"Lucy was amazing"
A CASE STUDY ON SEVERAL YOUNG PEOPLE WHO HAVE ENGAGED WITH HIGHER HORIZONS
A school in Cheshire
In March 2023 Higher Horizons conducted a focus group with eight Year 10 learners at a school in Cheshire to discuss higher education and their sustained engagement with Uni Connect. Over the course of a year, Lucy, one of our outreach practitioners, opened their eyes to what HE could offer but also calmed their nerves on what HE required of them.
All the learners came from areas identified by the Office for Students as having low progression rates to university education. The school itself is an 11-16 mixed secondary academy in a town where six wards are ranked in the top 20% most deprived in England (ONS). The learners came to Lucy with a basic awareness of the benefits of university, especially in terms of job prospects, but did not necessarily see themselves as part of that. Many just did not know what a university involved, while others saw barriers outweigh any benefits.
At Higher Horizons we know effective outreach is not one-off conversion, but incremental progression. Between March 2022 and March 2023 Lucy organised advisory talks, experiential visits, and developmental workshops, and in doing this addressed the perceptions and fears these learners had regarding higher education. The finance talks gave the learners up-to-date accurate information on what was for many the most controversial aspect of HE. The campus visits were often centred around a particular subject such as Archaeology and Forensics, and gave them real hands-on experience of what university was like. More recently, as they settle into their GCSE’s, the learners were involved in a writing programme where they conducted research, wrote essays, and received academic feedback, honing their skills for their current studies, but also tackling any academic imposter syndrome at the same time.
The learners were empowered by these activities, going from ‘never’ going to have enough and ‘never’ going to pay it back to something ‘achievable’. One learner could now say, ‘I can do that’. Feedback they secured on their essays also reassured them – something they always struggled with had now ‘definitely improved’ and others were ‘surprised’ with how positive the feedback was. Again, the message received was that this was something they could do. The campus visits were an eye-opener with one learner appreciating the everyday aspects of a campus – shops, cafes, etc. Others were inspired with one learner embracing the lifestyle, declaring it ‘definitely for me’. Talking to Lucy, someone they could relate to, made HE relatable. The school’s aspiration lead notes that “all pupils who have worked with Lucy have spoken really positively of the effects that working with her has had.” Increasingly they can identify with university rather than just appreciate it from a distance; it isn’t just something other people do, they can do it too. To explore what more these learners had to say and more on the work that Higher Horizons does, read the full report here.
