Posted 16 October 2023

People who attended the latest iteration of Go Higher West Yorkshire’s (GHWY) CPD programme for key influencers of care-experienced young people increased their knowledge by 48% across six key metrics. 

Care to Go Higher, which has been running for four years, empowers participants to support care-experienced young people to make informed decisions about Higher Education (HE). 

Based on pre- and post-survey evaluation, those who attended the 2022-23 programme reported a 38% increase in how much they agreed with the statement ‘I can identify and dispel common myths about HE’. There was also a 72% increase in how much they agreed with the statement ‘I have good knowledge and understanding of the support available to care leavers in HE’. 

The virtual programme consisted of six two-hour sessions covering a variety of topics. These included challenges faced by care-experienced students, information on HE providers and styles of learning, and how to support care-experienced students.    

In order to meet existing demand, the sessions were delivered nationally for the first time. It was encouraging to see attendees from across the country, including Cornwall and London.  

Content delivery was tailored to meet the requirements of attendees, who were largely care-professionals other than foster carers. As many of these had good pre-programme knowledge of HE, their pre- and post-survey responses scored higher than in previous iterations. They nonetheless benefited from the programme and provided positive feedback. 

Further information about the programme – including quantitative and qualitative feedback, programme improvements, and future plans for 2023-24 – can be read in our newly published evaluation report.