There has been some good news recently for social mobility. This year saw another increase in the number of students starting university and the Office of Fair Access has found that 90% of universities and colleges have either met, or are on course to meet, their widening participation targets.
But other research has found that universities’ efforts to widen participation are missing out some key groups: young carers, young people in care, and poor school pupils who happen to live in affluent neighbourhoods.
So let’s take a moment to pause before we put out the bunting. Welcome though the government’s and Offa’s findings are, the headline figures mask a much more complex picture when it comes to who is getting access to university and who is being left out.
Part of the issue is the definition of “disadvantaged”. The widening participation benchmarks set for universities involve looking both at the proportions of students from areas of low participation and at their parents’ occupation. This may seem to be a reasonable definition on the surface, but recent research with widening participation departments by the University of the West of England suggests that numerous young people miss out and that the targets even distort the overall picture.
Our education charity, Brightside, has seen this at first hand in the work we do in rural and coastal communities in Kent, Hampshire and West Sussex. These areas are perceived as relatively well-off, so the disadvantage is often hidden. But as a consequence, these areas miss out on many university outreach schemes.
It’s easy to understand the reliance on post code data – it’s readily available and relatively straightforward to collect. But it does mean that many young people who are clearly deserving of additional support aren’t getting it.
The Carers Trust has also found that young people who care for relatives might not identify themselves as disadvantaged, and universities don’t ask for this information in their applications. Yet their caring commitments mean they may need greater support to get into and succeed at university.
Another group of young people who need more attention from universities are care leavers. While they can be targeted through their local authority, young people who become estranged from their parents after the age of 16 often go under the radar as a recent report from Stand Alone and Unite Foundation has pointed out.
Plus, a student finance system that primarily looks at parental income is tough for teenagers to navigate if they’ve lost touch with their parents.
It is really hard to reach all young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who, with some additional tailored and focused support, could thrive in higher education. But if we want widening participation to be a true exercise in widening social mobility, then we must rise to the challenge.
Free-school-meal data, for example, is a much more rounded measure of disadvantage. It is more difficult to collect, but we could start by making sure this data is shared much more readily with universities.
Universities themselves should broaden their focus and collaborate with third-sector organisations who can help them identify young people who could benefit from their outreach work. Specialist pastoral care, such as mentoring from other students who have overcome similar obstacles, should be available once young people reach university.
And just as importantly, the young people in question need to be made aware such support exists to encourage their applications in the first place.
So yes, hitting widening participation targets is crucial for the pursuit of social mobility, but let’s be sure that we are aiming in the right direction first.