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The Importance of Early Outreach
Lucy Rutter and Lizzie Fleming
The Importance of Early Outreach
BIS (2013) says:
‘Universities need to reach out to children in primary schools
if they want to increase the number of people from
disadvantaged backgrounds benefitting from higher
education…
‘... outreach needs to begin earlier – at primary school age –
and should then continue throughout school and college
in order to gain the maximum impact.’
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Research by the Children’s University suggests
that early outreach programmes do more than
enhance aspirations: amongst other things they
can enhance young people’s attendance,
attainment, and achievement. (MacBeath, 2013)
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Aspirations
‘After I visited the university I thought for the first
time maybe I could do that one day myself. I really
didn’t know before that what a university was.’
‘I thought that the afternoon was amazing I really
felt inspired and happy and I felt all my
imagination went wild.’
‘I thought it was an amazing day with the
University of Kent.’
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Attendance
‘Sometimes I think I’ll just stay in bed when I’m not
feeling well but I get up and go to school because
I hate to miss Children’s University.’
(10 year old boy, Chesterfield)
Page 5
Attainment
‘Of the 16 children the ambassadors support, 13 have
massively improved their SATs scores in the SAT practice
test they did last week.’
(Claire Ward, Oasis Academy Skinner Street)
‘Our data shows a direct correlation between success out of
the classroom and performance in school, particularly for
boys … The improvements in self-esteem seen as a result
of completing the Children’s University modules directly
translated into improved performance in the classroom.’
(Headteacher, primary school)
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Achievement
‘I really enjoyed having people from the university
here because I learnt a lot and loved making the
books.’
‘I loved it. Thank you and you have really inspired
me to write more poems.’
‘You do get better at learning things because all
the things you do in Children’s University are
about learning, and you’re not rushed or made to
write everything down or get marks, so you just
get better at learning anyway.’
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University of Kent’s outreach approach
A model where we reach out across the region,
but also focus in an identified area, working with a
particular neighbourhood, its secondary schools,
feeder primary schools, Surestart centres and
residents, community centres and projects.
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Our research suggests that the greatest impact is
achieved through outreach interventions which
are multiple and varied.
We measured the progression of students from groups who are least likely
to go to HE, following different levels of outreach activities. 30% of these
students in years 9-11 went on to go to HE after the had a talk from a
university. This rose to 43% if they had two outreach activities. If they had
three activities – a talk, a taster, a summer school, this rose to 51%.
Results from HESA
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Skyline
• A project to work with Brompton Academy to create an
artwork in the grounds of the new building
• A sculpture for the school community, designed by the
school community with local artist, Sam Holland
• Led by the Partnership Development Office at the
University of Kent working closely with Brompton
Academy, with involvement from the School of Arts and
other academic departments, for example working with
science, creative writing, performing arts, architecture
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Skyline Project
• Sculpture workshops for the whole school during assemblies
• A series of sessions embedded into the curriculum for all phase
one students
• School and community-wide competition to enter a design for
the sculpture
• Primary school workshops in sculpture and creative writing
• Family sculpture day, working with the artist at our School of
Arts in the Historic Dockyard
• Community evening courses in sculpture, creative writing,
social sciences
• People’s Panel; a blog; exhibitions; online voting
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Photos of primary workshops, community family
days
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‘Skyline’ involved six assemblies; 26
student ambassadors; 1000 pupils …
working with the school and the artist;
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Brompton Academy students each
contributed one piece of sculpture;
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installing the artwork made by the pupils;
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everybody involved will get the chance to blog,
including two particularly interested Y7 and Y9
pupils.
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Other work includes e.g. Shakespeare project
with the Globe; Local Legend which involved
storytelling; Da Vinci days
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‘... parental involvement in school is more than
four times as important in influencing performance
of young people aged 16 than socio-economic
class. Family learning is the most effective tool to
involve the parents of disadvantaged children.’
NIACE, 2009
Page 24
Going to university as an adult can have a
transformative effect upon a life, a family, and can
potentially affect a whole neighbourhood
• Strategic work with local partners like partner schools,
Porchlight, foster carers, military community centres
• Short inspiring courses for families or adults: at schools,
local community centres, children’s centres
• Access to Higher Education Diploma at Brompton
Academy during the evenings with carefully tailored
range of exciting and relevant subjects and skills
• Informal family learning courses and engaging visit days
on topics such as Learning Together, Family Robot
Challenge Day; Family Forensics; Picture This (a science
and photography family day); Crime and Mystery Day
Page 25
‘Recharge’ at Surestart Centres – an informal
course for the local community
Page 26
‘Picture This’ – a day for families on campus
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Universities can enrich, deepen and broaden the
curriculum in primary schools, work closely with
staff and support attainment
• A range of subject-based events held at the school,
including for example Poetry Circus; Happy Schools;
Astrodome; Rockets; Fantastic Mr Fox; Magic School
• Visits to campus, with exciting themed activities, for
example Light Fantastic; Photography, and a campus
tour
• Courses for parents/carers; staff and volunteers at the
school, for example Drop In and Plug In
Page 28
Fantastic Mr Fox – a primary outreach project
Lizzie Fleming
Page 29
‘Poetry Circus’ – part of the subject-based
activities at feeder primary schools
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‘Jenga’ games during a maths day
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1
32
106
144
110
I know a lot I know quite abit
I know a little I know very little Nothing
How much do you know about studying at a higher level, e.g. university? (401 responses, Year7-8)
We are interested in these questions:
• How should a university fulfill its responsibility to
communities?
• How would teachers and progression mentors
like universities to support them in raising
aspirations?
•When is it best to begin outreach activities: with
babies, toddlers, primary pupils, secondary pupils,
young people, mature adults?
•How can parental engagement assist with raising
the aspirations of young people in schools?
Page 38
• Should a university be working with a Surestart
centre that is concentrating its efforts on
extremely vulnerable families because of funding
cuts?
•How about a primary school in special measures
whose children are struggling to meet minimum
attainment targets?
•What about a grammar school where some
children would be the first in the family to attend
higher education?
Page 39
References
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. (2013) Working with
primary schools is key to getting disadvantaged young people into
university, [Online], Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ [1
May 2014].
MacBeath, J. (2013) Evaluating provision, progress and quality of learning
in the Children’s University, Cambridge, Faculty of Education
National Institute Adult Continuing Education. (2009) Making a difference
for adult learners, Leicester, NIACE
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The Importance of Early Outreach
