Section 2 - Process Lessons 2.4 Disseminating SRB Lessons and Influencing the Mainstream A central assumption underpinning the SRB is the proposition that 'special', modest, short-term funding, if carefully designed and targeted, can catalyse longer term processes of change. One of the key mechanisms by which it is presumed this happens is through the influence the availability of special resources can exert on other players. For schemes and projects addressing learning objectives, promoting the sustainability of the project and its achievements is a key element in determining added value. There are perhaps three levels at which this has to take place: the project's exit strategy, to ensure the survival of projects requiring long-term revenue support; influencing others: programmes to disseminate the experience and lessons of the project beyond those immediately involved; and perhaps most importantly of all, ensuring that the lessons of the project are embedded in mainstream practice. Since the 1997 General Election a number of new funding strands have become available, either to absorb or provide forward strategies for activities currently funded through SRB. In a few instances SRB projects have been linked to approved (or proposed) Education Action Zones. One of Tyneside TEC's projects is now part of mainstream post-16 provision. In another instance, the two Co Durham projects reviewed here have combined as part of a Round 5 bid. Evidence There are clear signs from the projects assessed for this study that the SRB schemes are increasingly looking at exit strategies at an early stage. Some elements within specific exit strategies are described below. Introducing charges: Priory Campus introduced small charges for some services, disks etc, partly to accustom its clients to the need to pay for the service in the longer-term. Seeking sponsorship: Adur Industry First's Education to Industry programme expects to sustain many activities through sponsorship by local businesses. Local partners with the capability to provide long term financial support are involved at an early stage. Tapering grant funding: Medway Ruler's Skills to Succeed project (which targets skill development activities on the area's minority ethnic community) tapers off towards the end of the scheme. While it is too early to say what the alternative sources will be, scheme design ensures attention will be paid to the longer term. In the case of Birmingham's Core Skills Partnership, there is no formal exit strategy because of the stress on integration with mainstream practice. Similarly, the Coventry and Warwickshire Raising Attainment project builds in enhanced INSET to spread the lessons. Key Lessons For many of the schemes and projects, the key is to ensure that the practices and approaches developed through SRB-supported programmes and projects become firmly grounded in mainstream practice. One of the most encouraging features of this study is the frequency with which the stress on multi-agency working and on influencing mainstream practice is to be observed. Very importantly, the study encountered some resistance within mainstream education institutions to innovations generated through regeneration funding. As this study shows, effective participation in learning is affected by many factors, outside as well as within the education and training system. Nevertheless practice in the classroom exerts a major influence over the improvement of attainment, however defined (which is the ultimate objective for most of the SRB partnerships). Ensuring that the lessons of regeneration-funded activity are absorbed by practitioners is therefore an important component of any exit strategy. It is equally important to ensure that teachers are given appropriate support rather than additional burdens (for example, through INSET and help with baseline testing or mentoring).

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