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This highly regarded project started in 2001 with the development of a paper based ‘route planner’, which set out the ways in which people could progress from one level of education to the next. The booklet worked from the basis of no formal qualifications upwards and gave clear information about the best way to reach a particular educational goal, based on the courses offered in the North East of Scotland (local authority areas of Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire). Phase II of the project extended its remit to cover the whole of the North of Scotland and funded the development of a web based route planner, which could be interrogated by members of the public.
The third phase had two parts, the first being a formal evaluation of the paper and web formats of the original route planner, taking into account local and national changes (particularly the development of the national Mapping project’s website of HN to degree articulation routes). The second part of the project was due to be the -production of an improved paper-based route planner. The outcome of the evaluation, however, suggested strongly that the work needed to go further to develop the capacity of people working with difficult to reach groups to promote all levels of post-compulsory education. As a direct result of the evaluation, the real work of Phase III started – the development of a pack of materials and a presentation to be given to community education, job centre and library staff to provide background about the way in which FE and HE actually works and the best way for people to access it. The materials and presentation has been developed and deleivered througout the local authority areas of Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray.
Phase IV of the project started in January 2005 and has involved the presentation being given to relevant agencies throughout the remaining parts of the Forum’s area, i.e. the local authority areas of Eilean Siar, Highland, Orkney and Shetland. Demand also led to a radical re-think of the website. The information available was highly valued, but feedback suggests that the format needed to be changed so that it is more user-friendly. Many people have asked for the website to be extended to cover community education and to include all routes available in Scotland. The website was being overhauled as part of Phase IV and informal discussions took place with colleagues in the other three Forums to see if there is interest in developing a national website of routes into post-compulsory education, although these resulted in limited interest in such a development at this point in time. Phase IV was completed in March 2006 and this marked the end of the project.
In May 2007, the Executive Group agreed to fund an additional, final phase of this project, which would focus on revising the database that supports the ‘Course You Can’ website to allow easy amendments directly by institutions and organisations. The aim of this is to ensure that the information held on the website is up to date and accurate. More information about this part of the project is available here.
Area covered:
Contact: Pat Edward – p.edward@rgu.ac.uk
Caitriona Maciver, North Forum Manager
Castle House, Fairways Business Park, Castle Heather, Inverness, IV2 6AA
Tel: 01463 701010 email: c.maciver@abdn.ac.uk
