Work-Based Learning, SRE and Sexual
Health Project
Project Number 468
Project Title Work-Based Learning, SRE and
Sexual Health Project
Staff/unit Lucy Emmerson, Sex Education
Forum with input from Research, Evidence & Evaluation
Dept
Duration April 2009 - March 2011
Funded by DCSF –Children, Young People and
Families Grants Programme
Key aims
To improve young people's access
to sexual health services and sex and relationships education (SRE)
in Work-Based Learning (WBL) providers.
Young people attending Work-Based
Learning
Work-Based Learning providers offer training
courses linked to work placements for young people who tend to have
low attainment at age 16 and have not engaged with mainstream
further education. They provide short, flexible courses, typically
in small groups and often closely supervised by a personal tutor.
The WBL setting presents an opportunity to engage with vulnerable
young people as learners and promote their access to services.
Evidence shows that young people with low
attainment and negative experiences of school are at high risk of
teenage conception and poor sexual health outcomes. This innovative
project engages with these disadvantaged and hard-to-reach young
people by enhancing the role of WBL providers in supporting their
health well-being.
Base-line data
The
project will start by collecting base-line information about
current activity in relation to WBL and sexual health services/SRE
in a sample of nine local authorities in England. Together with
findings from focus groups with young people this will build
knowledge about the needs of young people attending WBL and enable
change over the course of the project to be measured. The
development of the project will be steered by a project advisory
group.
Identifying and sharing good
practice
Examples of good practice where WBL
providers are offering SRE and access to sexual health services for
young people will be documented and shared in the form of
case-studies and a briefing document. In the second year of the
project a series of regional networking events will be held to
enable local health professionals and WBL providers to share good
practice and build partnerships. The impact of the project will be
assessed by repeating data collection from the sample used at the
start of the project and identifying progress two years on.
The project will demonstrate the role that WBL can play in
addressing inequality in access to sexual health services and the
benefits of including SRE as part of WBL programmes. By
sharing good practice and enabling networking the project will
foster new partnerships across the PCT and local authority
demonstrating how to work effectively with this neglected section
of the FE sector.
Values framework
This project supports the
following issues from the NCB aims and
organisational principles:
To encourage positive and
supportive family, and other, environments.