School of something FACULTY OF OTHER Lifelong Learning Centre Study of Intergenerational Aspiration Raising: Interim Findings Olivia Garvey and Libby Clark

School of somethingFACULTY OF OTHERLifelong Learning Centre

Study of Intergenerational Aspiration Raising: Interim Findings

Olivia Garvey and Libby Clark

Communities and Partnerships Team

Lifelong Learning Centre

University of Leeds

Context

• Proven correlation between parental education and highest qualification, and children’s school attainment (Holmlund et al, 2006).

• Research shows that children of adults with poor literacy and numeracy, fare worse than the other children in the same classroom (Bynner & Parsons, 2006).

• Anecdotal evidence gathered from adult education colleagues and learners from our aspiration-raising projects, highlights a link between adult learning

and young people’s aspirations to HE.


Rationale

• Generally regarded as a ‘truth’ - widely accepted in the field of adult learning and beyond, however…

• Significant omission of empirical evidence on the intergenerational effects of adult learning in current UK literature. What little exists relates to parents of primary age children, not secondary.

• Current climate of continued cuts to adult education funding and increasing focus on 14-19 age group means it is imperative to evidence this hypothesis.


Research questions

1. What is the impact of parents’ learning on their children’s attainment and aspirations?

1. Are there any changes in parents’ aspirations for their children which stem from taking part in widening participation activity?

3. Does this have any impact on young people’s aspirations for themselves?


Methodology

Qualitative, exploratory study aiming to:

• Begin to address this gap by gathering evidence from parent learners, young people and key influencers.

• Act as a trial study to test out whether a larger-scale quantitative research project is needed.

• Identify key questions to ask and explore learners’ experiences through semi-structured interviews – develop learner case studies.

Action research:

• Rooted in ongoing aspiration-raising work with adult learners; participants identified at campus events or through LLC courses

• Signposting to IAG, guidance offered to all participants – appropriate intervention; reporting, but also trying to ‘give something back’.


Progress to date

Approx 300 research questionnaires completed by FE and HE learners including:

• GCSE and CACHE groups in community-based FE

• Foundation Degrees at University of Leeds

• Preparation to HE classes in Leeds and Wakefield

• 32 eligible parents identified and 14 interviewed; 11 women & 3 men aged between 36 and 55

• 6 young people interviewed - 3 female and 3 male aged between 14 - 19

• 1 ‘key influencer’ interviewed – Head of Year in Inner City School


Problems and Issues

• Overly specific research brief meant that initially, very few learners met the criteria;

• Sample lacks diversity in terms of ethnicity;

• Parents and young people demonstrate varying levels of understanding and engagement with the purpose of the research. Most interviewees immediately identified with the idea that their learning has an impact on their children. A minority do not feel that their experience supports the hypothesis.


Motivations for Returning to Education

“You see this was the absolute motivation: Matt came home with some homework he couldn’t do one day and I sat there and I were like, how do you do this? And he said ‘well I don’t quite get it’ and I thought well I can’t quite help you. I said ‘oh, if your dad were here he would be able to help you’ and then I thought you can’t just cop out of having other people being around to help you out with stuff all the time. And I thought, I’ve got to do this for all of us” (Janet)



“I thought I need something for me now, it’s my time and it’s good for them to see that I’m always wanting more for myself as well because that’s what its about really” (Janet)

“I just thought after 20 years it’s a bit of me time now…It’s a juggling act to try and meet everybody’s needs….amongst me doing all this I’ve still got to be mum, I’ve still got to clean, I’ve still got to cook and shop and do everything”

(Barbara)



“I’d got to the point where I weren’t going to get anywhere, anywhere at all, unless I got an education. I just saw me dad, and me granddad before him. I thought, well I’m better than that, not better than – it sounds really bad – I wanted more than that. He’d got as far as he could go, he couldn’t go any further, financial or career wise, he’d reached his limit. But I’m a bit more ambitious than that.”

(Peter)


Positive Benefits – for young people and parents

“Sometimes I find myself helping my mum with her maths homework. She’s done some of the stuff that I’m not quite sure of and I’ve done some of the stuff that she’s not quite sure of so we help each other with the homework”

(Mark, 15)

“…they have seen me learning. They have seen that I’ve enjoyed it and I say to them if you find something out today and you don’t think I know it will you come and tell me because I like to learn. So they do know that it’s not closed and it’s not hard and that they can grow from it and benefit from it. So its definitely, definitely been a big boost”

(Jeanette)


Improved attainment

“Within this last year, because I’ve studied I’ve pushed him even more, he’s pushed himself up to Bs in his work…I’m pushing him now and I spoke to the school yesterday and they said ‘that’s fantastic he’s pushed his grades from E’s to B’s”.

(Barbara)

“It’s pushed me to want to push them more. I’ve understood that buzz you get when you study…All of them this last year have definitely improved in their education ”

(Barbara)

“I’d expect her to go on to further education; college or university or wherever she feels comfortable. I can definitely see her going to uni if she keeps this up and focuses and works on smart targets and has that support and back up from home as well.”

(Tina, Head of Year)


Parent’s aspirations for children

“I hope they can do it if they see me doing it, but it’s up to them. I’ve

never been a pushy parent.”

(Lorraine)

“Whatever you want to do in life as long as you’re comfortable doing it, you just do it. You know, if you want to leave school, leave school. If you want to do your A-levels, do your A-levels. But it were never kind of discussed because he just kind of went with the flow.”

(Dawn)



“I think he is more intelligent than to just do joinery and I want him to get more of an education and then he’s got better choices”

(Barbara)

“Oh I want her to go to university, I want her to do well, to make a good future for herself. Everything that I didn’t do I want them to do and I always let them know, I always talk to them. She’s not doing well in her maths and I says to her; ‘how are you going to go to university if continue to be so low.”

(Maryam)



“I always talked to him about university because I always wanted to

go and never had the chance, so I wanted him to go but he didn’t

take no notice…. but now there’s not an ounce of doubt in his mind

that he’ll go to uni. He always says, ‘when I go to uni’. What he

wants to study keeps changing but what never changes is that, ‘when

I go to uni’, it’s an automatic progression. How can you tell someone,

‘oh you’re going to uni’ when you’ve not gone yourself?”

(Amanda)


WP – Ripple Effect

“When she came round about finding out about doing foundation degrees and that – I wouldn’t have known all that if I hadn’t come for that day, to be able to pass the knowledge on to her, for her to be able to go away and think about; ‘Ooh, is it for me or isn’t it for me’. Because she doesn’t want to be labelled a single mother who sponges on society. She wants to give her child the best start in life.” (Dawn)

“I just realised that I’ve got so much to give. I do have this ability to get people to go into education…I just want to make a difference, it is a form of social work.” (Amanda)


Recurring Themes

• All the parents want the best for their children. Some knew how to support them to achieve this – others less so.

• Most had left school with few or no qualifications. Lack of experience and knowledge of HE undermined some parents’ ability to guide their child towards university – social capital.

• Those who did not struggle with this had often experienced greater social mobility through jobs, relationships or peers.

• Adults who have good educational experiences want more - for themselves and their children - as their confidence grows.

• Aspirations are generally set by family and community and the current system allows little scope to challenge this.


Initial Conclusions

What do you see as the KEY ISSUES emerging from this

research so far?

• What are the GAPS and what else would you like to know?

What POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS would you suggest?



Contact Details

Communities and Partnerships Team


Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Building

University of Leeds

Olivia Garvey Libby Clark

0113 343 4635 0113 343 3229

[email protected] [email protected]

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lifelonglearningcentre/community/practitioners.html

Documents

School of something FACULTY OF OTHER Lifelong Learning Centre Study of Intergenerational Aspiration Raising: Interim Findings Olivia Garvey and Libby Clark