Last year the Office for Students (OfS) called for higher education providers (HEPs) to do more to raise the academic attainment of school students through widening participation (WP) activities. Evidence shows that academic achievement is the most important predictor of university progression (Crawford, 2014). Yet there are persistent equality gaps in GCSE and A-level attainment.

In response to this announcement we published a working draft of an evidence review and typology of attainment-raising interventions, assessing the strengths and limitations of the evidence base. The report found that few attainment-raising interventions currently set out how they are expected to facilitate improvements in attainment. We therefore recommend that HEPs develop Theories of Change for any planned attainment-raising activities.

What have we done?

To further our work in this area we appointed six higher education providers to develop Theories of Change for attainment-raising activities aimed at school and college students.

The following HEPs were chosen to work with independent evaluator Ipsos to develop Theories of Change to be shared with the sector:

  • Aston University
  • University of Chester
  • University of Greenwich
  • University of Kent
  • King’s College London (KCL)
  • London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Ipsos and partners developed Theories of Change covering the activities identified in the TASO review based on the work of Anthony (2019):

  • Aspiration-raising activities (Aston University)
  • Teaching of the national curriculum (KCL, University of Chester)
  • School Governance (LSE)
  • Activities to develop study/soft skills (University of Kent, University of Greenwich, Aston University)

You can access the Theories of Change below.

Access Theories of Change for attainment-raising initiatives.

If you would like to find out more or have any questions around this project, please get in touch with us at research@taso.org.uk.