The SpringBoard Bursary Foundation (SpringBoard) commissioned the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) to undertake an evaluation of its activities and impacts between 2013 and 2018. This interim and summary report presents the findings of the first year of the evaluation. SpringBoard was established in 2012 to transform the lives of…

What happens to opportunities for learning when some of the structures of schooling are remodelled? What do children and young people do with these new opportunities? Drawing on research into creative projects in a primary and secondary school, and an after-school club for looked-after children, this paper examines a different way of working in…

Given the rapidly changing skills needs of post-industrial economies, lifelong learning forms an integral part of government policy within the UK and abroad. However, like the UK, most economies are faced with the problem of how to reach those sections of the community that have traditionally not embraced learning and educational opportunities. In…

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is leading a national strategy to improve the United Kingdom's financial capability (FSA, 2006). The strategy recognises that there is a need for Financial Literacy education across all areas of society, from children in school to mature adults in all walks of life. In order to meet this need and to be…

The Department for Education and Skills (Replace by the Department for Children, Schools and Families as of June 28, 2007) commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to conduct an evaluation of the Youth Opportunity Fund and Youth Capital Fund (YOF/YCF). This summary presents the main findings from the interim report of…

This report summarises the findings of the project, The New Duty to Promote Disability Equality. Section 1 describes the individual aim of each site. Section 2 identifies the main themes arising from the project. Section 3 describes how the project findings have been disseminated. Section 4 highlights key messages for organisations working in and…

Government relocation assistance programs, designed to move unemployed workers from areas where suitable employment opportunities do not exist to areas where jobs are available, were examined in detail for Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and the United States and briefly for Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, West Germany, and the…

Based on the working papers and the results of seminar discussions on the evaluation of vocational education in various European countries, this volume summarizes current European thinking on the evaluation of training programs. Chapter 1 describes and defines the different levels of analysis which can be used in evaluation: analysis in the…

The aging of the population of the United Kingdom has occurred at the same time as the greatest increase in unemployment since the 1930s. The older unemployed are likely to have longer periods without work than younger people. For many, loss of a job has meant enforced early retirement and a lower than anticipated income in later life. The U.K.…

This manual is intended as a tool kit for further education (FE) colleges to use to develop their own approaches to equal opportunities policy development and implementation. The following topics are discussed in the eight sections: the manual's development; the case for equality; things an equal opportunities policy should cover; strategic and…

This document is a practical guide to help managers of adult and community education programs in the United Kingdom address equality and diversity in the context of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) remit and the Common Inspection Framework. The following are among the topics discussed in Sections 1-4: (1) learner-centered approaches…