Building a student panel to improve support for independent students

Kirstyn Kedaitis, Jon Datta and Kerrie Portman, University of Cambridge

Email: Kirstyn.Kedaitis@admin.cam.ac.uk; Jon.Datta@admin.cam.ac.uk

Session recording

Presentation

Click to download the presentation Building a student panel to improve support for independent students (.pptx)

Abstract

There is an increasing call for higher education institutions to collect and reflect on feedback from care-experienced and estranged students with a view to improving provisions for these groups. However, it can be challenging to collect a volume of meaningful feedback from independent students for a variety of reasons. A small pool of participants, students’ fear of stigma, and a lack of widespread awareness of institutional supports are just some of the factors that can pose a challenge when collecting feedback, thereby impacting on an institution’s ability to meaningfully evaluate and improve upon their existing provisions.

As a signatory of both the Care Leaver Covenant and the Stand Alone Pledge, the University of Cambridge has been working to support care-experienced and estranged students according to the UCAS HE Provider Good Practice Briefing for Care Experienced Students. We have created an advisory panel comprised of students with lived experience of care and/or estrangement. The panel meets regularly to offer their opinions and ideas to help the University better support students pre-entry and once they have enrolled. By sharing their lived experiences, the students can help inform policy and practice, and provide staff with a steer on how new initiatives might impact them.

This seminar will consider how to collect and utilise student feedback in a valuable way by means of a student panel. Examples will be provided of how to build an independent student panel, how to meet with and collect feedback from the panel, and how to use this feedback to guide student support work within a higher education institution. Student representatives will also share their experiences of being part of the panel.

Kirstyn Kedaitis

Widening Participation Coordinator for Priority Groups, University of Cambridge

Kirstyn Kedaitis is the Widening Participation Coordinator for Priority Groups at the University of Cambridge and oversees support for students from underrepresent backgrounds within the university. She leads the university’s Realise project, which aims to support care-experienced and estranged students from their initial interest in university all the way through their studies at Cambridge, and she assists with the oversight of the university’s joint mentoring scheme for independent students with Concrete Rose, a local organisation that supports young people. Previously, Kirstyn spent several years as a secondary language teacher in England, Scotland, France, and the US and also supervised MSc dissertation candidates at a Russell Group university.

Jon Datta

Deputy Head of Widening Participation, University of Cambridge

Jon Datta is Deputy Head of Widening Participation at the University of Cambridge and is responsible for ensuring the delivery of highly effective outreach activities and projects for targeted groups and schools, which directly contribute to the University meeting its statutory Access and Participation Plan commitments and targets with the Office for Students. He is also a key source of expertise and advice within the University for matters related to widening participation and social mobility, and delivering information and training sessions to colleagues across the wider collegiate University.

Additionally, he is Chair of Governors at a local comprehensive school, a Trustee at the Thomas Wall Trust, and sits on the steering group of The Careers Network with responsibility for Higher Education.

Prior to his current role, he was a senior leader and award-winning Maths teacher across a variety of challenging secondary schools across East and North London and, most recently, as Director of School Improvement for a school trust in Hertfordshire.

Kerrie Portman

Care leaver and studying in the pioneering cohort of Cambridge’s Foundation Year, University of Cambridge

My name is Kerrie Portman and I am a queer, autistic Care Leaver. I am studying in the pioneering cohort of Cambridge’s Foundation Year. I was named one of the winners of 30 To Watch Politics for my work as Director of North Herts Pride and advocating for Care Leaver rights. The latter included speaking to politicians in Parliament and Hertfordshire County Council.

Alongside this, I am a writer, researcher and work for a non-partisan promoting political literacy.