This winter, Aspire Higher and Study Higher – both Uni Connect funded platforms – joined forces to launch a series of teacher and adviser webinars to provide skills and guidance for those who will be helping and inspiring school leavers to consider university study and apply.

Run by the Universities of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northampton, Aspire Higher is a Collaborative Projects support programme, providing local year 9–13 pupils and their schools with study advice and inspiration about Higher Education (HE) learning. Meanwhile, Study Higher is a HE institution partnership, involving universities in the East of England (including the University of Bedfordshire as an Associate Partner), further education colleges and other stakeholders, who work together to inspire and inform young people about options for their future and education opportunities.

The Aspire Higher and Study Higher collaborative partnership came to fruition following feedback received from teachers whose pupils had been utilising Aspire Higher content. This teacher and adviser webinar project will also help to build on the long-standing relationship that the University has as an Associate Partner with Study Higher.

Featuring a variety of spokespeople from both partnership’s university partners and external speakers from HE-related platforms and resources, this new CPD webinar series is being tailored to suit the needs of support staff at schools, colleges and in the community. Topics covered so far include Student Finance, understanding UCAS and Contextual Admissions.

Aspire Higher’s Outreach Hub Officer, Colleen Galley, is based with the University of Bedfordshire’s Collaborative Projects Team. Discussing the joint Aspire Higher and Study Higher teacher and adviser project, she said:

These webinars have been designed to provide an informal and supportive environment for teachers and advisers, allowing them to ask questions and find out more about topics that are relevant to their pupils.

On 7^th January 2021, Aspire Higher and Study Higher will be hosting their third event, led by Charlie Smith – a Digital Learning Developer with UCAS. Charlie will run an interactive Q&A session covering a range of different UCAS resources now available for teachers to support their students, as well as discuss changes to reference guidance for 2021/22 applications. Charlie will also take a look at how the Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact admissions and what UCAS are doing to help support and reassure students and universities.

Sign up here for Aspire Higher and Study Higher’s January 2021 webinar: ‘Understanding UCAS Data and Developments’

The first two webinars held in November and December 2020, were both well-attended by teachers and advisers working across both Uni Connect partnerships. Staff from 25 institutions across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire were in attendance.

In November, the teams’ first collaborative webinar covered the topic of Contextual Admissions, delivered by Ella Adlard, Senior Education Outreach Officer at University of Leeds. Ella’s interactive presentation went into detail about contextual admissions policies which are designed to enable students from disadvantaged or different backgrounds to progress down the route to university.

A teacher from Hertfordshire who attended Ella’s event provided positive feedback following the webinar. They stated how useful the information was and that they now have lots to share with their school and students:

The webinar was great! I liked the interactive aspect and it was wonderful to hear other attendees’ issues – it’s always great to network.  I think it’s good to attend events like this to confirm that I’m doing things in the right order!

In December, Aspire Higher and Study Higher’s second webinar focussed on Student Finance. Hosted by a spokesperson from the Student Loans Company, guest Ahmar Ehsan presented key basics about student finance and then answered a variety of finance-related queries, including student loan applications, procedures and what support teachers can give their students, to ensure they apply correctly and on time.

This event also received positive feedback from local teachers:

It’s always useful to get up to date advice to be able to properly inform our students and parents. The Student Finance webinar was really informative and it was great to see other teachers and advisers, too.

To find out about and register for upcoming teacher and adviser webinars, visit the dedicated pages on the Aspire Higher and Study Higher websites. Recordings of previous webinars will also be available on the websites to watch again.