CHAPTER SEVEN COURSE OUTCOMES
7.1 This chapter looks at various possible outcomes that learners can gain from a course, and examines firstly which of these were considered the most important by respondents, and then whether they felt they had attained these outcomes from doing the course. This analysis helps to assess the extent to which the ILA Scotland scheme has achieved its aims.
Important aspects
7.2 At the wave 2 interview, all those who had undertaken ILA funded courses were asked how important a range of factors were when selecting their most recent course. Factors included work and non-work related reasons for doing courses. The results are illustrated in chart 7.1 below, which shows the proportions saying each item was very important.
Chart 7.1: Importance of factors in terms of motivating respondents to do most recent course (% very important)
Base: All successful applicants who had undertaken an ILA funded course ( ILA200: 397, ILA100: 360) (*if relevant)
7.3 The main difference between the two offers was that finding a job or moving to a different job were more important to ILA200 participants than those on ILA100. Gaining a qualification and increasing self-confidence were also more likely to be seen as important by those on ILA200 than ILA100.
7.4 There were differences by age in the findings for ILA200. Learners aged over 50 were less likely to say that gaining new skills or earning a recognised qualification were very important (58% and 51% respectively), but were more likely than younger learners to say that helping with a hobby or enriching their spare time was very important (44%). Those over 60 were more likely than younger respondents to say that meeting new people was a very important factor (39%).
7.5 Earning a recognised qualification was also seen as less important by learners aged over 50 on ILA100 (31%), but this was the only difference by age. On ILA100, women were more likely than men to see the importance of earning a recognised qualification (47% compared with 31%) and having a fresh challenge (56% compared with 35%), while ABs were less likely to see the importance of moving onto another course (12%).
Outcomes
7.6 In order to examine the extent to which ILA courses had helped people to meet their objectives, we repeated the motivations listed in section 7.1, and asked all those who had completed an ILA course to what extent their course had helped them achieve these things.
7.7 The results are illustrated in chart 7.2 below, which shows the proportions who said that the course helped them "to a great extent".
Chart 7.2: Extent to which course helped respondent achieve each goal (% "to a great extent")
Base: All successful applicants who had completed an ILA funded course ( ILA200: 170, ILA100: 190) (*if relevant)
7.8 In both offers, the outcomes obtained by learners generally reflected their priorities, in that the proportion saying the course had helped them in a particular way was similar to the proportion saying that this was important. This pattern was less positive for employment outcomes, where the proportions saying the course had helped them were smaller than the proportions saying these aspects were important. However, this is not surprising, given that hard employment outcomes will inevitably be more difficult to achieve than softer outcomes, and it should still be noted that significant proportions (particularly in ILA200) did say that the course had helped them with their employment: 26% on ILA200 said the course had helped them to get a job and 23% a change of job.
7.9 As shown in chart 7.2, there were a number of items where ILA200 participants were more likely than ILA100 participants to say that the course had helped them.
7.10 The number of respondents answering this question was quite small, and therefore the scope for sub-group analysis is limited. However, it is clear that in ILA100, women were more likely than men to acknowledge a number of the benefits: earning a recognised qualification (53% compared with 34%), increasing self-confidence (35% compared with 20%) and meeting new people (28% compared with 14%). Also on ILA100, learners aged over 50 were less likely to report having earned a recognised qualification, reflecting the lower importance attached to this factor by older learners (as noted above).