Widening access to higher education through family-centred, summer school provision: a critical reflection

Widening access to HE‐family centred summer schools

“…And the recent research conducted by Hoare and Mann (2011) for the Sutton Trust and carried out at Bristol University clearly supports summer school intervention and cites research which shows that young people have a much higher chance of going on to a leading university if they attend one of the week long university summer schools Hoare and Mann (2011). UWN research would forward similar data for adults (Richardson, 2010). Gorard et al (2007) cites both Thomas and Slack (2000) and McLinden (2003) when he suggests that for intervention strategies to have the "greatest positive effect on young people" it is important to recognise that "activities need to involve parents in Year 9" (Thomas and Slack, 2000), and that through the limited research available on intervention strategies, evidence suggests that parents, "particularly mothers (McLinden, 2003) were considered the main influence on young people's decision making" (Gorard, et al 2007, p. 75) in education.…”

“…While there are various other good examples of summer school activity across the UK -the purpose of this paper is to show that the focus of such activity often remains tied to specific, individual target groups which rarely addresses issues such as intergenerational or family learning (Richardson, 2010) at HE level. Not only this, it is rare for these interventions to be fully evaluated and measured locating post-summer school tracking and activity such as changing perceptions of HE; increased access to HE from lower socioeconomic groups; increases in young person engagement in education; and the long-term benefits to learning of family engagement in summer school incentives.…”

“…For instance, one of the critical factors noted by Maras (2007), Paterson and Iannelli (2007) (among others) that they claim reduces the effect of intervention programmes on the more disadvantaged, is not necessarily the direct influence of social class or social disadvantage but the interest expressed for learning -shared among parents of socially disadvantaged families (Maras, 2007). What this suggests is that for there to be an affective impact on family perceptions of university access initiatives must be able to measure, address and evidence the significant gaps between perceptions and experience of HE at both individual and family levels (Maras, 2007;Richardson, 2010) because often barriers to learning are inherited through the family.…”

“…This impact has a corresponding affect on raising motivation for further study at other levels across the learning journey (HEFCE, 2006). Furthermore, much of the literature surrounding HEI summer school provision (including Michalski et al, 2003;EKOS Consulting, 2007;Maras, 2007;Richardson, 2010;Cole and Fraser, 1999) continues to suggest that such widening participation, intervention strategies such as summer schools, are affective at raising confidence, reducing perceptual barriers to HE and increasing aspiration for further study not just for young people but also across the age spectrum. This continues to suggest that one area for research attention is that related to family and young people engagement.…”

“…With the exception of the early work undertaken by the author within the University of Wales, Newport's Community to Campus Summer School (Richardson, 2010), there otherwise remains a lack of research and evaluation locating family influenced summer school intervention strategies, both in Wales and at a UK level. This is a continuing dilemma, because understanding how affective collaborative summer school approaches to widening participation within a family learning framework are, which also supports and develops intergenerational learning, at least as this paper would argue, remains an important research task and widening access opportunity.…”