Name: Paul Garrud (1) (Paul.Garrud@nottingham.ac.uk), Sarah Greaves (1), Gwen Hughes (1), Shane McCracken (2), Morag McIvor (3)

Discipline/Subject: Medicine

Institution:  (1) University of Nottingham; (2) Mangorolla CIC, (3) University of Leicester

Title: Remote engagement in medicine

Overview of programme of outreach:

The gap between demand and supply of primary healthcare practitioners is substantial and likely to grow more acute with NHS England’s sustainability and transformation plans. Wass’s 2016 report “By choice not by chance” identified raising the early awareness and interest of children in secondary education as one component in a multi-pronged approach (see Garrud & Owen, 2018) to the training of future GPs.

As part of an HEE funded widening access project, an interactive website – I’m a Medic – was set up to support on-line webchats between school children and panels of primary care practitioners. Three 2-week events were run that engaged 35 widening-access schools and over 800 young people in years 9-12 across East Midlands. Practitioners taking part included established GP partners, GP trainees, practice nurses, practice managers and healthcare assistants. In addition to the live chats, an off-line Q&A function allowed asynchronous questions and responses.

Students displayed considerable interest in healthcare careers. They wanted to know what the professionals’ work involved day to day and when situations were difficult. They were interested in the practitioners’ motivations, what they enjoyed, and what they found stressful about their jobs. They wanted to know details about the training, school subjects studied, and what it was like at university. The students brought up current issues about the NHS such as funding and staff shortages.

This project has demonstrated one effective way of engaging schools and pupils in areas where there have been low levels of progression to healthcare careers.

Description of non-academic group, subject areas and age groups with which the programme is engaged:

Years 9-12 school students from under-performing and/or disengaged secondary schools in East Midlands

Links to resources:

 

Name: Momna Hejmadi (M.V.Hejmadi@bath.ac.uk)

Discipline/Subject: STEM (Biosciences)

Institution: University of Bath

Title: Multiple approaches to supporting access to higher education in biosciences and medicine

Overview of programme of outreach:

At the University of Bath, the Widening Participation Office introduced a number of programmes, aimed at post-16 students thinking about university study. These activities are designed to support attainment-raising activity in schools, help students understand the UCAS application process and facilitate a successful transition into Higher Education.

As the lead on the Biosciences strand of STEM disciplines, I have designed and implemented a series of activities designed to meet these aims.  I would be interested in contributing to the guidelines on good practice, based on my experiences and success of these programmes over the years.

On Track to Bath (Years 12 & 13): A 2-year programme supporting local, high performing students applying to leading universities.  Students design, implement, analyse and complete an independent research project at University. Activities include academic workshops, a four-day residential as well as access to academics, professional service staff and current undergraduates to help students make a competitive application.

In2science research placements (Years 12 & 13): In2science is an award-winning charity which empowers students from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve their potential and progress to STEM and research careers through high quality work placements and careers guidance. Founded by a Bath alumnus, we have supported pupils who did 2-week placements based in university research labs over the summer.

University Ambassador Scheme (Year 10/11/12/13): University students who come from a Widening Participation background themselves, offer curriculum enrichment projects in local schools, as part of their final year. Types of projects are developed in consultation with the school teachers and typically consist of running revision classes or science clubs over a defined period.

A Level Enrichment Days (Year 12/13): This day is designed jointly by local teachers and University of Bath academics, to develop students’ understanding and confidence in challenging areas of the curriculum and give them an insight into how that learning is relevant to studying at university.

Description of non-academic group, subject areas and age groups with which the programme is engaged: 

School students, WP students, teachers

Links to resources:

 

Name: David Hill (david.hill@port.ac.uk)

Discipline/Subject: STEM (particularly Computing, Engineering/Civil Engineering and Mathematics)

Institution: University of Portsmouth

Title: Engaging not selling students with the subject

Overview of programme of outreach:

Our programme looks at the whole pipeline of education from KS1 to KS5, and how to maximise impact in those phases, whilst at the same time being able to structure what we do so we are not just delivering isolated experiences to a group of students. This is particularly important to us in order to keep under represented groups’ interest in STEM subjects.

Our approach is to mainly focus on helping teachers at the lower phases around supporting the teaching and learning of these subject areas or delivering activities to students in large events like STEM fairs. Moving on to delivering more subject specific activities with smaller groups of students at the upper phases.  Our activities are designed to fit in and enhance the schools and colleges’ curriculum in those areas Geographically speaking, the lower phases are more local whereas for KS5 we would consider a travel time of up to 90 mins as appropriate.

We also look at working with outside agencies that actively promote STEM subjects, like the IET or BAE systems, in order to compliment what we deliver. We also work with the local Science and Maths hubs, and run a Computing at Schools hub, which allows us to engage directly with Primary and Secondary teachers in those subject areas. This has allowed us support them in developing their subject knowledge or learning skills that would support their teaching, such as using unplugged methods of teaching Computing, or using 3D printers to create teaching resources.

Description of non-academic group, subject areas and age groups with which the programme is engaged:

The programme covers Computing, Civil Engineering, Engineering, and Mathematics for the age ranges between 5 and 18. As we link into the relevant curricula, so the subjects have also covered areas like Science and Business as well as the more obvious Computing, DT and Maths. In particular we are trying to increase engagement in under-represented groups, such as BME and females.

Links to resources:

Hill, D. (2017a) ‘Learning through Hacking’, Hello World, 3, 76-77, <https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/rpi-magazines/issues/full_pdfs/000/000/004/original/HelloWorld03.pdf> [Accessed 15 March 2018].

Hill, D.(2017b) ‘Case Study D: Gomer Junior School, Gosport’, in, B. Lucas, J. Hanson, L. Bianchi and J. Chippindall (eds), Learning to be an Engineer Implications for the education system, London: Royal Academy of Engineering, p. 34, <https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/learning-to-be-an-engineer> [Accessed 15 March 2018].

Marsden, S. and Hill, D. (2017) ‘Possible – The Raspberry Pi – A World of opportunities’, Creating the Coding Generation in Primary Schools, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 167-175.

 

Name: Margaret MacDougall (margaret.macdougall@ed.ac.uk)

Discipline/Subject: Medical Statistics

Institution: University of Edinburgh

Title: Promoting statistical literacy and widening participation in statistics-based research

Overview of programme of outreach:

My outreach activities include:

I am also author of the website StatsforMedics, which I am seeking to promote for use in improving statistical literacy within schools (see MacDougall 2018).

 

Description of non-academic group, subject areas and age groups with which the programme is engaged: 

The Nuffield Research Placement scheme provides me with the opportunity to supervise sixth form pupils who typically are eligible for consideration under Widening Participation schemes. My ISLP activities provide opportunities for improving statistical literacy from primary school level up to undergraduate University level through statistics poster competitions.

Links to resources:

 

Name: Angela O’Sullivan (aosullivan@dmu.ac.uk)

Discipline/Subject: STEM

Institution: De Montfort University, Leicester

Title: Making outreach real

Overview of programme of outreach:

The outreach activities in the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences at De Montfort University are co-ordinated by an academic (Dr Angela O’Sullivan) in her role as Faculty Head of Widening Participation. The faculty has four schools (Allied Health Sciences, Applied Social Sciences, Pharmacy and Nursing & Midwifery) who each have an academic Widening Participation representative. Outreach activities are developed with an inter-disciplinary approach and are focussed on realistic scenarios. The activities are supported by the university’s WP team (Square Mile) and student ambassadors.

Outreach activities are designed strategically around raising aspirations to specific under-represented groups in each subject area. Specific barriers to progression to university are also addressed through outreach activities, notably activities to encourage Year 8 school children to engage with mathematics. This project is currently being expanded and is being developed as an online resource.

Outreach activities are also designed and delivered in collaboration with local universities through the REACH collaboration. A current REACH initiative aimed at Year 12/13 pupils involves a collaboration between the School of Nursing & Midwifery and a Medical School to provide clinical experience for prospective medics and nursing and midwifery students. The activity is being developed to incorporate allied health professions.

This inter-disciplinary approach to outreach activities which are designed and delivered by academics with the advice of employers has proved very successful with teachers and pupils. The flagship activity, CrashEd, focuses on a real crashed car provided by the local police and embeds, maths, physics, psychology, criminology and forensic science. It was long-listed for the HEA 2016 Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence and referenced in the university’s successful Gold TEF submission and Dr Angela O’Sullivan’s 2017 National Teaching Fellowship award

Description of non-academic group, subject areas and age groups with which the programme is engaged:

The outreach activities are delivered internally through the university’s WP department (DMU Square Mile) and the Transitions team. They also form part of the offer for the REACH partnership with local universities and have been used for Leicester Educational Business Consortium (LEBC) STEM ambassador activities and Leicester VESA (Vocational Educational Support Agency) activities. A wide range of science subjects are covered and activities are available for all age groups.

Links to resources: