Projects

Conducting a mixed methods evaluation of Apps for Good’s App for Social Action course. Aims are to develop and refine Apps for Good’s theory of change and approach to monitoring and data collection, to support Apps for Good to move beyond the measurement of short-term outcomes to measuring long-term outcomes, and to provide independent, formative feedback to feed in learning for ongoing improvement of the App for Social Action course.

IES with Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI) and Monash University are leading evidence syntheses for Youth Futures to feed into the development of a second edition of the Youth Employment Toolkit. The Toolkit will continue to support practitioners, employers and policy makers to apply high-quality evidence on what works to improve employment outcomes, especially for marginalised youth. This edition of the Toolkit will include findings from four interventions that were not included previously as well as any additional findings from interventions included previously (if new evidence has become available). Research will initially involve a scoping phase in which topics for this edition of the Toolkit will be agreed upon and any fine-tuning of the accompanying network meta-analysis will be described. Following the scoping phase, research will include a review of the literature as well as the completion of a protocol and technical report.

Qualitative research with young people and employers to develop an intervention pathway for employers to support healthy lifestyles in the workplace. Industries of focus will be: leisure and food, health and social care, education, and construction.

This study considered the feasibility of trialling a new self-employment support intervention with young people not in employment, education or training (NEET). The rationale was that self-employment might provide a meaningful way forward for young people who otherwise might struggle to find work for a range of reasons including low qualifications, lack of experience, discrimination, caring responsibilities, poor health and weak local labour market. An underlying premise was that self-employment might provide the flexibility required to accommodate these characteristics and constraints. Working with Professor Richard Dorsett and colleagues at the University of Westminster, the team completed extensive data analysis, a targeted literature review and a series of consultations involving self-employment support providers and young people. From this, a new comprehensive model for self-employment support was designed suitable for young people NEET in a range of contexts. Alongside this, a trial protocol was developed which describes how this intervention can be tested through a randomised controlled trial.

CITB wishes to continue to build on its portfolio of research activity into careers in construction and to expand this to be as all-encompassing as possible (considering the whole journey into a career in construction). This phase of the research will have two objectives: to continue to collect key performance indicators (KPIs) from parents and young people and feedback from career guidance professionals to enable CITB to monitor and evaluate their careers activities; and conduct exploratory research with four new audience groups (early years, primary school aged children, vocational students, economically inactive) to gain a better understanding of alternative sources of labour to engage with and recruit from.

We are conducting a survey of the veterinary profession to understand the experiences of vet surgeons and vet nurses.

Survey of barristers about their working lives, looking at wellbeing and work-life balance, working hours and patterns, bullying and discrimination, and specific legal system issues such as remote hearings.

Survey of barristers about their working lives, looking at wellbeing and work-life balance, working hours and patterns, bullying and discrimination, and specific legal system issues such as remote hearings.

We will work with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), in partnership with iCeGS, to develop an All Age Careers Blueprint for West Yorkshire. This will provide strategic direction for the combined authority for careers, education and skills, and enable them to be ready for further devolution.

The New Plan for Immigration set out the Government's intentions to strengthen the asylum system migration system with clear eligibility and routes to the UK. The Nationality and Borders Act UK provides the legislative framework for the NPI. As part of the NPI an Enhanced Integration Programme was announced and this is delivered through the Refugee Employability Programme, which aims to provide employment and language support to refugees to improve their chances in the UK labour market. In partnership with Ipsos, Rand and Renaisi, IES is providing expert advice to this important programme.