Evaluation shows continued innovation in Care to Go Higher CPD programme
Participants who attended Go Higher West Yorkshire’s (GHWY) Care to Go Higher CPD programme improved their knowledge across a range of topics related to care experience by an average of 50%
That is one of the key findings from our evaluation report, which looks at the programme’s 2023-24 delivery period. Aimed at key influencers of care-experienced young people, including foster carers and personal advisors, it gives individuals the tools they need to support informed decision making in relation to Higher Education (HE).
Based on pre- and post- programme surveys, the largest increase in participant knowledge was 82.7% for ‘How would you rate your knowledge of how the care experience and Higher Education interact?’
These findings demonstrate the impact of the CPD, which looks to fill the gap in the interaction between care-experience and HE.
One participant said: “Great programme. I liked that each week had a focus, making it more manageable to take all the information in. [Sharing] resources to reflect back on was very useful. I liked that each week there was a key speaker.”
Programme delivery
The programme continued to innovate in 2023-24, with tailored deliveries being introduced for the National Youth Agency and Wakefield Virtual School. This allowed organisations to input into programme content to provide something that is bespoke and useful for their staff. The Wakefield Virtual School was also a condensed version of delivery of approximately two hours in recognition of the fact that not everyone will be able to commit to 12 hours of CPD.
These were run in addition to our standard delivery, which was delivered twice in a year for the first time in 2023-24. This helped to meet demand for the programme and allowed 26 people to participate overall, ensuring we grow the programme reach with multiple deliveries. The small group size maintained a close-knit community that encouraged contribution.
The programme also expanded its pool of guest speakers during this period. It included representatives from John Lewis, who spoke about the department store’s employability scheme, and the Unite Foundation.
The programme was certified by the CPD UK in October 2024, which means that future participants can be sure in the quality and robustness of the learning content. They will also gain a recognised qualification in their portfolios, helping to demonstrate their commitment to continual learning.
Conclusion
The evaluation demonstrates that participants highly value the content of the programme, with guest speakers being particularly well received, and that it successfully increases knowledge across key learning outcomes.
GHWY will continue to develop the programme to ensure it builds on its success, meeting the needs of its participants and addressing changes in the sector.
