New funding to help 16-24 years olds ‘step up’ to higher education
Staffordshire University has received a funding boost to help break down barriers to higher education for young people across the region.
For more than 10 years, the Step Up to Higher Education course has been supporting students who want to return to education and develop the key academic skills needed for university level study.
To date, the course has worked with some of Stoke-on-Trent’s most disadvantaged learners. Thanks to funding from the Community Renewal Fund, the University is now looking to widen its reach with help from ‘Step Up Mentors’ who are currently on the course and a host of digital and outreach activities.
Ashley Cotton, Step Up Programme Manager, explained: “It’s very much about amplifying what we do through Step Up and being able to engage with the swathes of untapped potential within the local area. There will be people who may never have thought of going to university and would really value extra help to boost their confidence and self-belief before they get there.
“Through our new Step Up mentoring and coaching initiative we are going to do some work before students enrol on the Step Up course through workshops but also one-to-one support to see what their hopes and ambitions are and how the University can help.”
Step Up to Higher Education is part of the Youth, Employment and Skills (YES) Consortium which received £527,466 through the Community Renewal Fund as part of the government’s levelling up agenda. The project, led by YMCA North Staffordshire, brings together a dynamic network of partners who will work within the local community to help young people, aged 16-24, who are not in education or employment.
Working with individuals furthest from the labour market the project will engage and support individuals in finding training and employment opportunities on a ‘tailor-made’ basis.
Kate Rowley, studying BSc (Hons) Psychology, is one of the new Step Up Mentors and will work alongside fellow students Nester Shingler, Simone Worsley and Lindsay Williams to inspire and support more people to follow in their footsteps.
The 23-year-old from Etruria said: “In high school I didn’t really fit in and the curriculum didn’t appeal to my learning style. There was no room for me really and I left with no qualifications.
“I was a very angry person at the time. Very angry at educational institutions, very angry at the world, very angry at myself that I’d failed, so my self-esteem wasn’t very good. After coming onto the Step Up to HE course I didn’t feel angry anymore, I felt appreciated.”
The mentors will create regular blogs and vlogs with advice about the Step Up to Higher Education course as well as provide one-to-one support to people who would like to join the programme.
Kate added: “When I had my interview with Ashley, it was like a switch clicked in my head. Never before in my educational life had someone listened to my thoughts, my values and my way of doing things. I felt like Step Up was all about appreciating my differences.
“I want to be a Step Up Mentor and help others because there are so many people out there who have potential but no one has ever sat down and said ‘let me help you’. That’s what Step Up did for me and I think that’s what Step Up can do for these amazing people.”
The 10 week course Step Up to Higher Education starts on 25 April 2022 with further intakes in September and January. Find out more about Step Up to Higher Education and how you can apply or keep up-to-date with the support offered by the Step Up Mentors via our Twitter pages, @StaffsStepUP and @YES_Stoke.
