Talent Match is an ambitious programme. This includes the ambition of the Big Lottery Fund to collect detailed data systematically on all the young people supported by the programme. With this in mind BIG asked us to set up a Common Data Framework (CDF) as a requirement of the evaluation. Alongside other research undertaken by the Evaluation Team at CRESR (Sheffield Hallam University) and IER (University of Warwick) this will provide us and you with one of the most comprehensive insights into what works in supporting young people furthest from the labour market gain employment.
Talent Match is also an innovative programme. Each of the 21 partnerships designing interventions which are appropriate to the local context and to what young people asked for. As the Common Data Framework reflects this: partnerships are working with different groups of young people, in different ways and at this early stage with some different outcomes.
In future Blogs I will write more about these early lessons from the Common Data Framework data and also provide guidance to analysing the data further at a local level.
However, we recognise that the CDF is challenging and at times onerous for the staff and young people involved in the Programme. A particular challenge is the follow-ups after the baseline questionnaire is complete. We know that young people may engage in the programme at the start and then may no longer need the support or may return to the programme after several months. Whilst the ideal would be to have responses at every time point we know that this is not always possible. What is important is that attempts are made to follow up young people. Only through this will we be able to gain an overall insight into the journey to employment. As you will see from the latest versions of the follow-up questions there are now options for where young people are not contactable.
And finally, the following links are to the key documents you need to understand the CDF: the manual and quick guide; and the baseline and follow-up questionnaires.
Talent Match Common Data Framework
http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/sites/shu.ac.uk/files/tm-cdf-manual1.pdf
Talent Match Common Data Framework: Quick Guide
http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/sites/shu.ac.uk/files/tm-cdf-quick-guide.pdf
Talent Match Questionnaire – Baseline
http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/sites/shu.ac.uk/files/tm-baseline-questionnaire.pdf
Talent Match Questionnaire – Follow-up
http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/sites/shu.ac.uk/files/tm-followup-questionnaire.pdf
We welcome your continued feedback.
Elizabeth Sanderson and Peter Wells