In this webinar, Denise Rawls- NNECL Executive Director and Moira Mitchell NNECL QM Co-Lead discuss our recent publication, Housing Futures: A NNECL Perspective on What Works for Accommodation. This paper draws on insights from NNECL Quality Mark submissions to highlight effective practice in student accommodation for care-experienced and estranged learners across further and higher education.
The paper highlights:
- evidenced examples of what works,
- provides an overview of local authority responsibilities, and
- sets out our policy thinking on improving accommodation pathways for students with care experience.
You can read the full paper on our news pages here: Read our perspective on what works for accommodation
Launched in June 2021, the NNECL Quality Mark, highlighted as an example of best practice in the final recommendations of Josh MacAlister’s (now Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing) 2022 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England, supports staff across NNECL member institutions to transform the educational experience of care-experienced students. Institutions engage with the Quality Mark voluntarily, driven by a genuine commitment to understand their current practice, identify gaps, and strengthen the support offered to care-experienced and estranged learners, with the overarching aim of improving educational outcomes.
The independent evaluation of the Quality Mark (February 2025) found that all participating institutions improved their approach to widening access to higher education and providing the conditions students need to thrive. A clear majority reported that these improvements were fully or partially attributable to their engagement with the Quality Mark.
You can watch the recording using the following link and the slides are available to download below:
