Menu
CloseHEAT Track Impact Reports
HEAT publish annual reports for members and the public which examine the impact of outreach on participants’ educational outcomes from Key Stage 4 through to higher education progression and subsequent employment.
- Research & Evidence
- HEAT Track Impact Reports
Alongside supporting HEAT members to track individuals and analyse the impact of their interventions, we draw on the longitudinal tracking data compiled by all members to produce evidence and insight into the impact of outreach at an aggregate level.
Find out more about our latest impact reports below.
Our latest Key Stage 4 Impact Report explores the KS4 attainment outcomes of the 2021 GCSE cohort and found that:
- The majority of all learners engaged by HEAT member providers in attainment-raising outreach had ‘average’ or ‘low’ prior attainment at Key Stage 2. This shows effective targeting of outreach by HEAT member providers to those students most at risk of failing to achieve at Key Stage 4
- Uni Connect partnerships engaged more learners in the ‘low’ prior attainment band than higher education providers, both in absolute and relative terms. This suggests that Uni Connect is reaching the most educationally disadvantaged learners, which higher education providers may not reach on their own
- A larger proportion of Free School Meal learners with ‘average’ prior attainment, who participated in attainment-raising outreach, achieved standard and strong passes in Maths and English than their non-participating peers. This suggests that learners eligible for Free School Meals with ‘average’ attainment at Key Stage 2 benefitted the most from participating in attainment-raising outreach
To find out more, please see the Key Stage 4 Impact Report (last updated April 2024).
We are in the process of creating the latest Key Stage 5 Impact Report, which will be shared within the HEAT membership in due course.
This report will be based on aggregate data of individuals who have been entered into the HEAT Track by our membership, and will share key findings and other insights.
Our latest HE Provider HESA Track Impact Report (based on HE entry up to 2021/22) found that:
- Students who took part in an intensive package of outreach consisting of at least eight contact hours are 12.5 percentage points more likely to enter higher education than a closely matched group of students who took part in less than three hours of outreach
- In particular, Further Education students appear to benefit from participating in intensive outreach with those in receipt being more than 17 percentage points more likely to enter higher education than their peers in receipt of little to no outreach
- Once in higher education, outreach participants show similar continuation and degree attainment success rates to the national average
To find out more, please see the HE Provider HESA Track Impact Report (last updated November 2023).
Our first Contextualised HE Entry Track Impact Report builds on previous HESA Track impact research, triangulating findings of positive impact of outreach participation whilst including previously unavailable controls for student-level prior attainment and disadvantage. We explore the outcomes of the Expected HE Entry Year Cohorts 2019 and 2020 participating in intensive outreach by provider type in a quasi-experimental matched comparator group design.
Explore our key findings and read the full report.
Discover more Research & Evidence
Case studies
Our expanding library of case studies showcases how our members have effectively utilised HEAT to target, monitor and evaluate their interventions.
Thematic Reports
As well as using our rich longitudinal tracking dataset for thematic research, we work on a number of collaborative projects across the sector.