Projects

This project has been funded by the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington and is part of the Mercers’ Company Early Years special initiative. It is evaluating a 10-week intervention to upskill Early Years practitioners with the confidence, knowledge & skills to help parents encourage the foundations of STEM through everyday activities and interactions, and to support STEM skills in their settings. The project is being delivered by Peeple in collaboration with the University of Oxford and Sheringham nursery. The project is taking place from April 2021 to March 2024 and the evaluation will be using theory of change development, interviews, observations and outcome data analysis.

The Skills Accelerator, incorporating Local Skills Improvement Plans trailblazers and a pilot £65m Strategic Development Fund (SDF) was announced in the Skills White Paper. Within varied contexts, the SDF pilot will provide capital and programme grant funding to build capacity and explore how education providers can work together most effectively, with employers and other partners, to respond to local skills and innovation priorities. This project will provide early evidence on successful SDF applicants’ collaboration and how they begin to make use of funding. IES will undertake 35 in-depth interviews with successful applicants and relevant partners/stakeholders to inform the Spending Review.

IES is undertaking research for Central London Forward to establish a definition of ‘green jobs’ and ‘green skills’ based on best practice that works in a central London context, and will analyse current and future needs for green jobs and skills in central London using the agreed definitions. IES is leading on the analysis of green skills, and will engage with local FE and HE providers in central London to understand current provision, any barriers to offering green qualifications, and priorities for future green skills provision.

The question Timewise would like to answer is ‘to what extent have part time workers been disproportionately negatively impacted by covid?’ We will use two-quarter longitudinal Labour Force Survey data to explain the impact of covid on part time workers and those who work in a more flexible manner, compared to full time workers. This data source looks at flows from one quarter to the next. The analysis will be similar in manner to the longitudinal LFS analysis IES undertook in December on the impacts of coronavirus on the labour market. We will benchmark to 2019 quarters to assess the difference between usual seasonal trends and the effect of the pandemic.

In partnership with Ipsos Mori, IES is evaluating the extended and more flexible government Traineeships programme. The surge in youth unemployment makes Traineeships a key pre-employment pathway for young people and the new flexibilities are intended to encourage employers to provide high quality opportunities and secure employment for young people as the economy recovers. The process evaluation includes interviews with training providers, employers and trainees, and the use of digital ethnography.

Following development of new organisation values the Home Office is seeking support to understand how best to ensure the values become the ‘lived experience’ of leaders, line managers and staff at all levels. IES are supporting the Home Office with this research project by undertaking a review of external, publicly available data and conducting interviews with examplar organisations to create a view of best practice approaches to embedding values in organisations.

IES is carrying out an independent evaluation of the delivery of two professional development programmes for mentors in 2020/21 academic year. Through analysis of MI, interviews, surveys, and case studies with mentors, mentees and other stakeholders IES will explore the effectiveness and impact of the training. The evaluation will make use of Kirkpatrick and COM-B to understand the findings

An evidence review to understand the elevated risks that people living with obesity have for experiencing anxiety, depression, stigma, and social inequalities – which can all have implications for their work, productivity and success in the labour market. The research will consist of en evidence review to update the report written last year, and to highlight the case for why research into the role employment has for those living with obesity is important.

A return to work guide following the Covid-19 lockdowns to ensure that people living with obesity who have a greater vulnerability to more negative outcomes from Covid-19 are provided with a safe and stigma free return to the workplace

A survey and associated report to determine the level of stigma and discrimination that employees living with obesity experience in the UK.