Learning Aims and Core Learning Aims for Post-16

This article provides guidance for Post-16 institutions on setting up Learning Aims in Arbor, detailing the steps for adding Learning Aims, linking courses, enrolling students, and managing core aims. It emphasizes the importance of accurate setup for census reporting and outlines the necessary permissions and procedures for managing student enrolments, completions, withdrawals, and transfers.

What is a Learning Aim?

Learning Aims can be used by Post-16 institutions to record their year 12 and year 13 student's courses and which course is their Main Learning Aim (also known as a Core aim in Arbor). 

Please note that if you do not have a post-16 provision, you should not use this area of Arbor.

This information is recorded and output in the School Census, so it's important to set up:

  • All your Learning Aims
  • Set the learning hours for each year the Learning Aim instance runs
  • No more than 1 core learning aim per student, per Learning Aim Aim Type - so a student could have 1 Core Aim in a 16 to 19 study Learning Aim, and one in a T level study Learning Aim
  • Enrolment into at least one Learning Aim for the prior year (if year 13)

If you don't set up your Learning Aims as shown below, you'll encounter many errors in your census. We've detailed what these errors are, as well as how to resolve them here

Please make sure you set up your Learning Aims for the last academic year, as the Census collects Learning Aim information for the current academic year and last academic year. If you don't, you'll get errors like the one below.

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How long will it take?

  • Add a Learning Aim - 1 minute
  • Add Learning Aim instances - 2 minutes
  • Link to a course - 1 minute
  • Enrol students - 5 minutes
  • Set Core Aims - 15 minutes (depending on how many students you have)
  • Book in some time to mark students with the right completion statuses when they finish a Learning Aim

Permissions

You'll need the Academic Structure: Administer permission to set up new Learning Aims. If you don't have this permission you can ask your office team to assign it to you.

How should we manage these Learning Aim types?

Retaking the year

For students who are repeating Year 13, the DfE advises: If the student has not completed
their Learning Aim on time, then we consider the student to be taking longer than
expected to complete rather than retaking. As such, in Arbor you would extend their current instance rather than adding them to another Learning Aim instance. See Point 90 in their Funding regulations for post-16 provision guidance.

T-levels

Please see our guidance here: T-levels

Setting up Learning Aims

Step 1 - Add the Learning Aim

Please note before you begin: If you have any students in shared teaching where they are taking Learning Aims in another school, you must create these Learning Aims on your own school site also. This is because students recorded as guests in another school will not be returned on the census, so you need a record of the Learning Aim in your own school site.

Go to School > School Structure > Learning Aims and click +Add to add a new Learning Aim.

Choose the name of the Learning Aim, an optional short name and whether the Learning Aim is a Traineeship. Click Add Learning Aim.

Top Tip: If the Learning Aim is a traineeship for only some of the students, we'd recommend setting up two separate Learning Aims.

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You will then be able to add Learning Aim instances. An instance is a time period within which a Learning Aim is delivered. Click +Add to add an Instance.

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In the slide over, add the details of the Learning Aim instance:

  • Planned dates - Make sure the planned start and end date span two years if the Learning Aim is two years long. Make sure the planned end date is on or before July 31st.
  • Core Aim - If all the students taking the Learning Aim have it as their Core Aim, tick this box. We recommend not ticking this box and instead setting Core Aims for each individual student instead (see this section)
  • Planned Learning Hours - Add in the planned learning hours for the first year the Learning Aim is running (you'll be able to add in additional year's hours once the instance has been created)

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For the Linked Qualification Award section, select the qualification from the Linked qualification award drop-down. Can't select it? Set up the qualification in the Examinations section - see how to do this here.

If either the basedata for a qualification hasn't yet been released, or if the Learning Aim is a KS4 Qualification, you'll need to instead put in a placeholder name and reference:

  • The first part of the award reference is the QAN code.
  • The second part after the / is the Subject Classification Code (SCC or Discount Code).
    • The SCC must be one listed here: Generic QAN Data
    • It must be the right one for Key Stage 5. For example, for GCSE English the Exam Awarding Organisation publishes FK2B as the SCC. However, the correct SCC to use in Learning Aims is 5030. For further details, please see page 64 of School census 2023 to 2024: technical information

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You must set up an instance for each cohort of your students. For example, if your Year 12s study maths for two years, your Learning Aim instance must span a two-year period. When that year group become year 13s, you would set up another Learning Aim instance for your new year 12s.

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Clicking into a Learning Aim instance, you'll see that if the Learning Aim runs for two years, you'll need to fill in the learning hours for the second year.

If you don't see the second year here, it means you haven't yet created the next academic year. You can either wait to fill the hours in when the year is created, or create the year by following step 1 in this article

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Add in the hours for the second year, then click Save Changes. The hours are usually the same each year but can be different.

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Step 2 - Link the Learning Aim to a course

In the Learning Aim instance, click +Add in the Courses section.

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Choose a course from your timetable to link the Learning Aim to.

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Step 3 - Enrol the students

In the Learning Aim instance, you'll see a table for enrolled students. Enrol students by clicking +Add.

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Select whether to select the students to enrol, or automatically add students from particular classes.

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If selecting particular students, select the students to enrol in the Learning Aim. Top Tip: Search for a course name to add the whole course at once.

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If selecting to enrol students from a course, you can use the Student Groups selector to filter down the list of courses by year. You can then select the courses in the Courses box. All students in the courses selected will be added to the Learning Aim.

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Add further details in the slide over:

  • For the core aim box, if all the students you're enrolling have the Learning Aim as their Core Aim, tick this box. We recommend not ticking this box and instead setting Core Aims for each individual student instead (see this section)
  • For planned learning hours, if the number of hours for the students you're enrolling is the same as what you've already set for the Learning Aim instance, you can leave this box blank. If the number of hours is different for these students then you can add a new number of hours here. If you have a two-year Learning Aim and have set up the next year you'll see a box for each year. 
  • For Learning Aim Aim Type, we've by default set this to 16 to 19 study Learning Aim, but you can change this to T level or T level transition Learning Aim if needed.

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You can then see the table of enrolled students.

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Editing whether a Learning Aim is a Core Aim

It is possible to select that every Learning Aim is a student's Core Aim. It is up to the school to make sure only one option is selected for each student per Learning Aim Aim Type for Census purposes.

Only vocational courses should be set as Core Aims - boxes for A Level courses should be left unticked for all students. 

From the Learning Aims area

Go to Students > Enrolments > Learning Aims and select the Learning Aim and then the Learning Aim Instance.

In bulk

Tick all the boxes next to the students you would like to toggle this feature for and click the Bulk action button to select Set as Core Aim.

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You can then click a student to see this setting in the slide over. You can also use the same action to unset Core Aims in bulk.

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Per student

Click the student you would like to toggle this feature for. Click the orange Edit button.

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Tick or untick the box then click Save Changes.

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From the student profile

Go to the Enrolment section of the student's profile and scroll down to see their enrolment into Learning Aims. You can add any enrolments if needed by clicking +Add. You can click into the enrolment and click Edit to mark it as the Core Aim.

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From the Bulk Update Learning Aims page

Go to Students > All Students > Bulk Update > Bulk Update Learning Aims.

In bulk
  • Students tab - Individual students' enrolment into each Learning Aim.
  • Courses tab - Individual students' enrolment into each course linked to a Learning Aim. This will default to the current academic year, and the lowest year group set up on your site that is Year 12 or higher. If there is no year 12 or higher, it will default to the lowest year group at your school.
  • Learning Aim Instances tab - Shows the Learning Aims running in the academic year selected. Click one to go to the instance, where you can edit as shown in the From the Learning Aims area above.

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The Students tab has tick boxes to enable you to manage data in bulk.

This will default to the current academic year, and the lowest year group set up on your site that is Year 12 or higher. If there is no year 12 or higher, it will default to the lowest year group at your school.

Click into the filters to select a different year, student group, and whether to include students with no or multiple core aims set.

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You can use the bulk actions to set a Learning Aim as a student's core aim.

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Per student

Click on a student, and click Edit

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Tick or untick the Core Aim box, then click Save Changes.

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Ending a Learning Aim for a student by completion, withdrawal or transferring

When students leave a course, or your school, you must also end their enrolment into the Learning Aim. Go to either: 

  • Students > Enrolments > Learning Aims and select the Learning Aim and then the Learning Aim Instance.
  • Students > All Students > Bulk Update > Bulk Update Learning Aims > Students Tab.

Completing a Learning Aim

If your students have finished their Learning Aim, you need to put that they have completed the Learning Aim.

Tick the students then click Bulk action button to select Bulk Complete.

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Add in the completion date (if this is different from the planned end date of the Learning Aim instance).

The students will then show as completed with their actual end date.

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Change Learning Aim status from Completed to Continuing

If a student will be continuing a Learning Aim, you can change their Learning Aim completion status back by removing the end date. You can do this by either:

  • Clicking on the student, remove the End Date then click Save Changes.
  • Use the Bulk Actions to Bulk Update Actual End Date. Remove the date, then click Bulk Update.

Withdrawing a student from a Learning Aim (and course)

Tick the students then click the Bulk action button to select Bulk Withdraw.

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In the slide over, add in the date, the reason and then click Bulk Withdraw.

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If any students are enrolled in the course the Learning Aim is linked to, you can choose what to do with the student's enrolment into the course:

  • Withdraw from Learning Aim only - students will be withdrawn from the Learning Aim but will remain enrolled in the course and class registers.
  • Withdraw from both - students will be removed from both with the end date for the Learning Aim withdrawal applied to the course as the last day the student will appear in class registers.

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You can also do this by clicking on their name and clicking Withdraw.

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Transferring a student

To transfer a student, click the student's name and click Transfer.

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In the slide over, select the transfer reason and add a note if needed.

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Choose the new Learning Aim and instance to transfer them to.

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Select the current course.

To select a new course to transfer them to, you need to have made sure to select a Learning Aim in the section further up in the slide over. This box will then show any course the student is not already enrolled into.

Add a start date and click Transfer. Their enrolment into the Learning Aim and course will be ended the day before they begin the enrolment into their new Learning Aim and course.

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Top Tip: There are a few reasons why you might not be able to transfer them to a new course alongside the Learning Aim.

  • The student is not enrolled in the course linked to the Learning Aim you are transferring from
  • They are already enrolled in the new course. You can check a student's enrolment from their profile.
  • One or both of the Learning Aims don't have a course linked.

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Updating or removing the start and end dates

You can click into an individual student to amend these.

You can update these in bulk by selecting the students and using the Bulk action button to change the Planned Start Date, Planned End Date or Actual End Date.

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In the slide over, select the new date to apply and click Bulk update.

Top Tip: Delete the values in the date field to remove the date.

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2 comments
  • Planned End dates for Post-16 learning aims should never be 31 Aug. Learning aims for an academic year are collected by DfE from 1st Aug so any that go beyond 1st Aug are picked up for the following academic year. Learning aim end (and planned end dates) should be no later than 31st July.

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  • Hi Jackie, you're absolutely right - the planned end dates should be the 31st July or earlier. Great tip! 

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