ELATT’s learner support: process study

ELATT is a charitable training provider with two main areas of provision – adult learning and sixth form. The adult learning comprises English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision in the community across London and online, as well as online delivery of IT vocational and technical qualifications to people aged 19 and over. Sixth form provision is delivered at ELATT’s centre in Haggerston, Hackney, East London. It offers personalised, flexible learning for young people with additional and special educational needs (SEND). The sixth form offer includes IT vocational and technical qualifications, and ESOL provision for people aged 16–19, often asylum seekers, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) and refugees.

ELATT received a grant from Youth Futures Foundation to provide wrap-around learner support to learners aged 16–24 in 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023, with the evaluation by IES spanning this period through to mid-2024.

The overall aims for this evaluation were to:

• Understand the programme theory of the ELATT learner support model (the logic of why the programme was expected to work) and provide an outline of the underlying mechanisms/drivers of change.
• Support ELATT to understand their theory of change and how to evidence the pathways/outcomes in consistent data.
• Capture a rich understanding of participant experiences and views of the support model.
• Support ELATT to know which elements of delivery work most effectively, and to refine practice to support further achievement  of education, employment and training (EET)outcomes.
• Provide recommendations and a plan for further evaluation.

A feasibility study was conducted to understand the feasibility of evaluating ELATT’s model using an impact evaluation. These findings are summarised in this report.

This report adds to the existing evidence of what works to support young people with special educational needs and disabilities in relation to the positive educational outcomes that can be achieved through positive relationships, personalised support with early assessment of needs, and work experience. This evaluation also highlights other positive aspects of ELATT’s provision which helped reduce educational anxiety and increase educational engagement for some learners with special educational needs. This includes having a small learning environment/class size, offering a wide range of support ‘in-house’ and having a flexible approach to learning and attendance.