As part of the Impact for Access project, the University of Stirling and University of Stirling Students’ Union hosted several events for young people from local secondary schools. The events, titled ‘Find your future’, presented the range of options available for post-school study. The focus was on challenging gender stereotypes to education and making more visible the pathways that exist. The events, which took place in June 2016 and August 2017, were held in partnership with Forth Valley College and were student-led.
The events were coordinated by student interns and were overseen by a steering committee comprising university staff and sabbatical officers from the Students’ Union.
Each event took place over two days, with around 130 young people from several local secondary schools attending each day. These events targeted S4 pupils as they were at the stage of deciding school subjects which could determine their entry into University.
Our student-led events brought pupils to the University campus to experience, first hand, what studying at university could be like. The pupils had the opportunity to experience all aspects of student life, from tours around the University campus and residences, to visiting the library, sitting in a lecture theatre and having lunch in the Union. University of Stirling students led subject workshops, sharing their experience of studying their chosen subject and what opportunities it could lead to by doing so. Pupils attended 6 sessions around ‘gendered subjects’, including Psychology, Maths, Sport, Journalism and Politics. In most cases, the students running the workshops were from the minority gender for that subject. As we were interested in showcasing the full range of opportunities available in post-16 education, Forth Valley College also delivered a session each day as part of the programme.
To measure the level of impact of the events, students’ preconceptions on certain subjects and occupations were assessed at the beginning and end of the event. Results showed that young people changed their attitudes to gender stereotypes, with more young people agreeing that occupations are gender neutral at post-evaluation compared to pre-evaluation. For example, 96% of young people believed that nursing was a job for both men and women after the event, compared to 89% before the event.
The evaluations also showed that overall, 97% of young people enjoyed the day and 91% would come back for another event.
Please find below the welcome talk and an example of one of the student presentations.
