Session Outline

In this session you will hear about the co-created Exeter Experience Week with care-experienced young people, designed to support personal development and to inform tutoring practices.

The session links most closely with the Engagement theme of the conference, considering the value of co-creating knowledge, and seeking the voice of experience, to enhance our understanding of underrepresented groups. In addition there is a strong thread of connection and partnership, between university staff and potential students, leading to better support of current students.

Grounded in the principles of relational pedagogy and "nothing about us without us", this intervention aligns with the widening participation agenda. Specifically, the team at Exeter engaged with underrepresented young adults to develop a suite of resources, for tutors, to improve support for students from underrepresented groups. We actively sought, and valued, the lived experience that was shared so generously.

At the end of July 2024 we hosted a work experience week for care experienced young people, aged 18-20, to help them to support us to develop resources and support strategies specifically relating to underrepresented students. The young people spent the week working with the Educator Development team, and staff from across the university. They engaged in workshops and creative activities to learn about resource design, effective research techniques, digital skills, teaching, learning, and assessment and effective Personal Development Planning among others. They had dedicated, supported time throughout the week to be working on their resources. This culminated in a Resource Showcase on the Friday afternoon, where the students had the opportunity to present their resources to a number of university staff and external stakeholders.

We were keen to ensure that this work experience would not be a ‘desk based’ filing and photocopying role, as so many work-experience offers can be. If our small team was to offer this experience, we wanted the it to be as fruitful and engaging as possible. We wanted to ensure that the young people came away with something meaningful.

We planned the week very carefully to ensure that we created and maintained a safe space for the young people to be working in. We began by encouraging them to self-assess using the kind of traditional templates that they would come across in future studies and future employment. We began with the SWOT analysis discussing what it what meant and how it could benefit them on a personal level. From this we helped each individual to complete a personal development plan which would help them to identify their own targets for the week and beyond.

During the week we ensured that we involved colleagues from across the university and also worked in different spaces on campus. This was done intentionally in order to boost the cultural capital of the young people; helping them to feel at home in the university setting. The young people were able to develop and practise new skills. For example, they gave many presentations to each other, essentially microteaches, effectively rehearsing for an end of week showcase

These young people created during this week a suite of resource addressing finance for care-experienced students, trauma informed tutoring, and the traits of a supportive tutor. These resources were amazing. The outputs are polished, professionally created, and embedded in lived experience.

Using Empathy Mapping, conference delegates will reflect on this initiative and explore how to adapt this model for future iterations with other student groups, for use within their own context.

Learning Outcomes

Bibliography