Research
The focus of the final phase of the Equal Brighton & Hove programme, Action 3, is on influencing policy and practice at both national and local levels with regard to the exclusion of particular social groups from training and employment.
Action 3 builds on the research expertise amongst Brighton and Sussex Universities and the key messages identified by the Equal Core Team to identify good practice in local projects and partnerships; to disseminate this as widely as possible; and to mainstream these approaches to influence strategy, policy and practice locally, regionally, nationally and across the EU.
Research: Aims and Objectives
Aims
To consolidate a strong local research base in relation to excluded groups in the labour market, building on existing research and developing additional participatory and other research in support of, and to identify good practice from, Action 2 activity.
To disseminate knowledge and good practice from research and Action 2 activity in relation to addressing the barriers and discrimination faced by excluded groups in accessing or keeping employment.
To mainstream innovative approaches and good practice by influencing strategy, policy and practice locally, regionally and nationally with regard to promoting equalities, and addressing discrimination and barriers faced by people accessing or keeping employment.
Strategic Objectives of EBH Action 3
- To produce research on the barriers to participating in the labour market for particular groups
- To highlight particular innovative projects being developed in the Brighton & Hove area, and quantify their impact
- To make new contacts and develop ideas for similar future work
- To empower excluded groups through participatory research and dissemination
- To develop information resources on labour market exclusion and adult learning and skills within Brighton & Hove
- To disseminate knowledge and good practice developed as a result of the EQUAL initiative
- To raise awareness about EQUAL and the work of the Development Partnership
The work programme for EBH Action 3 is managed by a team based at Equal Brighton & Hove in partnership with Sussex University and Brighton University. For further information about Equal Brighton & Hove Action 3, please contact:
Jane Zacharzewski, Action 3 Co-ordinator, telephone (01273) 294626.
Research: Outputs
Research has been undertaken by teams from the Centre for Continuing Education (University of Sussex) and from the Community University Partnership Project/University of Brighton. In addition, research was also carried out by members of Brighton & Hove City Council, and the Equal Brighton & Hove Action 2 Core Team with a more specific view to giving solutions to - and ways of overcoming - barriers faced by projects in relation to information services and reporting of soft outcomes.
There are primarily two kinds of research output available to download at present.
Briefing papers: These represent extremely condensed messages from the programme, to be used as introductions, primers, or overviews by those interested in finding out very quickly what research on that theme is about. They are also suitable for policy makers, because they contain key recommendations.
Full research reports: These are 30-70 page documents, drawing heavily upon data and evidence collected by the research teams. They give an in-depth account of key factors and issues identified by the researchers involved.
Dr Ruth Woodfield, University of Sussex, has carried out research into the employment outcomes for mature students. The report is still in draft form but can be accessed by clicking here.
The final version of the report, along with related materials and workshop information will be available shortly from Dr Woodfield's webpage on the University of Sussex site.
Barriers to Employment and Employability by Mike Boice and Caroline Booker (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Employment and Inequality: closing the gap and removing barriers by Caroline Booker and Mike Boice (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Innovation and Equal Brighton & Hove by Suzanne Hyde (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Innovation and Equal Brighton & Hove by Suzanne Hyde and Laura Cecil(Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Partnership and Practices and Equal Brighton & Hove by Nicky Conlan (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Partnership and Practices and Equal Brighton & Hove by Nicky Conlan and Auréliane Beauclair (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Equal Opportunities, Diversity and Equal Brighton & Hove by Liz McDonnell and Auréliane Beauclair (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Empowerment and Equal Brighton & Hove by Liz McDonnell and Auréliane Beauclair (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Empowerment, Equal Opportunities and Diversity in Equal Brighton & Hove by Liz McDonnell and Auréliane Beauclair (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Employer Engagement and Equal Brighton & Hove by Suzanne Hyde (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Employer Engagement and Equal Brighton & Hove by Suzanne Hyde and Laura Cecil (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Pre-apprenticeship and pre-work training for re-engaging 16-25 year olds not in employment, education or training by Graham Sharp, Joanna Tolley, and Judith Watson (School of Environment and Technology, University of Brighton).
Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review by Laura Cecil (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Lone parents in Brighton & Hove: engagement with education and training by Tamsin Hinton-Smith (University of Sussex).
Lone Parents: Addressing barriers to participating in post-compulsory education by Tamsin Hinton-Smith. This paper was presented at the Annual Conference of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) December 2007.
Employer Engagement in Practice: a case study by Graham Sharp, Joanna Tolley, and Judith Watson (School of Environmental Technology, University of Brighton).
A limited number of DVDs produced through participatory action research with 16-25 NEETs at Constructing Futures are available for those involved in education or education studies. Please contact EBH Admin if you would like to be sent a copy.
Involving young people in participatory research: the Our First Footings film by Joanna Tolley (School of Environment and Technology University of Brighton). This is a briefing paper about production of the film.
Towards an Understanding of Mentoring, Social Mentoring and Befriending by the Social Mentoring Research Group (University of Brighton).
Quantitative Service User Data - Overview, Issues, and Recommendations by Linden Farrer and Auréliane Beauclair (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Towards a Culture of Self Evaluation by Steve Hodgkinson and Jen Colwell (Education Policy Evaluation Unit, University of Brighton).
University Involvement in Equal Brighton and Hove Action 3: Achievements, Experiences, Lessons and the Future by The Action 3 Research Teams (University of Brighton & Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex).
Changing the shape of the box: Disability and effective inclusion by Pam Coare, Ann-Marie Houghton, and Liz McDonnell.
Adult Learning Courses in Brighton & Hove: What can you find out online? Website & Telephone Research Summary by Anna Davies and Tess Gill (Brighton & Hove City Council).
Adult Learning Courses in Brighton & Hove:
What can you find out online? Executive Summary by Anna Davies and Tess Gill (Brighton & Hove City Council).
Results and Findings of the Soft Outcomes Visit Process by Linden Farrer (Equal Brighton & Hove).
Soft Outcomes: A Shared Approach by Linden Farrer (Equal Brighton & Hove).
Research: Partners
A key component of Action 3 work is to build on the research and expertise of University partners - University of Brighton, University of Sussex, and the Centre for Research into Older Workers (CROW) - to:
- Identify good practice in local Equal projects and partnerships
- Disseminate and promote this knowledge and good practice in relation to addressing the barriers and discrimination faced by excluded groups in accessing or keeping employment
- Mainstream these approaches to influence strategy, policy and practice locally, regionally, nationally and across the EU
Centre for Research into Older Workers (CROW)
The focus of the Centre for Research into Older Workers (CROW's) work is to raise awareness of age as a dimension of equality amongst local Equal projects and of its implication for their work, and to inform, advise and guide local projects to address the needs of older workers in relation to training and employment.
CROW delivered a seminar for local projects and partners on the needs of older workers in November 2006.
University of Brighton
The University of Brighton is carrying out work to analyse how local projects address the exclusion young people face from training, education and employment, and to ensure young people’s voices and experiences inform what is identified as innovative practice.
Workshops for local projects working with young learners will be held, to focus on best practice in self-evaluation approaches.
The University will also work with the University of Sussex on employer engagement arrangements, to investigate how these address the training and employment needs of young people in the city.
A further aspect of the University’s work is to build on existing networks in the city to raise awareness of social mentoring as a route to improving the experiences of disabled people and the labour market; and raising awareness of the experiences of disaffected young adults in relation to training, education and labour market participation. This work will include a number of local and national events.
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is working alongside Action 2 projects to research how the principles of equality, empowerment, innovation and partnership inform their practice, and to identify barriers and solutions to labour market participation and any innovative practice developed locally. Their Equal pages can be visited here.
Within this work, there is a particular focus on local projects working on employer engagement, and in Supported Employment, and attention will also be given to how local projects address cross-cutting issues of discrimination experienced by those excluded from the labour market. The intention throughout is to ensure the voices of participants are central to the research and dissemination process.
The research programme also includes analysis of the barriers to retraining and labour market participation for lone parents to identify what works in getting lone parents into employment; and a study of participation in higher education and access to employment and how class, gender and ethnicity impacts on this.
The lessons learnt from the University’s existing and emerging research will also be made available to local projects and partnerships, for example research into approaches to developing inclusive higher education for disabled people, and the education and training needs of refugees.
Research: Soft Outcomes
Introduction
The Equal funding stream places an emphasis on 'soft outcomes' as a means of increasing the employability of service users.
Soft outcomes are the results of project activities on service users' lives (or other social criteria) that cannot be directly measured. For example, increased confidence in social situations, decreased isolation from systems of support. For this reason, they require tools to be created that allow systematic capture and demonstration of such outcomes of project work.
EBH and beyond
Inevitably, the impact of work within the life of the programme is limited due to the short-term nature of the Equal funding stream. However, the work developed around soft outcomes is designed to leave a legacy of increased understanding, reduced barriers to - and increased implementation of - systems to capture soft outcomes beyond the lifetime of the programme.
Research on soft outcomes within EBH
EBH conducted a series of interviews with project workers and researched how soft outcomes are being treated by the 40+ partner organisations within the programme.
Because of the differences between and within the 11 target groups that EBH is concentrating on, a mass of data on barriers faced to employment by different target groups has been collected. All EBH projects are designed differently and deliver different activities. This has resulted in a clear understanding that no 'one-size-fits-all' tool is appropriate for the programme as a whole. The research paper - Soft Skills and Soft Outcomes – Results and Findings of the Soft Outcome Review Visits - is now available to download.
Areas of work highlighted by the research
Three areas of work:
- 1: the need for shared understandings of key concepts throughout the programme - this was the focus of the first workshop;
- 2: the need for a common approach or framework to developing systems to capture soft outcomes that can be applied to all kinds of projects - this is the focus of the second workshop and a resulting guide to this approach that is now available to download;
- 3: work to break down the barriers faced to capturing soft outcomes in a funding environment. It is hoped that building the capacity of delivery organisations to report soft outcomes will encourage funding organisations to accept this data and move away from an outputs to an outcomes orientation of programme management.
Pages on this site
The following pages (listed below) contain information about the work that has been completed, and a comprehensive list of links to further resources and documents. They also contain information about the Shared Approach which is culmination of the work on soft outcomes.
If you have any suggestions for these pages or for the process as a whole then please contact Jane Zacharzewski.
Barriers to the Reporting of Soft Outcomes
The short-term nature of funding streams, and the general funding environment presents barriers to soft outcome (or qualitative) data being reported to funders.
Delivery Organisations: Short-term funding streams leave funding recipients desperate to secure funding from whichever sources they can. This can result in an organisation losing focus and delivering projects they do not have expertise in. Expertise in the target group or activity is required for understanding of which indicators demonstrate greatest impact of project work.
Short-term funding streams can also result in a certain lack of interest in the impact that project work actually has. It can take long periods of intervention to make, recognise, and demonstrate impact. By this time projects may already be more interested in securing new sources of funding than demonstrating this work effectively.
The competitive nature of project work means that delivery organisations often fail to build in administrative and evaluative costs into their projects; they are sometimes unable to report data to funders. They are much less likely to negotiate with funders over the kinds of data that represent value for money and impact. Funding organisations can therefore have a lack of confidence in the information that they are presented with for monitoring or other purposes.
Funding organisations: Funding organisations such as the ESF often pay lip-service to soft outcomes, yet accept only quantitative information for monitoring or audit purposes. This gives the impression that soft outcomes are not important to delivery organisations, despite the fact that they usually (at least with hard-to-reach groups) represent maximum impact of project work.
Funders need to accept and encourage delivery organisations to build in administrative and evaluative costs. There should be some level of dialogue over the kinds of data that represent best value for money in terms of project impact.
The often arduous monitoring requirements that many funders have, and the short term nature of funding streams make innovating and experimenting with new forms of impact measurement much less likely. Funders should concentrate on keeping the monitoring information that they require to a minimum. This would allow delivery organisations to report more accurately, and make the reporting of soft outcome data more managable.
Links to Soft Outcome Tools and Resources
An interim list of some of the sources listed below can also be found in the Soft Outcome & Soft Skills Report.
The Outcomes Approach
- Geared towards homelessness related organisations, but applicable to other kinds of organisation too - a practically orientated guide to developing outcome measurement systems: Burns S & Cupitt S – Managing Outcomes: A Guide for Homeless Organisations; Charities Evaluation Service (2003)
- A guide specifically tailored to bidding for money from the Big Lottery Fund, but also useful for considering an outcomes approach before a project has begun and how you may report on outcomes: Burns S & MacKeith J – Explaining the difference your project makes: A BIG guide to using an outcomes approach; Big Lottery Fund (2006)
- This publication describes an outcomes approach from an organisational and infrastructural support perspective:Burns S & Turton D - Distance Travelled: The experience of outcome monitoring within NCVO's Sustainable Funding Project; National Council for Voluntary Organisations (2006)
- Outline of a speech about barriers that funding agencies and funding recipients may face to implementing an outcomes approach: Carrington D – Outcomes Funding: What is it and what are the consequences; Wales Funders Forum (2003)
- Useful briefing paper about why and how an outcomes approach can be implemented within the voluntary and community sector: Charities Evaluation Service – Using an outcomes approach in the voluntary & community sector: A briefing for funders, commissioners and policy makers on the National Outcome Programme (2006)
- A practical guide for development of an 'outcomes approach' to project work; details how to think and work with and towards both hard and soft outcomes: Cuppis S & Ellis J – Your project and its outcomes; Charities Evaluation Service & Big Lottery Fund (2004)
- The Charities Evaluation Service Outcomes Online Website contains more useful resources.
Defining and Measuring Soft Outcomes
- A useful review of the literature: Butcher B & Marsden L - Measuring Soft Outcomes: A Review of the Literature; The Research Centre (2004)
- Oft quoted article with details about measuring distance travelled: Dewson S, Eccles J, Tackey ND & Jackson A – Guide to Measuring Soft Outcomes and Distance Travelled; Institute for Employment Studies (2000)
- An overview document to accompany the Welsh European Funding Office article, about surveys regarding soft outcome measurement tools and systems: Lloyd R & O’Sullivan F - Measuring Soft Outcomes and Distance Travelled: a Methodology for Developing a Guidance Document; DWP (2004)
- Report about soft outcome measurement within the East Wales Objective 3 Programme and the Equal initiative: NIACE Dysgu Cymru – Measuring Soft Outcomes: East-Wales Objective 3 Programme Research Report; (2006)
- Simon Simpson argues for a common standard/definition of "soft skills": Simpson S – The Measurement and Recognition of Soft Skills: Developing a Common Standard; (2006)
- One of the first reports about the development of Soft Outcome reporting systems commissioned by the Welsh European Funding Office: Welsh European Funding Office - A Practical Guide to Measuring Soft Outcomes and Distance Travelled; (2004)
- Welsh analysis of the Measuring Soft Outcomes: NIACE Dysgu Cymru - Measuring Soft Outcomes: Research Report; (2006)
Indicators and Outcomes Tools for Specific Target Groups
- Alcohol misusers: Burns S – Alcohol Outcomes Spire: Scales and Guidance Notes; Alcohol Concern (2005)
- Homelessness: Burns S, Graham K, MacKeith J – The Outcomes Star; The London Housing Federation (2006)
- Young People (Schools) - useful sections on impact: Impact Measurement Pilot Peer Mentoring Report 2005-2006; Mentoring and Befriending Foundation (2006)
- Young People: Kirby P (w. Bryson S) - Measuring the Magic? Evaluating and Researching Young People's Participation in Public Decision Making; Carnegie United Kingdom Trust (2002)
- Adult Learners (with Mental Health Needs): James K & Nightingale C – Self-Esteem, Confidence and Adult Learning; NIACE (2005)
- Adult Learners: Westell T – Measuring Non Academic Outcomes in Adult Literacy Programs: A Literature Review; National Adult Literacy Database (2005)
- Adult Learners: Eldred J, Ward J, Dutton Y - Catching Confidence (Final Report); NIACE (2004)
- Refugees: Robertson V – Fresh Start: From Refugee to Employment; North Glasgow College (2006)
- Young People: Spirit Level CD ROM based Quality of Life Tool; Fairbridge
- Housing/Homelessness: St Mungo's - The Outcomes Measurement Star; St Mungo's
- Communities & Neighbourhoods (Neighbourhood Renewal): Walker P, Lewis J, Lingayah S & Sommer F – Prove It! Measuring the effect of neighbourhood renewal on local people; New Economics Foundation (2000)
- Communities & Neighbourhoods (Quality of Life Indicators): Higginson S, Sommer F, Terry A - Using Quality of Life Indicators in Local Governance; New Economics Foundation (2003)
Non-Target Specific Frameworks and Tools
- A comprehensive evaluation guide, but very much applicable to soft outcomes in many sections: The Evaluation Toolkit; Befriending Network (Scotland) (2007)
- Short report about the development of the Soft Outcome Universal Learning tool that has been developed for multiple target groups and is being rolled out through a series of workshops: Anderson C, Foster H & McKibben J – The SOUL Record: A New Tool for Measuring Soft Outcomes; The Research Centre (2006)
- A report about the development of a soft skills measurement tool for employment projects in Hackey; it took a multi agency research route towards the development of this tool: Balgobin E, Hutton C, Rees G, Weinstock W – Unqualified Success: A Report on the Development of a Soft Skills Measurement Tool for Employment Projects; Hackney Strategic Partnership (2004)
- The full, 116 page report on development of the Soft Outcome Universal Learning tool that has been developed for multiple target groups and is being rolled out through a series of workshops: Butcher B & Marsden L – Soft Outcomes Universal Learning; The Research Centre (2005)
- Website about a hands-on assessment and evaluation tool, the Rickter Scale: The Rickter Scale
Please email any further links that may be relevant or of interest to the Jane Zacharzewski.
Soft Outcomes: A Shared Approach
Soft Outcomes: A Shared Approach is a guide to help projects capture soft outcomes, and demonstrate them to funders with confidence. It is a result of research work within the programme that can be downloaded here.
Two versions of the Shared Approach are available plus a resources pack developed by Jim Simpson to accompany the eight steps of the Shared Approach.
The full version features colour photographs and text boxes throughout; it is suitable for colour printers. The Accessible version is almost identical in content, but prints on black and white printers and should be more suitable for those with accessibility needs.
Please note that you will need Adobe Acrobat to download the publications and resources on this page.
- Soft Outcomes: A Shared Approach - Full Version
- Soft Outcomes: A Shared Approach - Accessible Version
- Managing Soft Outcomes - A Resource Package to Assist Organisations to Develop an Evidence Based Approach to Managing Outcomes
The InDesign source material is available upon request under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence.
Copies of the guide have also been printed in full colour - please contact Equal Admin if you would like to be posted copies.
Soft Skills and Outcomes Workshop
A workshop titled Soft Skills and Outcomes in and Beyond Equal Brighton and Hove - An interactive workshop took place on the 27th September 2006 at the Jubilee Library.
The aim of this event was to create a common set of working definitions and understandings. The eventual aim of this work is that development of skills and practices facilitated by EBH will last beyond the end of the programme and increase the capacity of partner organisations to deliver effectively and acquire funding.
Those taking part included:
- Simon Simpson (Simon Simpson Consulting) who spoke about a common standard for soft skills
- Harriet Cookson (Broadway London) who spoke about development of the ICAN package
- Marc Wood (Friends Centre, Brighton) who spoke about his work taking up the ICAN package on a local level
We received substantial feedback at the end of the workshop, which is helping us develop work based upon the stated needs of partner organisations.
Please find available for download the full workshop pack. Please note that the report distributed at the event has been updated and removed from this page. Aspects of this report are available in the three papers that are being produced.
Research: Steering Group
The Action 3 Steering Group was set up to provide strategic direction to the Action 3 phase of the Equal Brighton & Hove programme. The role of the Steering Group was to oversee the research programme; advise on progress and emerging recommendations; and oversee the development and implementation of a dissemination and mainstreaming strategy to ensure a co-ordinated approach and to maximise contribution from key stakeholders.
The group also had a critical role in ensuring service user involvement at all stages of research and dissemination, and to ensure that equality and empowerment principles were adhered to by all involved in the Action 3 phase of the programme.
The Group’s membership was drawn from the City Council, the Institute of Employment Studies, Sussex Learning and Skills Council, NIACE and representatives from local projects including Employer Engagement, Working Together and Impact Initiatives.
Meetings
The Steering Group met on:
7th September 2006
2nd November 2006
18th January 2007
19th April 2007
2nd October 2007
3rd December 2007
Minutes are available for download below.
Terms of Reference
The role of the Action 3 Steering Group is to oversee the work programme of the final phase (Action 3) of the Equal Brighton & Hove Programme. Members of the Steering Group will provide advice, guidance, and assistance with the research, dissemination and mainstreaming of EBH work on exclusion and discrimination in the labour market, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
The chair of the Steering Group will report directly to the EBH Management Partnership, which has overall responsibility for the Equal Brighton & Hove Programme.
Terms of reference of the Steering Group
• To provide strategic direction to the Action 3 phase of the Equal Brighton & Hove programme.
• To monitor progress of the Action 3 work programme, ensuring targets are agreed and met, and to advise and help implement any actions necessary.
• To receive quarterly reports from the Action 3 Project Manager on the progress of the Action 3 work plan, and to ensure any working groups that may be necessary are established to progress the programme (this will be reviewed regularly in consultation with EMP).
• To oversee the development and implementation of the Action 3 research, ensuring that mechanisms are in place to provide support and guidance for researchers so that an ethical and consistent approach is adopted, and to advise on progress and emerging recommendations.
• To oversee the development and implementation of the dissemination and mainstreaming strategy for Action 3, to ensure a co-ordinated approach and to maximise contribution from key stakeholders.
• To ensure beneficiary involvement is maximised at all stages of research and dissemination.
• To ensure EBH equalities and empowerment policies are adhered to by all involved in Action 3 phase of the programme.
• To provide regular reports via the Steering Group Chair to the Equal Brighton & Hove Management Partnership meetings.
Chair of the Steering Group
The Steering Group will be chaired by Director of CCE, Pam Coare.
Steering Group meeting schedule
The Steering Group will meet quarterly.
Steering Group membership
Pam Coare (Chair), Director, CCE
Mike Boice, Director of Research, CCE
Terry Roy, EBH Programme Manager, BHCC
Bruce Nairne, Head of Research, BHCC
Maggie Squire, Head of Equalities and Performance, BHCC
Paul Bramwell, Working Together Project
Claire Mitchell, Business Community Partnership
Judith Cousins, Impact Initiatives
Jim Hillage, Institute of Employment Studies
Virman Man, Senior Publications Officer, NIACE
Val Koffman, Director, Skills, Sussex LSC
In attendance
Andrew Church, Action 3 lead for UoB