Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority Purlos Adult Education Budget (AEB) Impact Report 2020 – 2022

Contents

Date of Publication: 19th January 2024
Contact: ask@purlos.com
Address: Purlos, 20 Wenlock Road, Hoxton, N1 7GU

I am the Chief Executive Officer of Purlos and am delighted to introduce our Impact Report for our partnership with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) over the last three years.

This impact report highlights the transformative impact of our partnership with the CPCA. By leveraging Purlos Destinations, they have been able to achieve significant improvements in data accuracy, efficiency, and the overall student experience.

Specifically, we have:

● Improved the Efficiency of Data Collection: We have streamlined the process of gathering student destination data, significantly reducing the time and effort required.

● Enhanced Data Accuracy: Our multifaceted communication channels, robust metadata integration, and proven quested set have ensured the highest level of data accuracy.

● Real-Time Insights Through User-Centric Dashboards: We have created user-friendly dashboards that deliver real-time insights, enabling informed decision-making at both the institutional and authority levels.

● Seamless Information Flow: We have facilitated a seamless flow of information between the CPCA and 10 of the Further Education Colleges in its district.

● Benchmarking Against National Standards: We have empowered the CPCA to benchmark its performance against national and regional standards, identifying areas for improvement.

● Valuable Student Feedback: We have gathered valuable feedback from students through the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and student comments, providing actionable insights for enhancing student experience and course offerings.

This report aims to celebrate our key achievements in our three-year partnership, set the course for future years, and provide a useful resource for other Combined Authorities considering using Purlos Destinations. Purlos’ commitment to data-driven decision-making has translated into tangible improvements for students, educational institutions, and the wider community across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

We are proud to have played a role in the CPCA’s journey and look forward to continuing our partnership in supporting their efforts to improve student success.

David Bartlett

Section 2: Introduction & Context

Figure 1: A summary of student destinations tracking by Purlos in Cambridgeshire and
Peterborough between 2020/21 – 2021/22

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) is a combined authority covering Cambridgeshire in the East of England, responsible for overseeing multiple colleges within its jurisdiction. The CPCA partnered with Purlos to track  the student destinations of adult learners for 10 of its further education institutions. This included the Eastern Colleges Group, The Bedford College Group, Inspire Education Group, North Hertfordshire College, and the College of West Anglia.

1: College of West Anglia
2: Stamford College (Inspire Education Group)
3: Peterborough College (Inspire Education Group)
4: Tresham College (Bedford College Group)
5: West Suffolk College (Eastern Colleges Group)
6: The Bedford Sixth Form (Bedford College Group)
7: Bedford College (Bedford College Group)
8: National College for Motorsport (Bedford College Group)
9: Shuttleworth College (Bedford College Group)
10: North Hertfordshire College

Figure 2: Map and table of the Further Education Colleges Purlos captures student
destinations for in the CPCA district

The CPCA faced significant challenges in collecting consistent and accurate data on student destinations. Their previous approach involved time-consuming phone-based surveys, which  not only strained college staff but also hindered their ability to make data-driven decisions. Furthermore, they sought a more efficient way to facilitate information exchange between the local authority and the education providers.

What is destinations data?

Destinations data refers to information captured regarding students’ post-college plans, whether they are proposed or actual. This includes details such as the institutions they plan to attend, the courses they intend to pursue, and their prospective employers.

Student destinations data is not merely a compliance requirement; it holds immense value for improving student outcomes and course effectiveness. By tracking where students go after they leave college, you gain insights into the effectiveness of courses, identify trends that impact student success, and make data-driven decisions to enhance your offerings.

Education providers collect information on students’ intended destinations and share it with local authorities, allowing them to fulfil their requirement of securing education or training placements for students post-Key Stage 4. This is then documented on the National Client Caseload Information System (NCCIS) for both the Department for Education and local authorities.

Destination data provides a clear picture of the effectiveness of courses, allowing institutions to allocate resources strategically and demonstrate value for the investment made in student education.

The timeliness of this information is a key advantage, particularly when it includes not only intended destinations but also actual destinations.

The benefit of engaging with destinations data before a student leaves an institution is that you are still able to provide guidance based on their choices, ensuring they are making informed decisions. Destination data allows us to provide personalised guidance before students leave their institution, ensuring they are making informed decisions that align with their aspirations.

By capturing both intended and actual destinations, we gain real-time insights into student outcomes, enabling data-driven decisions that shape course offerings and improve student success.

Challenges

The CPCA faced a complex challenge: collecting and managing data related to student destinations efficiently and cost-effectively.

The existing phone-based approach of the individual colleges was labour-intensive, time-consuming, and resource-draining. This method was not only inefficient but also limited the accuracy of the data collected.

They needed a solution that would automate data collection, reduce costs, and provide valuable insights to enhance their decision-making.

The CPCA’s biggest challenges:

1. Lack of a consistent approach to gathering destinations data
2. Ineffective spending of budgets
3. Time-consuming, phone-based data collection
4. Limited oversight of learner progression, budget effectiveness, and curriculum quality

The CPCA’s main objective was to collaborate with colleges to create a seamless flow of information regarding student destinations.

The decision to partner with Purlos was motivated by the need for a more efficient, cost-effective, and streamlined solution to address these challenges.

Section 3: Purlos’ Approach to Destinations Tracking

Communication Channels

Purlos uses a multi-faceted approach to effectively track student destinations, recognising the diverse preferences and communication habits of stakeholders involved.

The primary communication channel, WhatsApp, is an interactive and real-time platform, enabling seamless communication between Purlos and the educational institutions within the CPCA. WhatsApp facilitates instant updates, ensuring timely and accurate data collection.

While WhatsApp is our primary means of engagement, Purlos understands the importance of flexibility. If a student proves unreachable through WhatsApp, we pivot to a secondary layer of communication, including SMS and email as well as phone outreach as an additional service. This ensures that, even in cases where the preferred channels are ineffective, we can maintain a personalised and interactive connection to gather essential information.

By combining these communication channels strategically, we have created a robust system that is both efficient and sensitive to the diverse needs and preferences of students and educational institutions within the CPCA.

Question Set

In our onboarding process with each of the further education institutions, we created a question set to be sent to the learners.

Our proven script aims to:
● Maximise the total number of responses
● Reduce the amount of work for the college
● Obtain information linking to a positive or negative outcome

Figure 3: Question set sent to student

Dashboards

Purlos introduced a dynamic and user-centric dashboard system tailored to meet the diverse needs of the CPCA. These dashboards serve as powerful tools, offering real-time insights and data accessibility to enhance decision-making processes.

1. Individual Dashboards

This dashboard provides the individual education providers within the CPCA with live destination data. These dashboards are designed for ease of use, offering a snapshot of key metrics related to student destinations. Stakeholders at each institution can seamlessly extract detailed information directly from the dashboard, ensuring a user-friendly experience and promoting timely decision-making.

“Purlos has given us an insight into the destinations of our learners. It has also helped to track and compare their intended destinations with what they are doing six months later. It has also helped us to identify ex learners who require support and put this in place.”
— Charlotte Geileskey, Junior Careers Leader, West Suffolk College 

2. Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority Dashboard

The CPCA Dashboard consolidates data from the 10 education providers, presenting a comprehensive view for the authority.

This centralised platform allows the CPCA to filter information based on various parameters such as course, funding type, or provider. This feature enhances the authority’s ability to analyse trends, identify patterns, and make informed decisions.

3. Benchmarking Dashboard

The Benchmarking Dashboard offers a macro-level view, enabling a national and regional comparative analysis in which the CPCA can gauge the effectiveness of their initiatives in a broader context.

This dashboard provides insights into the average percentage of destinations captured across the country, Net Promoter Scores by region, and total destination codes and outcomes nationwide.

Figure 4: Benchmark Destinations Dashboard

These dashboards collectively form a robust data ecosystem, enabling the CPCA to navigate the complexities of student destination tracking efficiently. The integration of user-friendly interfaces, real-time data updates, and comprehensive filtering options reflects Purlos’ commitment to empowering the CPCA with the tools necessary for strategic and data-driven decision-making.

Section 4: Results

“Purlos were able to help increase our data for s tudentdestinations and managed to gather more data than we had previously been able to.”
— Jamie Hinckley, Centre Manager, Bedford College 

This section analyses the impact of Purlos on student destination capture rates across Further Education Colleges in the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority district. We focus on externally progressed destinations captured by Purlos of hard to reach students, largely excluding internally progressed data managed by the colleges themselves.

In 2022, Purlos achieved an overall capture rate of 82%, as well as demonstrating remarkable performance across individual colleges. This increased significantly when we combined it with our existing known destinations.

Here’s a breakdown of the capture rates for each college in 2021 and 2022:

Figure 5: Table of Destinations Captured by College (Autumn 2021 & 2022)
*Purlos only worked with 3 Colleges on Adult Destinations in 2021.

As evident from the table, the capture rate across colleges ranges from a high of 94% for Shuttleworth College to a low of 65% for North Hertfordshire College. The overall capture rate of 77% across the two years indicates that the Purlos platform has been effective in capturing student destination information across a diverse range of colleges.

It is important to note that some colleges did not provide internally progressed data. This means that the true capture rate for these colleges is likely to be higher. It is also important to note that some of the contact details provided to Purlos were incorrect, resulting in failed attempts to reach these individuals.

Despite these challenges, the overall performance of Purlos Destinations has been outstanding. The platform’s ability to achieve capture rates of over 90% for several colleges, compared to the industry average of 60% for students not internally progressed, demonstrates its versatility and effectiveness across different institutional settings.

Total Captured Destinations

The implementation of Purlos in 2021 has yielded remarkable results in tracking student destinations, achieving an average of 71% in the first year and improving by a further 11% for the 2022 Autumn cohort. The platform has consistently demonstrated its effectiveness in capturing student destination information, reaching a notable capture rate of 82%. This exceptional achievement showcases the platform’s ability to efficiently and effectively engage with students, ensuring comprehensive data collection.

Positive Destinations

Figure 6: Combined Positive Destinations of the 10 Colleges (2020/21 on the left, 2021/22 on the right)

In addition to its impressive capture rate, the Purlos platform has also been able to showcase the exceptional outcomes in terms of positive destinations. A staggering average of 80% captured destinations indicated positive post-college outcomes, such as pursuing further education, entering employment, or starting their own businesses. This positive trend reflects the effectiveness of the platform in accurately tracking student success stories.

Average Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Figure 7: Combined Average Net Promoter Score (NPS) of the 10 Colleges (2020/21 on the left, 2021/22 on the right)

The CPCA’s implementation of Purlos has provided valuable insights into student satisfaction, with an exceptional average Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 8.2 across the two year period, surpassing the national average of 8.1. This outstanding NPS score is a testament to the positive experiences students have had at their respective institutions, reflecting the platform’s ability to accurately capture their feedback.

Multi-Channel Approach

Figure 8: Graphs Showing Total Learners, Response Rate, and Read Rate Across All Colleges (2021/22

The multi-channel approach has been instrumental in capturing such a high percentage of student destinations, allowing for seamless communication with students across various platforms.

● WhatsApp emerged as the most preferred channel, with an 99% delivery rate and an 87% response rate in 2022.
○ This preference reflects the accessibility and user-friendliness of WhatsApp, enabling the platform to reach a wide range of students.

● Multi-channel approach ensures students have multiple options for providing their destination information, maximising the platform’s reach and effectiveness.

Section 5: Key Achievements

Figure 9: 2021/22 Key Achievements

Purlos has demonstrably improved student destination capture rates for Further Education Colleges in the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority district. The overall capture rate increased from 71% in 2021 to 82% in 2022.

Figure 10: 2021 – 2022 Total Captured Destinations

Impact of Purlos on Destination Capture Rates:

• Increased Destination Capture Rates: In 2021/22, Purlos captured 82% of destinations across the target colleges.

• Overall Improvement: The average capture rate across all colleges increased from 71% in 2020/21 to 82% in 2021/22, demonstrating a sustained positive impact of Purlos’ services.

• Individual College Performance: All colleges displayed a positive trend, with Shuttleworth College achieving the highest rate at 94.28%.

• Data Completeness: While some internal progression data is missing, the high capture rate indicates improved tracking of student outcomes.

• High Level of Engagement: Purlos achieved a 99% delivery rate and 86% response rate for the most recent destination campaigns.

Additional Positive Outcomes:

• High Positive Destinations Rate: 78% of captured destinations reported positive post-college outcomes, exceeding expectations.

• Exceptional NPS Score: An average NPS of 8.4 in 2022 surpasses the national average and reflects student satisfaction.

• Effective Multi-Channel Approach: WhatsApp, phone, and SMS communication were combined to reach a diverse student population.

Comparison to Pre-Purlos Period:

“Purlos were able to help increase our data for student destinations and managed to gather more data than we had previously been able to.”
— Jamie Hinckley, Centre Manager, Bedford College 

● Improved Data Accuracy: Enhanced destination tracking allows for more informed analysis of local authority-level outcomes.

“Purlos has more than exceeded our expectations in terms of data that we are able to compare, analyse and use in future planning.”
— Charlotte Geileskey, Junior Careers Leader, West Suffolk College 

Overall, Purlos has demonstrably improved student destination capture rates, contributed to positive outcomes, and fostered data accuracy for better policy and resource allocation.

Key Achievements:

● 82% capture rate across the 10 colleges.
● 78% positive destinations rate.
● NPS of 8.4 exceeding the national average.
● Reduction in “Activity Not Captured” category.
● 2,876 destinations captured in total.

These results showcase Purlos’ effectiveness in supporting colleges and students, while providing valuable data for better planning and decision-making.

Discussion:

These findings provide compelling evidence for the positive impact of Purlos on student destination capture rates. The consistent rise in capture rates across various colleges strongly suggests that Purlos’ interventions are effectively supporting colleges in understanding where their students go after they leave college. While further analysis with internally progressed data and complete public data would be beneficial for a more comprehensive understanding, the current data paints a clear picture of Purlos’ success in this area.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Purlos has demonstrably improved student destination capture rates in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The consistent upward trend observed across individual colleges, coupled with the overall increase in average capture rate, provides strong evidence of the effectiveness of Purlos’ services. These findings highlight the positive role Purlos plays in supporting colleges and their students in achieving their education and career goals.

Section 6: Case Studies

Section 7: Appendices

• Figure 1: A summary of student destinations tracking by Purlos in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough between 2020/21 – 2021/22

• Figure 2: Map and table of the Further Education Colleges Purlos captures student destinations for in the CPCA district

• Figure 3: Question set sent to students

• Figure 4: Benchmark Destinations Dashboard

• Figure 5: Table of Destinations Captured by College (Autumn 2021 & 2022)

• Figure 6: Combined Positive Destinations of the 10 Colleges (2020/21 on the left, 2021/22 on the right)

• Figure 7: Combined Average Net Promoter Score (NPS) of the 10 Colleges (2020/21 on the left, 2021/22 on the right)

• Figure 8: Graphs Showing Total Learners, Response Rate, and Read Rate Across All Colleges (2021/22)

• Figure 9: 2021/22 Key Achievements

• Figure 10: 2021 – 2022 Total Captured Destinations