Preparing for success: understanding the impact of Y032 on WELS students

<div>The project team intend to identify specific impacts of Y032 <em>People, work and society</em> Access module on the subsequent success of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who progress through WELS qualifications.</div> <p><br></p> <p>Currently presented three times per year, Y032 is a 30-week Level 0 Access module registering, since 2013, around 25K students. It is a voluntary preparatory module attracting the highest proportion of students with backgrounds associated with Widening Participation characteristics in the OU, particularly those with low prior entry qualifications and with low socio-economic status (IMD quintile 1). Successful Y032 students have progressed onto a range of WELS modules including in ECYS: E109; E100; E102; E119; E103; E117; K102; in HSWC: K113; K118. (Students from Y031, which contains some languages content, have progressed in smaller numbers to LAL UG modules including: LXT191; L185; L101; L161; LB170). </p> <p><br></p> <p>Scholarship has previously been undertaken on the impact of the STEM Access module (Y033) on learners progressing to S111 (Butcher et al, 2020, 2018, 2017) and on the impact of the Arts and languages Access module on learners progressing to A111 (Butcher & Clarke, 2022, 2021). As Y032 has by far the highest student numbers, and is presented for the last time in 23E, we are keen to understand the elements of Y032 which contribute most to progression and subsequent success. </p> <p>We will explore perceptions and experiences of past Y032 students through their reflections on the impact of the Access module on their learning journey through WELS qualifications. We intend to align/validate those perspectives with perceptions of Y032 tutors experienced in teaching WELS modules at Levels 1, 2 & 3. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Findings will inform current University priorities around student outcomes and Principle 4 in the Teaching and Learning Plan, as well as providing insights to help WELS recruit more students from disadvantaged backgrounds into Level 1. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Externally, the OfS are exerting pressure on the OU with a heightened focus on student outcomes, especially in relation to attrition/withdrawal, continuation and success on qualifications. Strategically, recent WELS PQR action plans have focused on retention so findings from this proposal will be highly relevant to UG qualifications in ECYS, HSCW and, to a lesser extent LAL. At a Programme level, the recent Access PQR identified scholarship as a strength in developing Level 0 modules and recommended we disseminate our findings more thoroughly around the University to enhance the learning of students from disadvantaged backgrounds at Level 1 and beyond.  </p> <p><br></p> <p>Y032 attracts the ‘most-disadvantaged’ cohort of learners across the Access Programme, and a significantly more disadvantaged cohort than WELS UG qualifications. This scholarship proposal is designed to align with Institutional (Student Outcomes/B3), Faculty (retention, progression and success), Programme (Progression and success) and nations (funded Y032 projects in Ireland and Wales with the most disadvantaged learners) contexts and is positioned to provide insights and better understanding of successful student journeys into WELS. </p>