Raising the Aspirations of North East Pupils

Durham University supports innovative projects to raise the aspirations of North East pupils and encourage more care-experienced students into higher education

The Durham-led ‘Shy bairns get nowt’ project involved Durham University Classics, Education, English and Psychology professors combining their expertise to support the teaching of oracy in primary and secondary schools in North East England.  

Studies have shown that oracy – verbal communication and listening skills – were negatively impacted by remote learning due to the Covid pandemic. Durham researchers worked with teachers to develop classroom resources for teaching oracy and visited schools to work with pupils to help them use their voices with confidence.

Together, Durham academics are creating a forum to share knowledge and experience to support teachers in the teaching of oracy. They are also working with colleagues in Norway, Spain, Slovenia, Poland and the USA to share their expertise via an international conference.

The project is funded by an Arts and Humanities Faculty Research Accelerator Award and is led by Arlene Holmes-Henderson, Durham’s Professor of Classics and Ancient History. In 2023, Prof Holmes-Henderson was made an MBE by King Charles III for Services to Education and her research into how oracy skills can contribute to social mobility and employability is helping inform UK education policy and practice.

She has worked with the Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group and the oracy education charity Voice 21 on a report titled Speak for Change, published in 2021. The report is cited as informing the Labour Party’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, finding that stronger communication skills are associated with better behaviour at school and improved long-term outcomes.

Working in partnership

In line with Durham University’s commitment to breaking down barriers to education, the University is also part of the award-winning North East Raising Aspiration Partnership (NERAP).

NERAP consists of five North East universities – Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside. The universities work together to fund pre-16 outreach activity where economies of scale and added value are gained through a collaborative approach. This activity focuses on joint representation school visits to highlight the higher education opportunities in the region, and targeted work to support care-experienced students and young carers throughout their educational journey.

Care-experienced is defined as someone who, at any stage of their life, and for any length of time, has been in care such as under local authority care or foster care. This group is hugely under-represented in higher education and can face unique and additional barriers that require tailored support. Through the NERAP partnership, all five universities signed up to the Care Leaver Covenant to ensure support for care-experienced students is sustained throughout their higher education journey. This means that students who choose to study at any of the NERAP universities will be guaranteed continued support to access, succeed and progress. This includes a broad range of measures including tailored UCAS and Student Finance application advice, help with moving into term-time accommodation and hosting targeted careers and employability sessions.

In 2023 NERAP’s work in developing the Regional Care Leaver Covenant core offer was recognised with a Widening Access Partnership of the Year accolade at the National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) awards. The judges praised the strong, committed partnership between the five universities, their dedication to supporting underrepresented groups and for being sector-leading in the work with care-experienced students.

Facts & Figures

  • Durham University offers an annual bursary of between £200 and £2,000 for students with household incomes of between £25,000 and £42,875

Links