How two colleges in the North West reversed the trend
27th July 2023
Unifrog colleges are creating more opportunities for disadvantaged students than ever before.
The story
For the first time ever, Unifrog colleges in the North West of England are reversing the shortlisting gap. The shortlisting gap is the difference between the proportion of destination shortlists created by students from disadvantaged backgrounds (students in Index of Multiple Deprivation deciles 1-3) and the rest of their cohort.
Our schools and colleges have worked hard to eliminate the gap by attending our training sessions, strategy meetings, webinars, and conferences, and implementing new ways of working to better support their disadvantaged students to reach for the sky.
And two of our colleges in the North West have done just that. Ashton Sixth Form College and Oldham Sixth Form College in Greater Manchester have not only eliminated the gap, but they’ve actually reversed it with their disadvantaged students making more shortlists than their peers for the first time ever!
The journey
Unifrog has a dedicated team who work with schools and colleges to help them achieve their destinations goals—a series of personalised aims and outcomes for using the platform that span everything from reducing their potentially NEET students to tracking every aspect of their careers programmes. Since September 2021, the team has strived to reduce or eliminate the shortlisting gap in every school or college, working with teachers and careers advisers to find the best way to do this in each school.
Why? Because shortlisting opportunities is the clearest way for students to find their best next steps: it allows them to curate specific opportunities that are most relevant to them after comparing all their options, giving them a direct pathway to the destination that’s right for them.
In March 2022, at our Future Focus Conference, North West Area Manager Jake Gill focused on the impact of reducing the shortlisting gap. He followed this up in May with a targeted CPD session, where local colleges, the Unifrog team, and Merseyside Uni Connect shared best practice, gave advice for building a whole-college careers plan, and learned top tips to use the platform.
The strategy
At Oldham Sixth Form College, Careers and Employability Manager Kevin Reece has made using Unifrog simple by embedding it into their existing Futures Programme.
A useful way for Kevin and his team to do this has been through their progression planner. Every student receives a Unifrog login at the beginning of Year 12, and receives their own digital planner that guides them through planning their next steps. It works alongside planned careers tutorials and has tips on how to use Unifrog to make informed decisions and move forward with each stage of their plans.
OSFC’s biggest challenge has been getting subject tutors using the platform, a challenge Kevin has started to tackle by showing them the vast array of super curricular materials on Unifrog's MOOCS tool and Read, Watch, Listen tool. He’s also encouraged them to record any careers- or future-related activities and trips on the platform using the Interactions tool which has helped them evidence their hard work and work towards meeting Gatsby Benchmark 4.
At Ashton Sixth Form College, Director of Engagement and Achievement Vicky Clough and her team have overcome the gap by getting all Year 12 students to make shortlists as part of their tutorials.
Eliminate the shortlisting gap in your school starting today: contact your Area Manager to put together a personalised strategy to get your disadvantaged students where they want to be. Contact us on info@unifrog.org now.