Alignment of research and practice
Professor Anna Mountford-Zimdars, Director (Practice) Centre for Social Mobility
“Evidence, research and evaluation are absolutely critical in informing and shaping the University’s considerable programme of activity to widen access and support student success.
Knowing ‘what works’ and why, drives continuous improvement with the aim of realising positive impacts for students.
One of the key strengths of Success for All is the active collaboration between academics, professional staff and students, to move this agenda forward.
More broadly our research, particularly through the Centre for Social Mobility enable us to create a test bed for innovation, contribute evidence and ideas to support social mobility within our region and aid national policy development.”
Alignment of research and practice
Professor Anna Mountford-Zimdars, Director (Practice) Centre for Social Mobility
“Evidence, research and evaluation are absolutely critical in informing and shaping the University’s considerable programme of activity to widen access and support student success.
Knowing ‘what works’ and why, drives continuous improvement with the aim of realising positive impacts for students.
One of the key strengths of Success for All is the active collaboration between academics, professional staff and students, to move this agenda forward.
More broadly our research, particularly through the Centre for Social Mobility enable us to create a test bed for innovation, contribute evidence and ideas to support social mobility within our region and aid national policy development.”
Centre for Social Mobility
The impact of school lockdowns on disadvantaged students, policy loopholes affecting negatively home-schooled children, and the social mobility challenges faced by the South West region, were among the issues investigated by the Centre for Social Mobility.
The UK’s first dedicated to improving social mobility through evidence-informed practice and policy, the Centre was highly commended for innovation in the UK Social Mobility Awards.
Developed collaboratively with professionals, practitioners and other stakeholders, the Centre’s goal is to help disadvantaged young people to access higher education and succeed at university and in adult life.
Closer to home, the Centre has supported a number of collaborative projects across the University to explore and test approaches to improving student outcomes.
A particular focus in the last year has been education with three projects devising toolkits, resources and approaches to inclusive education and decolonisation.
Report focuses on low social mobility
Business, education, government and charity leaders in the South West were presented with the shocking finds of a report into social mobility in the South West.
The recent event was the culmination of a year-long research project led by Professor Lee Elliot-Major and Dr Anne-Marie Sim which demonstrated that the South West has some of the lowest level of social mobility in the UK.
The report found gaps in classroom attainment between poorer pupils and their peers in the South West are the largest of all English regions at the end of both primary and secondary school.
Just 17 per cent of disadvantaged students in the region went on to university in 2018/19 compared with 45 per cent in London.
The research supported by the Centre, was funded by the Cobalt Trust, and calls on the region to set up a Social Mobility Commission to drive forward change.
Home schooled students are disadvantaged
The pandemic has affected all students currently working towards national qualifications.
However, the impact on Home Educated young people has been unprecedented. Research led by Joanna Merrett and Professor Anna Mountford-Zimdars research has shown that up to 50% of Home Educated young people have SEND with a significant number coming from single parent families and low-income families.
Home Educated young people have historically faced mixed results when it comes to gaining entry to further and higher education. The research, supported by the Centre for Social Mobility, showed that during the pandemic gaining access to FE and HE education has become increasingly difficult, with many students having lost their conditional offers due to exam cancellations and missing grades.
Results were shared with policy makers and attracted national media attention.
Small grants, big impacts
There is a whole community within the University seeking to improve access to Higher Education and positive student outcomes beyond.
The Centre for Social Mobility’s small grants scheme seeks to position itself in the centre of this community by engendering theory-based practice, providing a focal point for skills and experience of different perspectives to join together.
Projects are supported each year to develop research and practice that could improve social mobility opportunities for prospective, or current students.
The scheme has been successful in providing a grassroots pathway for research ideas to be developed by members of the University of Exeter community, in many cases leading to academic contributions and / or resources that can be integrated into the University of Exeter policies and practice.
Students were often involved as co-researchers and co-creators of resources, strengthening the credibility of these projects due to the strong student voice.
Output from projects undertaken this year included: a systematic literature review to synthesise evidence relating to the inclusive curriculum leading to a journal article and student workshops; a seminar series to support a decolonial discourse within the Graduate School of Education and creation of video resources to support those reflecting on their own teaching practice; the use of Lego Serious Play® to help under-represented students improve their employability; and the creation of a collaborative guide to support the transition of students to university following the pandemic.
Success for All Student Panel
A student panel has been set up to encourage students to get engaged with debates and issues relating to building an inclusive university community.
Led by Professor Vrinda Nayak, Associate Academic Dean for Students (Racial Equality and Inclusion), the initiative involves student EDI reps from the across the University in termly meetings and provides opportunities for the exchange of ideas and feedback.
Data helps decision-making
Monitoring our progress in improving access to, and success in, higher education for under-represented groups is essential, in order to understand the impact of the actions we are taking to close gaps in outcomes.
Colleagues in the Access, Participation and Outreach team and PPBI launched a suite of data tools and dashboards in the Management Information Hub to improve access to information to help decision-making. The hub also includes a short video guide on how to use the report.
Unlocking information to support students
Guidance has been produced for staff to clarify how personal student data such as ethnicity, gender and disability, may be used appropriately to take positive action to provide information and support for students.
Produced by the Access, Participation and Outreach team with Information Governance colleagues, the guidance aims to unpick some of the common grey areas related to processing personal data including: targeted emails to students; data sharing between departments and third parties; using data for evaluation and using data for academic research.