For the first time this year, for 2023 entry, UCAS forms are asking students to identify whether they have parental responsibility. We will, for the first time, have consistent data on our incoming student-parent cohorts.
But how will we support them? What will we put in place to ensure our student-parents feel they are a genuinely valued cohort, whose wellbeing, sense of community, retention, progression and success matter to us?
Unlike many cohorts attending university under the Widening Participation agenda, student-parents are not considered by the Office for Students to be an underrepresented group. They are not, therefore, required to feature in institutional Access & Participation Plans, meaning that student-parents, and their needs, frequently go undetected by their institutions and departments.
During this webinar, Andrea Todd from the University of Chester will take us through the findings of her research project, undertaken during 2021 and 2022, which (a) sought to understand what student-parents need from their institutions, (b) devised interventions to support these needs, and (c) garnered student-parents’ views on whether these interventions worked for them.
Andy will take us through the thinking behind her practical, yet research-informed, publication ‘A Practical Toolkit: Eight Steps to Identifying, Supporting and Celebrating Student-Parents’ (available on the Resources page of the UKAT website) and will share her personal experiences of providing student-parent specific tutor support and of establishing and moderating a departmental peer support group, both of which have been welcomed by student-parents.
Participants will leave the session with practical ideas as to how personal tutoring and related interventions can assist in identifying, supporting and celebrating this highly motivated cohort.