"I can't wait, honestly": How can Year 7 disadvantaged students be encouraged to raise their aspirations for higher education?

Thesis

The persistent gap between university entry rates of disadvantaged students and their more-affluent peers, provides the focus for this practitioner research. Both nationally and at School X, fewer disadvantaged students are opting for higher education and this intervention aims to raise students’ awareness of university so they may aspire to follow this path in the future. Furthermore, the participants are from Year 7 to ensure this process begins as early as possible and can help inform their Key Stage 4 subject decisions, taken in Year 8. This account begins with an introduction followed by a critical, wide-ranging literature review, examining research around: the benefits of going to university; evidence for a participation gap between disadvantaged students and their more-affluent peers; factors influencing the participation of disadvantaged students in higher education, including an exploration of Bourdieu’s cultural reproduction theory; and the impact of widening participation initiatives. Contrary to some policy-makers and, indeed, my own assumption, the initial small-group interviews did not reveal a ‘poverty of aspiration’ amongst the 29 participants with the vast majority aspiring to go to university. Rather, an absence of accurate knowledge of higher education was exposed and then addressed through a number of awareness-raising interventions, including a series of workshops, devised and delivered in collaboration with the Education Liaison Officer (ELO) of a local university (University Y). A detailed account of the original methodology (Plan 1) is presented, followed by an alternative plan (Plan 2) created in response to the Covid-19 national ‘lockdown’. Findings suggest this collaboration has been successful in raising awareness of university among disadvantaged Year 7 students.

Furthermore, the project seems to have capitalised on the already-existing aspirations with one student stating, at the end of the project, “I can’t wait, honestly”.

Finally, the implications of this research are considered, including the two institutions agreeing to continue this partnership on a long-term, sustained basis and the development of the Key Stage 3 PSHE curriculum.

Authors: Parry, D

• Type of award: MSc taught course
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Awareness; MLT2020; Disadvantaged; Higher Education; MLT; Aspiration
• Subjects: Education