“University is a waste of time” Myths and methods in engaging parents in widening access work Dr. Graeme Atherton, Director, National Education Opportunities Network (NEON)

NEON 90 organisations/500+ individuals Funded by subscription Professional organisation for access to higher education in England Access Academy NEON News Working Groups NEON Awards NEON Symposium Research e.g. Early 2014, ‘Does Cost Matter’?

Apsirations are not ‘low’ ‘children and parents from low income families have high aspirations and value school, and that parents by and large try their best to support their children’s education. There is evidence that teachers and other professionals may underestimate the aspirations of socio-economically disadvantaged children and parents and not appreciate the importance with which school is viewed…. Cummings C, et al (2012) Can changing aspirations and attitudes impact on educational attainment? A review of interventions York: JRF

But are they high? Survey of 7000 parents – children at age 9 – Goodman, A & Gregg, O (eds) (2010) Poorer Children’s Educational Attainment: How important are attitudes and behaviours? York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Parents and education ‘control’ Goodman & Gregg (2010)

Parents and education ‘control’ Previous graph shows: Parents from lower socio-economic groups feel less in control, believe less in school But this does not mean they do less with their children at 9 years old.

Parental Engagement in Education DEs are slightly more likely to feel very involved in the children’s education (42% vs 37% of ABC1s). more likely to be involved in practice in helping with dinner duties and school trips & they are significantly less likely to get involved in PTAs, to take their children to museums and galleries, to play sport with them and to do school projects together. different perceptions of what being very or fairly involved means. Thus DEs are more likely to definitely agree that they know everything they need to know about their child’s education, despite the fact that children’s educational attainment is often lower for this group. DEs are less likely to not feel very confident in helping with homework and more likely not to understand the work that the child does less likely to feel very confident when talking to teachers less likely to find written information very easy to understand. Survey of 2000 parents in Moon, N & Ivins, C (2004) Parental Involvement in Children’s Education. London: BIS

NEON 2015 Working with Parents Survey Responses from 21 institutions Across mission groups and institutional types Will be developed into a NEON report Strong interest in a NEON working group

What is being delivered? 11 activities integrated into learner focused projects – e.g. information sessions for those parents whose children participating in a particular project 10 activities ‘separate’ – stand-alone and focused entirely on parents

Commonalities Information focused Relatively short – 1 – 3 hours Not thoroughly evaluated ‘Informal’ in delivery Some concentrate on particular learner groups – e.g. foster carers

Commonalities Some examples of printed materials Some issues with ‘hard to reach’ parents Concentrated mainly, not solely though, on younger learners – up to year 8 Association with learning of children

Case Study 1:University of Derby Family information evenings aimed at year 10 (4.5 hours including taster session) and year 12/13/Level 3 students (1.5 hours) 438 students/parents attended 90/100% ‘positive evaluation’ of the experience by parents

Case Study 2: Cumbria Parents/carers Summer University Graduation Ceremony and Pre-briefing event 70% parental attendance and over 300 family members ‘Mum and dad don’t want me to move away but really enjoyed visiting Cumbria’ Male parents/carers feel trepidation visiting university for the first time

Case Study 3: University of York Science is for Parents Too – 20 week initiative covering Key Stage 2 national curriculum 2013/14 – 235 parents at primary level – courses delivered in mornings and online Independent evaluation All parents increased knowledge of science & children’s knowledge of science increased Parents did it for the children Very apprehensive of ‘university’ at the beginning

Case Study 4: Keele University Parents ambassador scheme Trained parents without HE experience who support their children from entry to graduation Work on Visit days/Parent IAG events/Careers and options evenings/

Views of parents Lack knowledge about HE and how to apply Concerns about finance Positive about HE itself Examples of ‘HE not for likes of them’ attitudes

Your challenge You have £10,000 Design an intervention that by working with parents will support the progression of young learners from widening access backgrounds into HE Aim, Objectives, Method, how funds used

Things to consider Target group (young people and parents) Accessing the ‘hard to reach’ Collaborative or individual Integrated or stand-alone What does evidence tell us?