The impact of restricted learning since the onset of the pandemic will undermine the education of secondary and sixth-form students for several years. The negative impact will be not only on achievements in 16 to 18 school qualifications but also on the extent to which students may be adequately prepared for their lives and studies at university.
Providing adequate preparations for university education has long been a problem for many schools and colleges. The pandemic crisis has caused additional and immense problems for students as they prepare for university. However, the crisis has also revealed that online learning may be delivered efficiently and most effectively.
This is the opportunity which may now be seized.
Target groups:
• school and college students especially in Years 9 to 12 whose education has been adversely affected by the pandemic, and therefore their schools and colleges; and,
• students from overseas who may now be more reluctant to attend UK universities.
Rationale:
Short-term issues:
Schools guide and advise students as they navigate their way through the pressurised weeks and months immediately prior to examinations, not just academically, but also pastorally: dealing with such pressures may have been pushed aside by the focus upon the pandemic; the issues arising from how individual students are able to cope will not be so clearly identified and supported. For example, how well any given student deals with serious stress may be delayed until they are confronted by assessments at university. Longer-term issues
Although many schools provide excellent programmes in life skills and study skills as part of their preparation for university and beyond, there is great variability in this provision across schools as revealed by inspections and indeed by the reactions of universities when students arrive.
Two key needs stand out:
• pastoral: health and welfare including mental health and dealing with stress, managing workloads, coping with isolation/friends
• practical: accommodation, finances, accessing university and student union services By addressing these needs effectively, improved guidance and experiences will better prepare students for successful university life and work.
Proposed mode of delivery:
One-hour online seminars for each unit to be conducted by relevant unit leader supported by unit tutors. Preparation for seminar specified ahead of the seminar as typical in university contexts, thus replicating probable seminar structures and approaches found at target universities. Students will be assigned online tasks for each unit and will be provided with feedback. Students who complete the suggested five units will be provided with a certificate acknowledging successful completion of the programme.
The proposed units of the programme:
1. Academic skills
• research methods in broad areas (such as humanities; social sciences; economics and business; physical, chemical and engineering sciences; biomedical; law; languages)
• statistical and numerical awareness
• using logic and reason to solve problems
• essay and dissertation writing skills
Seminar: discussion of research methods and using logic to solve problems.
Possible tasks: appraisal of relevant research method from selection provided in online text; review of video presentation on statistics; essay-planning; problem-solving tasks.
2. Academic skills applied to university approaches to learning
• approaches to reading and note-taking
• approaches to learning through lectures and seminars
• collaboration: working with others
• using libraries and digital resources effectively
Seminar: discussion of approaches to reading and note-taking (text and lectures) applied to exemplars and making best use of university seminars and workshops.
Possible task: making brief notes (no more than ten key summary points) on any two lectures from a selection provided.
3. Well-being 1
• dealing with variable workloads and working to absolute deadlines
• self-identifying the signs of stress and anxiety
• dealing with stress and anxiety
• seeking medical, health, psychological, SEND, and welfare advice and support
• practical welfare services provided by the university and by student unions
Seminar: stress and anxiety and coping mechanisms and seeking pastoral support for self and friends. Possible tasks: review of article on stress/anxiety; accessing a range of online well-being resources; review of online resources; review of services provided by target university/college.
4. Well-being 2
• coping with fears about debt
• financial and loan advice provided by the university administration
• coping with friends and peer pressures
• coping with loneliness and isolation
• dealing with the pressures of part-time jobs whilst studying
• for some: the pressures of living at home whilst working on a degree course
• accommodation services provided by the university
• the minefield of private accommodation and rental contracts
Seminar: peer pressure; finances; welfare services and how to access them; the private rental marketplace; managing workloads.
Possible tasks: unpicking legal implications of a standard rental contract; review of current student loan system and university support mechanisms; dealing with peer pressure; how to balance workloads and external pressures; review of zero hours contracts.
5. Academic knowledge
Challenges, which reinforce subjects covered during the sixth form but importantly look forward to university work, in each of seven broad subject areas.
Students would select challenges from specified areas for focused study:
v Mathematical, statistical, and economic studies
v Natural and medical sciences
v Engineering, technology and computing
v Social, historical, legal and political studies
v Linguistics and languages
v Literature and aesthetic/creative studies
v Philosophical and psychological studies
Seminars: one or more options for each broad subject area with subject specialist leading discussion on challenges.
Possible tasks: return to one of the two lectures on which you made brief notes for unit 2; review your notes; watch the lectures again and this time provide a 500-word review of one of these lectures, noting any significant points you did not understand in the lecture.
The way ahead:
Following discussions last year, I recruited a group of a dozen or so willing volunteers from schools and universities who would be able to assist in any trial of the programme, but resources (e.g. for filming seminars), a straightforward mode of certification, and university backing would be required to launch a successful programme.
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