Are You Targeting Deprived Areas?
Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2004 (IMD)
The 2004 IMD is published by the Office of the Deputy Minister. The government wants organisations such as LSCs, Colleges, and LEAs to target deprived areas and increase participation and skills levels. Their ‘Sustainable Communities’ programme is underpinned by education provision, achievement and retention. The Inspection Services are now likely to measure progress against the 2004 IMD.
Sirius7 is working with Colleges such as Bilborough College, Nottingham to help it target learners by mapping deprived areas and the learners who live there.
“We have found the ward deprivation data extremely influential in our efforts to widen participation in 16- 18 ‘level 3’ from local wards, which have in the past provided very few students for the college. The college adjoins the North Nottingham parliamentary constituency, which has the lowest level of HE entry in the country, and we are confident that the deprivation data will materially assist our efforts to boost engagement” said Steve Worthington (Vice Principal, Finance and Resources) Bilborough College.
Until recently, this kind of analysis was not possible. The base census data was prohibitively expensive, and the deprivation data was both out of date and technically difficult to use. But Sirius7 has bundled this data together with the college’s own data to present the analysis in a new, simple, and easy-to-use way that is visually powerful yet simple to understand.
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