Steph Copsey, Outreach Manager at the University of East Anglia and former Academic Support volunteer, reflects on the impact of IntoUniversity centres and the importance of a student-centred and holistic approach to access work.
I believe that the magic of IntoUniversity lies in the child-centred approach they take to their work. Through this approach, IntoUniversity staff help the children reflect upon the skills and knowledge they already have and enable them to take it even further. Importantly, they do this through a completely different approach to the curriculum, whilst still enabling an intellectually-stimulating experience for the children.
A little moment that sticks out to me is when we tackled the topic of Anthropology. We’re very lucky at the Norwich centre to have students from lots of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds attend the centre, including two brothers whose family is originally from Portugal. Whilst covering the topic, we got talking about the Portuguese customs that they have in their home. The boys were so excited to share their language and traditions. The next week at Academic Support, they brought in some Pastel de Natas they had made at home to share with the group.
“I believe that the magic of IntoUniversity lies in the child-centred approach they take to their work.”
It was pure joy to see the children share and enjoy each other’s habits and customs. The staff proactively made the time in the session and encouraged the boys to give a presentation about their home. Being able to do so really brought the subject to life for the young people and it was such a privilege to see their confidence grow in both the topic and their pride in their family’s country of origin.
It’s only through the student-centred approach of the staff and their proactiveness in adapting their approach to meet student needs, that we see this impact. If you enter into a partnership with IntoUniversity, it’s this holistic approach that you can expect. Within an outreach team, we get to see a young person a handful of times in a year. But with the addition of IntoUniversity’s work, there is an opportunity to build meaningful long-term connections with young people outside of the school environment.
It’s these connections that allow the very best support and guidance to be offered. As a result, we have a group of children that identify their local IntoUniversity centre as a safe and supportive environment where they’re not only seen but celebrated.
IntoUniversity now works with 28 university and college partners in 32 communities across England and Scotland. Since 2011, partner universities have hosted over 3000 campus visits and provided over 3000 volunteers.
