fully considered, a number of widening participation initiatives can be recommended.
This is the approach Pye Tait has taken in a survey of education and skills training providers, a piece of work commissioned by a local Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The purpose of this work is to determine what support learning and training providers would welcome in order to attract more diverse groups of learners to their organisations.
Pye Tait has implemented a variety of research methods for this work, including case study meetings, e-surveying, in-depth telephone interviews and e-consultations.
As a result, we were able to provide a detailed analysis of the issues faced by learners and providers at regional and sub-regional levels, and a broad range of recommendations to assist the local LSC's objective of widening participation and promoting equal opportunities among learners.