Session 17: Education for All - From West Derby to LJMU: using the authentic student voice

Abstract

The Outreach Team has worked with West Derby School for over 15 years, through delivery of sustained widening access programmes - such as the current Access All Areas initiative, targeted at young males from under-represented backgrounds. The presentation will focus on a case study from Cameron Askew, a current LJMU Student in the Liverpool Business School and past pupil of West Derby School. Cameron engaged with multiple widening access programmes delivered by the Outreach Team and will explore the benefits of these interactions and how they prepared him to apply and subsequently succeed at LJMU.

Cameron currently works as a third year placement student within the Outreach Team and will outline how he is actively delivering inspirational sessions to the next generation of West Derby students and beyond. The session will demonstrate the impact of using representative students in delivering outreach to support the university's widening access and student recruitment targets. Evaluation will be covered highlighting how this work links to the university's access and participation plan strategy in line with OFS and TASO guidance.

As widening access programmes seek to encourage broader participation in higher education, the established constructs around human capital and models of inclusivity are increasingly challenged. The session also demonstrates how subject specific widening access initiatives can be tailored to support under-represented groups in Liverpool’s high-school communities evaluate their post-18 options by constructing bespoke experiences built around the individual needs of pupil groups. In celebrating the personal reference points of high-school pupils and linking to elements of popular-culture, the individual needs of marginalised groups are considered in equitable quantity to strategy targets of the university.

The session will further cover how the outreach strategy is informed by Liverpool City Region data that identifies schools with the highest percentage of disadvantaged learners. Through partnership with local school and college contacts, the university directly contributes to the institutional Place and Partnership Strategy, and through its use of the authentic student voice positively promotes the LJMU student experience.

Education for All - From West Derby to LJMU: using the authentic student voice PowerPoint.  Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource.