Progression Framework

The Higher Education Outreach Network (HEON) progression framework has been designed to support the continued development of the HEON programme into phase two of the Uni Connect Programme, which is funded by the Office for Students.

The framework attempts to describe the progression of a learner taking part in our sustained & progressive programme of activity, and has been divided into three stages (Introduce & Inspire; Develop & Decide; Prepare & Progress). The stages are related to the learner’s current level of knowledge and aspirations towards higher education, while also appreciating the personal and unique nature of each learner’s potential pathway, and as such does not relate to specific year groups or key stages.

The framework is developed from HEON’s theory of change logic model, which states that to impact the behaviour that our project is hoping to address (increased progression to higher education), first knowledge or understanding of the subject (in this case higher education) must be increased, which leads to improved attitude or aspiration towards higher education. (Knowledge > Attitude > Behaviour). Underpinning this model and framework are eight learner knowledge outcomes, which cover key aspects of higher education. Each outcome is detailed at each of the 3 stages of the progression framework. Similar to the three overall stages of the framework, it is possible for a learner to be at different stages of the framework for each outcome. These knowledge outcomes link to learner attitude outcomes which are also detailed on the framework.

The progression framework will enable the identification of potential gaps in programme delivery by mapping each activity to its intended learner outcomes. If any outcomes are not supported by activity in a given stage of the framework, we will look to build in activity to address this gap.