University Technical Colleges - driving growth across the whole country and cultivating world-leading sectors?
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Economics
Abstract
Evaluating school effectiveness is challenging, because parents can choose where to send their children to school. This causes a problem for researchers, because those choices are unlikely to be random. This means it is difficult to disentangle whether children's exam results are higher in some schools than others because those schools attract higher attaining pupils, or because they are able to push their pupils to achieve better results. The latter would indicate higher school effectiveness, while the former would not.
University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are a recent addition to the landscape of secondary education in England. They are schools which operate in partnership with universities and local industry to provide high quality technical education to young people aged 14-18, aimed at "developing the engineers, scientists and technicians of the future".
The aim of our project is to understand how successful this model is at achieving its aims. In particular, we plan to compare the outcomes of pupils attending UTCs with the outcomes of pupils who do not in order to understand whether UTCs help their pupils to achieve more qualifications and/or higher grades, and whether they are more likely to encourage their pupils to follow pathways to careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering or maths) occupations.
The challenge here is that the pupils who attend UTCs are unlikely to be a random subset of all secondary school pupils in England. They may be more interested in STEM subjects anyway, for example, so we would not necessarily want to attribute a higher likelihood of studying STEM subjects at university amongst pupils who previously attended a UTC to the UTC itself, unless we were convinced that we were comparing pupils at UTCs with pupils at other schools with the same underlying propensity to choose STEM subjects (i.e. the same level of interest in science, technology, engineering or maths).
To find pupils like this, we will compare students with similar backgrounds - particularly in terms of their prior attainment in science and maths - in areas that do and do not have access to UTCs. This way, we can compare pupils who appear similarly well equipped to undertake a technical education, some of whom had access to a school who could provide this and some of whom did not, to see whether those who attended UTCs have better outcomes in any way.
As well as understanding the benefits of UTCs for pupils, we will also explore the benefits for their sponsors and for the communities in which they are based, to shed new light on the role these institutions may play in improving local and national economic growth.
University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are a recent addition to the landscape of secondary education in England. They are schools which operate in partnership with universities and local industry to provide high quality technical education to young people aged 14-18, aimed at "developing the engineers, scientists and technicians of the future".
The aim of our project is to understand how successful this model is at achieving its aims. In particular, we plan to compare the outcomes of pupils attending UTCs with the outcomes of pupils who do not in order to understand whether UTCs help their pupils to achieve more qualifications and/or higher grades, and whether they are more likely to encourage their pupils to follow pathways to careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering or maths) occupations.
The challenge here is that the pupils who attend UTCs are unlikely to be a random subset of all secondary school pupils in England. They may be more interested in STEM subjects anyway, for example, so we would not necessarily want to attribute a higher likelihood of studying STEM subjects at university amongst pupils who previously attended a UTC to the UTC itself, unless we were convinced that we were comparing pupils at UTCs with pupils at other schools with the same underlying propensity to choose STEM subjects (i.e. the same level of interest in science, technology, engineering or maths).
To find pupils like this, we will compare students with similar backgrounds - particularly in terms of their prior attainment in science and maths - in areas that do and do not have access to UTCs. This way, we can compare pupils who appear similarly well equipped to undertake a technical education, some of whom had access to a school who could provide this and some of whom did not, to see whether those who attended UTCs have better outcomes in any way.
As well as understanding the benefits of UTCs for pupils, we will also explore the benefits for their sponsors and for the communities in which they are based, to shed new light on the role these institutions may play in improving local and national economic growth.
Planned Impact
We anticipate that the results of this study will be valuable to current and prospective students and their parents, the sponsors of current or prospective UTCs, head teachers of current UTCs, representatives from local authorities and the Department for Education. We describe the project beneficiaries in more detail below:
1. Policymakers:
Our findings will provide guidance to policymakers on the performance and effectiveness of UTCs relative to traditional secondary schools. This will be valuable to key stakeholders such as the Department for Education and representatives from local authorities. We will also provide new insights into the benefits of UTCs for their local economies, which will be of interest to local authorities and other local business organisations.
2. University Technical Colleges (UTCs):
UTCs will be amongst the main beneficiaries of our research. We will work in partnership with WMG (a local UTC sponsor) and other UTC sponsors to better understand their aims and objectives, in order to learn what could be done better/differently to ensure they are as successful as possible at meeting those aims. We also expect that the results from the research would be beneficial to head teachers and other staff working at current UTCs, who may be able to identify and address areas for improvement, if they are informed of the outcomes of the study.
3. Public:
Current and prospective students and parents may benefit from new evidence on the performance of UTCs and may gain a better insight into the benefits of attending UTCs. Students and the public will be directly informed about our research via social media, print and other media.
Communication and Engagement:
The proposed mentors, Professor Naylor and Dr. Crawford, have ample experience with diverse pathways to impact and will, together with the fellow, ensure that the findings reach industry partners, policymakers, and of course UTCs. Warwick's unique link with the two WMG Academies and their umbrella organisation (utcolleges.org) provides an excellent opportunity for dissemination to the UTC sector. CAGE has also developed a successful model of impact activities with policymakers and other stakeholders. For example, we regularly invite groups of Whitehall employees or the Government Economic Service (GES) for tailor-made workshops at Warwick. We also hold policy briefings in London, in partnership with the Social Market Foundation (SMF), and produce policy briefing papers that are short versions of high-profile policy-relevant research. The fellow will thus have ample support to generate impact.
1. Policymakers:
Our findings will provide guidance to policymakers on the performance and effectiveness of UTCs relative to traditional secondary schools. This will be valuable to key stakeholders such as the Department for Education and representatives from local authorities. We will also provide new insights into the benefits of UTCs for their local economies, which will be of interest to local authorities and other local business organisations.
2. University Technical Colleges (UTCs):
UTCs will be amongst the main beneficiaries of our research. We will work in partnership with WMG (a local UTC sponsor) and other UTC sponsors to better understand their aims and objectives, in order to learn what could be done better/differently to ensure they are as successful as possible at meeting those aims. We also expect that the results from the research would be beneficial to head teachers and other staff working at current UTCs, who may be able to identify and address areas for improvement, if they are informed of the outcomes of the study.
3. Public:
Current and prospective students and parents may benefit from new evidence on the performance of UTCs and may gain a better insight into the benefits of attending UTCs. Students and the public will be directly informed about our research via social media, print and other media.
Communication and Engagement:
The proposed mentors, Professor Naylor and Dr. Crawford, have ample experience with diverse pathways to impact and will, together with the fellow, ensure that the findings reach industry partners, policymakers, and of course UTCs. Warwick's unique link with the two WMG Academies and their umbrella organisation (utcolleges.org) provides an excellent opportunity for dissemination to the UTC sector. CAGE has also developed a successful model of impact activities with policymakers and other stakeholders. For example, we regularly invite groups of Whitehall employees or the Government Economic Service (GES) for tailor-made workshops at Warwick. We also hold policy briefings in London, in partnership with the Social Market Foundation (SMF), and produce policy briefing papers that are short versions of high-profile policy-relevant research. The fellow will thus have ample support to generate impact.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Divya Deepthi (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
| Description | University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are secondary schools, set up in partnership between Universities and the local industry, providing an integrated academic, technical, and vocational education to students aged 14-19. The first part of the project examined the effectiveness of UTCs compared to other school types using data from the Department for Education (DfE) for academic years 2017-2019. In particular, we examined the effects of attending UTCs on pupil achievement, progression onto further or higher education and the labour market. The main findings indicate that UTCs excel in the delivery of technical and vocational education relative to other school types. In particular, UTCs outperform mainstream secondary schools, studio schools and FE Colleges with regards to technical and vocational qualifications and perform comparably well relative to academies. However, UTCs perform poorly relative to mainstream secondary schools and academies in terms of academic achievement in GCSEs and A-levels but outperform studio schools and FE Colleges. Turning to pupil destinations, we find that UTC leavers are less likely to progress onto higher education compared to mainstream schools, sixth-form colleges and academies, but are more likely to do so relative to studio schools and FE Colleges. Of those UTC leavers progressing onto higher education, 75% pursued a STEM degree (national average of 46%). Further, UTC leavers were three times more likely to progress onto an apprenticeship relative to academies and mainstream schools; and two times more likely relative to studio schools and FE Colleges. The second part of the project evaluated the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the education and aspirations of students studying at UTCs. In particular, we provide new evidence on how the pandemic has impacted students' education, assessments, future education and career plans and their health and well-being. This evidence is based on an online survey completed by 252 UTC students between August and September 2020. The findings demonstrate that students are facing very different experiences in terms of home learning, with variable access to resources such as a quiet study space and technology. The lack of face-to-face teacher interaction and the absence of the structure and routine of the school day has contributed to a decline in productivity and motivation and has potentially impeded learning, introducing anxiety in some students who fear they will fall behind. We also find that around a third of students felt socially isolated during the lockdown and a majority of students felt uncertain about the future. We also find evidence that the pandemic has disrupted students' future education and career plans. As a result of being allocated predicted grades, some students did not meet the university entry requirements, while others were not admitted to their preferred university choice. By contrast, some students reported being effectively forced to stay on in further or higher education as their apprenticeships or job opportunities were suspended, delayed or cancelled due to business closures and layoffs. Some students also reported changing aspirations and career goals in light of the economic situation and changing labour market conditions resulting from the pandemic. |
| Exploitation Route | As part of our stakeholder engagement, we were able to build awareness of the project with a UTC and secure their commitment to participate in the project. More specifically, in order to study the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on UTC students, we received support from senior school staff to conduct a survey among UTC students between August and September 2020. The survey was sent to two UTCs in the West Midlands. The results from the survey will be disseminated to the schools through a policy report. The findings will provide the schools with new evidence on the impact of the pandemic on students' education, future plans and health and well-being. The policy report will also include recommendations (relating to pastoral support, counselling, tutoring and catch-up programmes) so that this can be taken forward and reviewed by schools. This will enable UTCs and their industrial sponsors and university partners to understand the experiences of students and to take action to address and minimise the disruption caused by the pandemic. We also aim to disseminate the results to the academic community through publishing a research article and by presenting at academic conferences. |
| Sectors | Education |