DCG Impact Review 2024 - Flipbook - Page 23
TWENTY THREE | STRATEGIC PRIORITY TWO
BRIDGING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP
By challenging perceptions and removing
barriers to progression, DCG plays a vital role in
transforming lives and developing socially mobile
citizens.
It strives to balance the scales of social justice,
tackle entrenched disadvantage, and break the link
between a child’s family background and where
they get to in life.
With Derby identi昀椀ed by the government as
a Priority Education Investment Area – those
places with some of the country’s weakest school
outcomes – the Group is part of a powerful multiagency drive that explicitly addresses the problem.
One of its over-riding objectives is to give a
crucial second chance to students who may have
previously had a poor educational experience
within the city.
A signi昀椀cant number of DCG’s students are from
what are classed as ‘deprived’ areas, while just
over half have prior learning at Level 1 or below.
Staff are making strenuous efforts to narrow the
achievement gaps and instil a belief in these
students that they can still progress to higher level
learning.
Just over half of the 16-year-olds who enrolled at
DCG in 2022/23 had not achieved GCSE English,
Maths or both, so many of the Group’s vocational
programmes now include the opportunity for
students to retake these subjects so that they
attain the crucial grade 4 or above.
ENGAGING HARD -TO - REACH COMMUNITIES
While promoting social mobility for school leavers,
DCG also makes every effort to widen access to
learning for adults who have struggled in previous
educational settings or faced adversities in
everyday life.
Thanks to a well-judged community learning
strategy, staff engage with individuals who are
furthest away from the labour market, who are
from the hardest-to-reach communities and
who are least likely to participate in education.
This includes those who have no or low
quali昀椀cations and those at risk of social
marginalisation.
Among long-term projects are:
• A partnership to deliver English, Maths,
Digital and English for Speakers of Other
Languages (ESOL) programmes at the
St James Centre in the heart of Normanton.
This provides accessible education
opportunities for people from a diverse range
of backgrounds and ethnicities, including
refugees and asylum seekers.
• Short courses to help University Hospitals of
Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust attract
and recruit staff to hard-to-昀椀ll roles within
hospital clerical teams. Over 60 unemployed
individuals have gained full-time jobs
after joining.
• A 20-year association with life-changing
charity Jericho House. DCG staff provide
comprehensive support – and an important
pathway to education – for residents at the
addiction recovery project.
The Group’s proli昀椀c work in this 昀椀eld is aligned with
the government’s Levelling Up agenda. It is also
taking full advantage of national initiatives such
as Free Courses for Jobs, the new funding stream
encouraging unemployed and low-waged adults
back into learning.
