Process Evaluation of Birmingham and Tees Valley Area Reviews icon

Process Evaluation of Birmingham and Tees Valley Area Reviews

The further education (FE) and skills sector is critical to the Government’s strategy to raise productivity and economic growth. To ensure the workforce has the required skills local areas through a programme of Area Reviews are examining their further education infrastructure to make sure it is of high quality and financially sustainable. CFE has been commissioned by DfE to conduct an evaluation of the Area Review process as experienced by Birmingham & Solihull and Tees Valley, both of which were in the first wave of the programme.

CFE is employing a stakeholder perception survey and follow up depth interviews with members of the steering groups for both Area Reviews to provide a comparative analysis. CFE will identify the strengths and weaknesses of the process, including the suitability of the framework and structure for the reviews and collaborative working, and identify areas for improvement.

The evaluation will make recommendations to inform the remainder of the Area Reviews, which are taking place up until spring 2017, to ensure that the reform objectives for post-16 education and training are achieved.

John Higton image

Key project contact

John Higton

John has a strong policy research and evaluation record in workplace training, apprenticeships, further and higher education, business productivity and employer regulation and compliance.

With a keen interest in the application of quantitative and qualitative methods, he is experienced in designing and directing mixed-method, longitudinal evaluations and leads a number of CFE’s studies including the Employer Ownership Pilot, the Impact of Apprenticeship Reform and the Evaluation of the Sheffield Skills Bank.