As a young boy, my parents always instilled in me the importance of a good education. Throughout my teenage years I worked hard at school to gain good qualifications in order to move on to university to study law.
In my years working with young people, it’s become apparent that education provides a solid foundation from which creativity in the workplace can emerge.
So it was encouraging to read that Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) will employ teachers for the first time in a bid to enable school pupils from deprived areas to take Advanced Higher qualifications.
The university was awarded nearly £1 million by the Scottish Funding Council as part of a project to recruit more students from disadvantaged backgrounds and will use the cash to establish a campus centre for pupils from 15 secondary schools across Glasgow.
A New Opportunity for Many
Under a partnership with Glasgow City Council, the hub will offer up to 200 pupils a year Advanced Higher courses in English, maths, chemistry, physics, biology, computing, modern studies, business management and history.
Pupils will travel from school to the university to study the courses and those who do particularly well will be given advanced standing to degree courses as part of moves to widen access.
The Advanced Highers Hub is part of GCU’s ongoing commitment to widening access to higher education, with 34 per cent of the university’s undergraduates already from disadvantaged backgrounds, compared with a Scottish average of just 27 per cent and comes amid growing concern over the availability of Advanced Highers.
It Made Me Laugh
A Common-Sense Solution
It’s always baffled me that although the qualification is increasingly seen as the best preparation for university that access to Advanced Higher subjects can be very limited in schools where few pupils want to take them.
This comes on the back of recent figures released that suggest Scotland’s elite universities are taking on small numbers of students from deprived backgrounds, despite repeated calls to widen access.
Scottish universities have been accused of failing their poorest students after these figures showed those from the most deprived backgrounds are more likely to drop out depending on where they study.
It Made Me Weep
Closing the Inequality Gap
The worrying statistics show universities including Aberdeen, Glasgow and St Andrews all have a large gap between the drop-out rate of the main student body and those from poorer backgrounds.
It’s a huge waste of potential when you consider the fact that only 5 per cent of the most deprived population are gaining five Highers.
However, this initiative will ensure that the most able pupils in disadvantaged areas are not denied the level of education they deserve especially at a time when budget cuts make it impossible to extend provision in schools.
Another benefit of the project will be that students who then apply to GCU will be given advanced status, thus reducing the time they will have to spend at university.
I am impressed with this programme and believe the commitment to widening access irrespective of background will help future students. Not only will young people from disadvantaged areas benefit from having a similar classroom teaching to their middle-class peers but they will also have a shared social experience by travelling to a university hub in Glasgow city centre.
This scheme will stand our young people in good stead and provide additional encouragement when they are deciding on their further education plans.
Programmes like this will tackle the inequality at an earlier stage and offer a practical, and overdue, solution to a missing link in the education system and I only hope that other universities take note.
After all, education is the best way to get ahead in life and should always support social mobility.
