Abstract

The role secondary schools play in raising student aspirations for, and
encouraging progression into, Higher Education through supported out�reach is important but often overlooked by both colleges and universities
alike. This article reports on our work within Uni Connect’s ‘Raising Higher
Education Aspirations’ programme in Lincolnshire which delivers targeted
university-inspiring transitional outreach activities to Year 9–13 students
from disadvantaged backgrounds with low levels of social and cultural
capital, little or no familial habitus of Higher Education and where Higher
Education participation is lower than expected. Specifically, this article
considers university-inspiring transitional outreach from the perspective
of six secondary school Uni Connect programme leads. Semi-structured
interviews conducted with school leads over a 12-month period between
October 2019 and November 2020 provided a unique insight into the
successes and challenges schools face in delivering aspirational Higher
Education outreach. In particular, the study found that the Uni Connect
programme was beginning to have a positive effect on students, with
some school leads reporting a cultural shift amongst students in their
attitudes towards Higher Education. Students were reported to be more
open to the possibility of going to university, more willing to explore the
different pathways available to them and more prepared to take part in
next steps conversations. Key to the programmes’ success was the relationship between school leads and the local partnership responsible for
delivering the programme. However, continued and timely delivery of
outreach, especially to Year 10 and 11 students, was viewed as the biggest
challenge during the ongoing Covid-19 climate.