NCFE publishes inaugural social impact report

NCFE has today (3 April) published its first ever report into the impact the educational charity is having on the FE sector and beyond. 

The Social Impact Report 2022 aligns NCFE’s activities to defined goals for those it serves, including learners, institutions and educators, education systems, and wider society and the economy.

Its aim is to ensure the organisation is focused and able to make the biggest difference possible, as well as highlight areas where further enhancements can be made.

David Gallagher, Chief Executive of NCFE, said:

“I’m excited to be launching the first impact report in NCFE’s 175 year history. We believe that through shaping smarter learning we can empower a fairer society, facilitate excellent learning experiences, create progression opportunities, and change lives.

“But with all this in mind, we need to ask ourselves if our actions are having the intended impact. To answer this question, we need a deep and sustained understanding of our beneficiaries, their context, their prospects, their challenges, and their experiences of working with NCFE.

“That drove us to commission this impact study and take real, constructive action. In the 18 months since we decided to define and measure our impact much has changed in the world. It’s perhaps fitting, therefore, that we not only outline our activities and achievements, but also the areas in which we can improve to make an even greater positive difference.”

To help drive performance against NCFE’s core purpose, it commissioned Motif, one of the largest independently owned insight agencies in the UK, to help create its Theory of Change model – mapping backwards from NCFE’s ultimate impact to create a clear chain between inputs, activities, and outputs in order to define the required mechanisms to achieve it.

This process included reviewing internal documentation and running consultations and workshops with NCFE employees and its wider stakeholders.

The results show that NCFE is strong at ensuring good learning and progression opportunities, and that learners are able to move seamlessly between levels and reach their career goals. It also highlighted that NCFE is seen to provide holistic learning experiences – supporting a sense of wellbeing and preparing learners for further experiences later in life.

NCFE is also seen by institutions and educators as being outstanding at tackling disadvantage and improving employment prospects through its qualifications, but the report acknowledges there’s still more work to be done around meeting local community needs.

The ambition is for NCFE’s Social Impact Report to become an annual event and there are plans to grow both the scope and depth of the research it can draw upon. To find out more about the report and read it in full, visit https://content.ncfe.org.uk/media/uknjgvza/ncfe-social-impact-report-2022.pdf