How Widening Participation Practitioners Can Affect the Experience and Outcomes of WP Students at University

As a new cohort of WP students prepare to start university, Becca Kirk (Widening Participation Officer, University of Warwick) explores how WP practitioners can support WP students throughout the student lifecycle and help facilitate positive graduate outcomes.

Over the last 10 years, the approach to Widening Participation (WP) has shifted from predominantly outreach, to including the ‘participation’ part of our Access and Participation plans. There is a greater emphasis on support across the student lifecycle to narrow awarding and continuation rate gaps (the ‘on course risks’ in the Equality of Opportunity Risk Register) and preparing WP students with the relevant skills and experience to enable fair access to graduate professions.  

However, the million-pound question is: how can we, as WP practitioners make a difference to the experience and outcomes of WP students during their time at university? I’ve put together a list of my top tips, based on my experience of working with WP students across the student lifecycle in the School of Law at the University of Warwick.

Identify your Widening Participation students

There are many different definitions of WP across outreach programmes, institutions and employers. WP students also aren’t a single homogenous group, so the more information you can capture, the better.

The first step is to determine how many WP students you have and the backgrounds they have come from. This will help identify where your gaps in access are (which can feed back into outreach programmes), anticipate what support you might need to put in place, and the statistics you will inevitably need for reports and meetings throughout the year.

The next step is to identify individual students who meet WP indicators, and where possible, add what is already known about their background from their UCAS application, enrolment form and internal records. For example, if they received a contextual offer (and what grades they achieved), if they were part of any outreach programmes, their POLAR 4 quintile, if they receive a bursary, if they are a returner to study/mature student, or a care leaver. Fortunately, my university set up a dashboard a few years ago which covers most of this information, but it still requires compiling data from a range of different sources to get the full picture.

Let students know you’re there

Now we know who our WP students are, introduce yourself (or a designated point of contact) and explain what sort of advice and guidance you can give, and the range of opportunities you will share throughout the year. Get involved in Welcome Week, Departmental introductory sessions and transition programmes, as the first term can be the most difficult for WP students.

After the initial welcome, I send WP students fortnightly (ish) emails with details of upcoming events, scholarship programmes, work experience and jobs which are specifically targeted at under-represented groups, organised by the university, employers and charities. The sign off explains why the email has been sent to them, and the option to opt out – so far out of 600+ WP students who have received my emails, no one has asked to opt out (although I’m sure some just delete them …), in fact I get several requests a year from students wanting to be added to the mailing list. WP students are increasingly proud of their identity and want to be recognised and represented, so whilst WP labels should be used sensitively, don’t be afraid to use them.

Build a community of WP students

Diversity in teaching spaces is important, however if you are the only student from a WP background in the room, it can be isolating, affect your confidence to contribute and can lead to feelings of imposter syndrome. These feelings can be exacerbated in mature students, commuter students and those who are working alongside their studies, as they have fewer opportunities to interact with other students.

In one example, students were chatting about what they had got up to during Reading Week, all had been on holiday (mostly skiing), except a WP student who felt embarrassed to say they had worked in the local shop for the week. To help facilitate a sense of belonging in the department, we arranged first year seminar groups so students from underrepresented groups were with at least 2-3 students from similar backgrounds.

Our UG WP programme aims to help students navigate university and get the most out of their studies, access specific events and opportunities, meet others from similar backgrounds, and feel a valued part of the community. Students are invited to social events, trips, careers talks, mentoring programmes, and we promote the more WP focused student societies (and occasionally run collaborative events with societies as well). Some students work as ambassadors on outreach programmes, and others have provided feedback on the WP programme through focus groups, Student and Staff Liaison Committees, and student led research.

Whilst not all students will actively get involved in extracurricular activities, some students have said that it’s reassuring to know that there are students from similar backgrounds in the department, and the support is there should they need it.

Signposting and advising

Students and staff in your department/Faculty will ask for WP related advice on a range of topics, you may be able to help with some issues but you will also need to refer to other teams around the University. These teams could include Student Funding, Wellbeing Services, Careers and Accommodation, and teams who deal with mitigations and extensions, deferrals, or specific support for care leavers, estranged students, or refugees and asylum seekers. Network, attend meetings and stay up to date with policies and key contacts in these areas. Be prepared to provide WP updates, reports and recommendations to internal committees, reviews and strategies.

We trialled allocating WP students to personal tutors who had received additional training or had experience of working with WP students, and we would meet on a termly basis to review their progress. However, now 28% of our UG students are from WP backgrounds, most staff will have WP students in their tutor or seminar groups anyway, so we no longer need to do this. At the beginning of the academic year, I circulate some WP based guidance to academic staff, and the University also includes this in the training for personal tutors. Updates are given at staff meetings, and staff are encouraged to ask the WP Officer about individual enquires.

Is it working?

Academic experience has a significant impact on student engagement and outcomes, so continuation rate and awarding gap data should be reviewed at a departmental or course level. How does this compare to the targets set out in your Access and Participation plan and feed into university level initiatives? Every cohort is different, so there may be year on year variation, but overall trends are important. Deeper analysis and intersectional data may be required, for example is there a particular year of study, module or assessment type where gaps widen for groups of students? In which case we know where to focus our efforts.

However, the data can only indicate where the gaps are. To understand why, get feedback or run focus groups with WP students and staff in the department, and co-create initiatives to address gaps.

We should not take a deficit model approach, or expect WP students to change their outlook or behaviour to fit in. The most effective way to enhance the experience and outcomes of WP students is to understand their needs and adapt university settings, teaching and processes to be more inclusive.

About the author

Becca Kirk is the Widening Participation Officer for the School of Law, at the University of Warwick, and has worked in Outreach and Student Recruitment since 2013. She delivers a range of Law based outreach programmes, and works closely with Law UG students from widening participation backgrounds throughout the student lifecycle, supporting their transition, retention, success and progression.