“Let us work together”: Working with students and staff to contribute to a whole-institutional approach to positive change for underrepresented students

Janet Lindley, Mary-Jayne Wilton, Helen Williams and Sally Storr, The Open University

Email: mary-jayne.wilton@open.ac.uk

Session recording

Presentation

Click to download the presentation “Let us work together”: Working with students and staff to contribute to a whole-institutional approach to positive change for underrepresented students (.pptx)

Abstract

“If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” 
― Lilla Watson  

This interactive workshop will be based on learning from our experience of delivering a service designed to support Black students and close an institutional awarding gap as part of an Access, Participation and Success (APS) Strategy. The Personal Learning Advice (PLA) Service is a specialist coaching and mentoring service set up to deliver support to students from priority cohorts in the Access and Participation Plan. In 2021 and 2022, we worked predominantly with Black students across all levels of study at the Open University (OU) as part of an institutional commitment to ensuring greater equity for Black students’ experiences and outcomes. The service has also delivered support to students in areas of increased socio-economic deprivation.  

In the first part of the workshop, we will briefly outline the approach we have taken to reflection on our own practice and introduce the “equity lens” through which we have critically evaluated existing coaching and mentoring professional frameworks (Clay et al, 2023).  

In the second part of the workshop, we will invite delegates to participate in a discussion led by some of the coaches and mentors in the PLA Service. We will focus on the following 3 challenges, in particular:  

• The language of ‘help’ and ‘support’ and how we can normalize help-seeking
• Allyship and inclusive practice and how this translates practically in our practice  
• ‘Success’ and what that means to the students we support   

In the third and final part of the workshop, we will lead some interactive coaching exercises to encourage individual reflection on our shared commitment to supporting underrepresented students. It is anticipated that this workshop will be of interest to delegates interested in looking for a safe space to explore the ways they can embed anti-oppressive practice into their own roles – whether working in the UK or another context.

References

Enya-Marie Clay, Jo Blissett, Lynne O’Neil, Janet Lindley, Helen Williams, ‘Developing an equity lens: the experience of creating a professional framework for coaches and mentors,’ Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue: Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (Forthcoming February 2023).

Lilla Watson, “If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” – attributed to the Aboriginal activists group, Queensland, 1970s

Mary-Jayne Wilton

Educational Advisor and Operations manager, Student Support Team, The Open University

Mary-Jayne Wilton has worked at the Open University since 2017 as an Educational Advisor and Operations Manager in the Student Support Team and as a member of the Central Safeguarding Referral Team. Prior to joining the OU her background and qualifications are in learning and development practice, careers advice and employability support for service-users with disabilities. Mary has also worked as a support worker and then director for POW, a charity supporting sex workers and those at risk of sexual exploitation. Additionally, she has been a trustee for Y-NOTTS, a charity responsible for awarding developmental and educational grants to young people aged 16 – 25. She is currently completing a level 5 EMCC Coaching qualification.

Janet Lindley

Coach, Personal Learning Advice Service, The Open University

Janet Lindley is one of the coaches in the Personal Learning Advice Service at the Open University and has been with the team since it launched in January 2021.   She trained as a Career Coach, completing the Postgraduate Diploma in Career Management Birkbeck, University of London and is a Registered Career Development Professional of the Career Development Institute.  She has a strong interest in coaching approaches that support social justice, in particular recognising the impact of wider networks and systems on an individual.

Helen Williams

Coach, Personal Learning Advice Service, The Open University

Helen Williams started her career as a Geography teacher in secondary schools in Bradford just over twenty years ago. Following this she worked in a consultancy, coaching and management capacity within a local authority, the NHS and Teach First. Committed to life-long learning in the service of supporting and developing others, she holds a Master of Arts in Special Educational Needs, PGDip HR Management, PGCert Healthcare Leadership and an ILM Level 5 Certificate in Mentoring and Coaching. 

Sally Storr

Personal Learning Advisor, The Open University

I joined the Open University Personal Learning Advice team in January 2021.  I am an Open University graduate with a BSc in Psychology and an MA in Counselling from an American University in Switzerland. Obtaining my OU degree was one of the best days in my life and I draw on the experience of being a distance-learning student daily when working with students. I have worked in health and education, having been a Human Resources Officer at The World Health Organisation for many years and more recently working as a tutor at the OU on D240 (Counselling) and an Educational Advisor.  Since counselling and coaching are my passions, I am delighted to support students at the OU. It’s a privilege to learn about my students through coaching and mentoring them.