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IMPACT OF CHILDCARE SUPPORT FOR LONE PARENT STUDENTS

2 INTRODUCTION

This chapter sets out the policy background to the study, the aims of the research, the methodology and the research programme. It also contains a summary of the support available to lone parent students.

2.1 POLICY BACKGROUND

2.1.1 The Child Poverty Package was launched in July 2001. It is designed to help lone parents into further and higher education through supporting childcare costs, and improving the supply of childcare. The Scottish Executive wished to develop a monitoring framework and also to collect and analyse monitoring data on the first year of operation of two elements of the package: the provision of a 1,000 annual grant towards the costs of formal childcare for lone parents in full time higher education; and the funding that has been made available to further education colleges to widen childcare provision.

2.1.2 The Executive has a commitment to end child poverty within a generation and sees the encouragement of lone parents into education, by making it easier for them to meet childcare costs, as a vital first step towards employment and better incomes.

2.2 AIMS OF THE RESEARCH

2.2.1 The aims of the research were:

• to design a monitoring framework for two of the child poverty package initiatives (1,000 grant to lone parents in full time higher education and widening of childcare support through further education providers);
• to identify and collate existing monitoring data and, where this data did not already exist, to design and undertake fieldwork to collect monitoring data relating to the first year of operation of the initiatives;
• to analyse and present the monitoring data, drawing out key findings emerging in relation to the first year of operation of the initiatives;
• to explore the way in which the initiatives have been implemented in practice, drawing out lessons in order to inform future years of operation of the initiatives;
• to make recommendations for modifications to the monitoring framework and for future collection of monitoring data on the basis of the first year monitoring exercise;
• to record and store the monitoring data in a format that can be retrieved and used for subsequent phases of the monitoring and evaluation process;
• to identify data availability and access issues in relation to monitoring these initiatives and suggest ways to tackle these issues.

2.3 OVERVIEW OF SUPPORT AVAILABLE

2.3.1 Higher Education (HE) is defined as a programme at Higher National Certificate/Diploma (HNC/D) level, degree, SVQ level 4 or equivalent qualification. While the majority of HE programmes in Scotland are undertaken by students attending higher education institutions (HEIs), around 28% of HE programmes are undertaken by students attending FE colleges.

2.3.2 Funding support for HE students is provided mostly through the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS). Lone parents are entitled to certain supplementary grants in addition to the support available to the generality of students and to other students with children. The range of potential support for 2002-2003 (increased from that available in 2001-2002, e.g. the LPCG increased from 1,000 to 1,025) is set out in the following table:

Table 1: Support for Lone Parent HE Students (2002-2003)

2.3.3 Further Education (FE) is defined as a programme at National Certificate (NC), City and Guilds, Access or SVQ up to and including Level 3. Such programmes are undertaken by students attending FE colleges.

2.3.4 Lone parent FE students should be able to retain any benefits they receive at the commencement of their studies. FE colleges may be able to provide additional assistance with travel and study expenses through the bursary system and this will not impact on benefits. Lone parent FE students should also be able to access childcare provision funded through the FE Childcare Fund.

2.3.5 Lone parents in receipt of Income Support are eligible for support under the New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP). Providing the student's Personal Adviser approves attendance at an FE course lasting one year or less before enrolment, help with childcare costs of up to 135 per week for one child (or 200 per week for two or more children) is available. Lone parents attending college less than five days per week can claim up to 27 per day for one child and 40 per day for two or more children.

2.3.6 The LPCG available for HE study can only be used to fund 'formal' childcare. This is defined as including childminders, after school clubs and providers of day care and education. Where the children are eight or under, the child carers must be registered with their local authority. FE colleges use the FE Childcare Fund either to fund provision in college nurseries or to support external 'formal' provision for FE students.

2.4 METHODS

2.4.1 In March 2002, 4-consulting Ltd ("4-consulting") was commissioned by the Scottish Executive Central Research Unit (now Social Research) to design a monitoring framework for two key elements of the Child Poverty Package, and to undertake collection and analysis of the first year of monitoring data.

2.4.2 The project team consisted of Fiona Ballantyne, Ralph Leishman and Claire Hendry.

Project Briefings

2.4.3 The project team initially met with members of Scottish Executive Social Research for an overview briefing on the Child Poverty Package. They also met with:

• the Operational Policy Officer for the Student Awards Agency for Scotland to discuss the data held on lone parent students that might be relevant to this study, and to agree a methodology for the study that would meet the provisions of the Data Protection Act.
• the FE Student Support Officer at the Scottish Further Education Funding Council to understand the monitoring arrangements that are in place.

2.4.4 A small sample of Student Welfare Officers was also contacted, to identify the lone parent issues that are brought to them by students.

Meetings with FE colleges

2.4.5 Members of the Project Team visited five FE colleges, which were selected on the basis of the level of their involvement in and provision of childcare facilities, and geographical location. In all these factors, the research team sought to achieve a range of involvement and geographical spread. Visits were made to Dumfries and Galloway College, Langside College, Lauder College, Motherwell College and Edinburgh's Telford College. At each college, meetings were held with Student Services staff.

Quantitative Research

2.4.6 In May 2002, a quantitative study of 4,000 lone parent students currently studying on higher education programmes at institutions throughout Scotland was undertaken. All respondents were in receipt of the Lone Parents' Grant in the 2001-2002 academic year and were on the SAAS database. Estimates suggested that approximately one third had also claimed the LPCG.

2.4.7 The research was based on a self-completion questionnaire, sent by post. A copy of the questionnaire and responses is attached in Appendix 1. All questionnaires were despatched by SAAS, in order to comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act, and replies (all anonymous) were returned to the consultants using a reply paid envelope.

2.4.8 1,120 questionnaires were completed and returned, giving an overall response rate of 28%. This was considered to be a very satisfactory response rate, given that the research was conducted so close to the examination period. The quantitative research has provided data that helped to profile lone parent students.

Qualitative Research

2.4.9 In addition to the quantitative research, a series of focus groups were conducted with lone parent students in HE. There may be some overlap between the focus group participants and the postal survey respondents, but as the latter was anonymous it is not possible to assess the extent of any overlap.

2.4.10 Five focus groups were conducted: one in Dundee; two in Glasgow; and two in Edinburgh. A randomly selected sample of 300 students was invited to participate by SAAS. Those who responded were asked to complete a form giving permission for 4-consulting to contact them direct to arrange dates and times. An incentive payment of 25 was offered to cover any travel and childcare cost incurred as a result of attending. A total of 33 lone parent students attended the focus groups.

2.4.11 The research team also held more informal discussion groups with FE and HE lone parent students in Dumfries & Galloway College, Langside College, Lauder College and Motherwell College. These discussions helped to highlight some of the FE issues, and FE to HE progression issues, experienced by lone parent students. They also assisted with the development of the topic guide for the formal focus groups, and the research team piloted the questionnaire to be used in the quantitative research with the HE students who attended. A total of 30 lone parent students attended these discussion groups.

2.4.12 The qualitative research has helped to paint a picture of the life issues that affect lone parent students.

Structure of Report

2.4.13 The analysis of findings is covered in Chapters 3 to 7. Chapter 3 covers FE support provided through FE colleges.

2.4.14 Chapters 4 to 7 cover the analysis of LPCG claimants and the issues that affect them drawing together the quantitative and qualitative data. Comments and quotations from the focus groups are used to illustrate or expand upon the statistical data collected through the quantitative questionnaire. The focus groups were able to look at student life from the perspective of a lone parent and to explore a range of life style issues that would be difficult to cover in a short questionnaire. These life style issues provide a more rounded picture of the lone parent student.

2.4.15 Chapter 8 sets out the Monitoring Framework and the final Chapter 9 pulls together Recommendations.

2.4.16 The quantitative data has not been weighted. This is because existing data on lone parent students is based on estimates, rather than a known universe. The quantitative data collected is based on a self-selecting sample that responded to the postal questionnaire.

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