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Universities Working with Primary Age Children for the Democratization of Access to Higher Education
Across the world, access to higher education is not equitable. There is a direct link between where a young person grows up and the chances of them progressing to higher education. It is a global reality that in some streets 8/10 young people go to University, whilst in others this can be less than 8/100, (and in some streets even lower than this). It is also well known that children growing up in poorer families emerge from school with substantially lower levels of educational attainment. Such ‘achievement gaps’ are a major contributing factor to patterns of social mobility. A multi layered and multi sector response is required and this paper addresses the role of the higher education sector in this crucial aspect of the social inclusion agenda. It focuses on one specific delivery model, Professor Fluffy, and contextualizes this within the growing moment of Children’s Universities across Europe.
Historical, socio, economic, cultural and educational factors, all play significant and defining roles in the life chances of communities with low progression to higher education. These factors are also the reasons why an individual is more, or less likely to engage in post secondary education. National inequalities based on income, gender, ethnicity, location and other factors can block a child’s educational attainment. ‘Overcoming inequality: why governance matters’ UNESCO Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2009. Research shows that there is a relationship between disadvantage and educational achievement, young people from low socio economic groups are still under-represented in higher education. Inequalities in achievement of children from low and high income backgrounds emerge extremely early. Rowntrees May 2010: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/educational-attainment-poor-children Raising aspirations in young people from areas of multiple deprivations is a key priority for many governments. Since its inception ten years ago, the University of Liverpool’s innovative Professor Fluffy Primary Project has worked with over 50,000 children aged from nine to eleven years (this number is growing exponentially as the resources develop). At the same time, the role of the higher education sector in raising aspirations is being increasingly understood e.g. “The early years are critical as this is where social class and income inequalities emerge”, National Council for Educational Excellence Report, UK Government, October 2008. Children’s Universities have also been growing over the last decade, particularly in German speaking countries . However, there is no one single organisational model – they range from a series of events over the year (after school sessions, out-of-school-hours programmes etc) to specific annual events (summer schools or similar). EUCU.NET, the European Children’s University Network, was established in 2006, after two years of piloting it now includes 122 partners in 22 countries and will continue networking activities as a non-profit membership organisation from 2010.
The key objective of Professor Fluffy is, ‘to promote a culture of learning and academic achievement by encouraging children and parents to recognise the value of further and higher education.’ This is coupled with clear targeting at young people within schools where progression to higher education is least likely. The EUCU.NET Declaration on Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, Brussels 2010, stated that: “Our society needs the talents, abilities and skills of children from poor and socially excluded backgrounds. Their presence in our universities and democracies as adults, adds diversity and wealth to our society, and in doing so, destroy stereotypes.”
The University of Liverpool’s Professor Fluffy project offers a supportive and targeted approach to introducing young people to the concept of a learning journey which gives them an understanding of the importance of education and how it impacts on their lives. This project enables nine to eleven year olds and their parents, from low participating neighbourhoods, to think about the choices to make and opportunities they have, which will help them form decisions about their own future. http://www.liv.ac.uk/educational-opportunities/primary/index.htm Independent report: http://www.ahgtm.ac.uk/primary/?page_id=2192 There are several intervention models which allows the project to reach young people locally, regionally and nationally. Altogether in the period between 2007 and 2009, the Professor Fluffy Primary Project brokered 36 partnerships with Further Education Colleges, Higher Education Institutions and Aimhigher Partnerships across the country, as well as developing links with 602 schools which enabled the participation of over 25,000 young people. Children’s Universities have received growing attention in the education debate in recent years. Every year since 2002 in Continental Europe, an average of 20 Children’s Universities have started up. Universities simultaneously working with children and young people with lectures, workshops and demonstrations. They have been acknowledged by official authorities as suitable vehicles to communicate and to boost enthusiasm for science and technology from the earliest age possible, but they are also a symptom of something deeper occurring. The EUCU.NET project has successfully linked up and networked practitioners across Europe and beyond. As practitioners, the strength of these links have been tangible, joint learning and sharing of experiences to the benefit of both parties. One visible change has been the contextualising of activities more broadly. Many practitioners are very focused on their own institutions, their own activities, maybe putting these into a regional and/or national context but not really looking very far beyond that. EUCU.NET has really opened up the thinking of those involved, leading to a growth in understanding, that although there are many different types of delivery with different funding and institutional and national priorities etc, the reality is that the same changes are occurring: Universities working with children, sowing the seeds of progression into higher education, through making science fun and engaging to them. There has also been a growing prominence of the impact of these activities on the institutions themselves and beyond. Many senior managers in universities really like turning up to hand out certificates to large groups of happy and engaged children, however on closer inspection, in some institutions, these activities are having a more than superficial impact and there is a growing number where the activities are making other changes to occur. These are most visible when the activities become more focused around the social inclusion agenda. The social dimension of Bologna, though not hugely impactful is starting to become part of the consciousness of the European higher education sector. So the move from ‘science activities for young people’ to ‘widening participation by minority groups’ is beginning to gain greater credence across Europe. Reflected in the EUCU.NET Declaration on Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.
The Primary Project offers a supportive approach to introducing young people to the concept of a learning journey which can give them an understanding of the importance of education and how it can impact on their lives. The models work with a range of high quality, curriculum linked resources which can be taken home to reinforce the message with parents/caregivers. Clear targeting guidelines ensures that the project is a suitable vehicle to improve the life chances of all young people regardless of their socio-economic status. This is a well established project which is delivered locally, regionally and nationally with clear aims and objectives to provide positive, aspiration and awareness raising interventions to young people who may not otherwise be offered such an opportunity. (HEFCE Primary Pilot Evaluation Report2010, Jo McNeill). Kids Universities are not just a wonderful idea, they are important to our prosperity and success in Europe. We simply must find ways over getting more young people into science if we want to have enough researchers in the future. We need urgently to find ways to reverse that trend and I think Children's Universities are part of the solution. (Janez Potonik, EU-Commissioner for Science and Research, EUCU.NET conference, 2009)
Universities are full of academics who, by definition, are successes of the existing higher education systems. However we are living in a rapidly changing world and universities need to change. This will not involve changing the students of the future to fit into the old system, the successful institutions will be the ones that find a way to listen, to learn and to change. Fundamental to this is to find ways to listen and to learn from children, as they are our future. The Professor Fluffy delivery model and Children’s universities offer innovative ways of doing this.
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