Aimhigher Greater Merseyside have developed a progression framework as the key strategy to facilitate learner progression to HE. The framework is the vehicle in which the Aimhigher partnership will achieve its overall aim to increase the proportion of under-represented groups who progress through post-16 learning into higher education in order to increase their prospects of high quality employment.

The overall progression framework has 3 key elements

1. Guidelines for targeting Aimhigher Learners
2. A progressive, sequential, coherent and individualised Progression Curriculum
3. Progression Agreement to facilitate entry to HE

Targeting Learners

HEFCE has issued guidelines to enable Aimhigher partnerships to target its programme of activity to groups specific groups of learners. The HEFCE guidelines identified the Aimhigher cohort as;

1. Young People in NS-SEC 4-7
2. Disabled Learners
3. Looked After Children

Progression Curriculum

The progression curriculum is an integral element of the overall framework and is a series of activities, courses and interventions that will enable a young person in the Aimhigher cohort to receive an appropriate set of skills and competencies to enable them to enter, complete and attain and achieve high quality post graduate opportunities.

Each individual learner will need to develop different skills and competencies in order to achieve successful HE entry, therefore the progression curriculum needs to be individualised.

Each activity builds upon a previous activity and in turn will be built upon by a future appropriate activity so that it is sequential.

Each activity will clearly demonstrate how it will provide for the learner appropriate skills and competencies that will enable successful entry to HE so that is progressive.

The overall set of activities and interventions provide the overall skills and competencies that will enable a learner to successfully enter, complete and attain higher education study.

Activities

Based on one or more factors schools are placed in 3 categories or levels:

1. Level 1 programme e.g. Primary, Y7, Y9, Summer School, Y12, Summer School, Y13 UCAS, Pre-entry support, IAG
2. Level 2 Programme e.g. Y9 HE visit, Y11 Study skills, Y13 UCAS
3. Level 3 Programme e.g. IAG, UCAS Schools, college will also use their funding to provide opportunities to provide personalisation.

Based on the assumption that schools in the most deprived areas have young people requiring more development of higher levels of skills and competencies to enable successful HE entry than other schools a set of 'core schools' has been identified to take part in more intensive interventions.

Each HEI on Greater Merseyside has been allocated a number of core schools to work with using the progression framework.

Click here to see the core schools