White British males from low socioeconomic status backgrounds

Examples

Below are some examples of how providers have supported outcomes for white British males from low socioeconomic status backgrounds which you may find helpful when developing your own approaches. Some of these approaches may not yet be fully evaluated.

We will update this page with more examples of effective practice as we identify them. If you have, or are aware of, examples of effective practice in this area please contact [email protected].

HE Can shows South Yorkshire boys that they CAN progress to higher education

HE Can is a project from the Higher Education Progression Partnership South Yorkshire (HeppSY+), part of the Uni Connect programme. It was developed to address the underrepresentation of young men from areas that have very low rates of participation in higher education.

The HE Can project equipped students with the confidence and knowledge to start making positive choices for their futures based on the belief that they can take the step into higher education.

The impact on students' aspirations has also been noticed by Ofsted during a recent inspection of one of the participating schools.

Read the full case study

The FutureMe enterprise challenge

This programme is a collaboration between the North East Collaborative Outreach Programme and three local football clubs.

The programme involved working with young boys from low participation backgrounds, who are primarily white due to the demographics of the area, to:

• enhance their understanding of higher education
• improve their public speaking skills
• help them to meet deadlines
• provide them with a professional experience of the world of work.

Students were asked to create a 30 second YouTube advert to encourage young men into higher education. The winning advert was launched on local news programme North East Live:

Find out more about the project on the FutureMe website.

Examples from access and participation plans

In our analysis of higher education providers’ access and participation plans for 2020-21 to 2024-25, 11 targets specifically related to white economically disadvantaged men. Examples of emerging practice included:

• complementing Uni Connect activity to support white males from low-participation neighbourhoods
• initiatives aimed at raising confidence and increasing awareness of higher education pathways
• peer mentoring as a tool to improve male success
• workshops covering budgeting, moving away from home, the difference between school and university, library tours and an introduction to the students’ union
• annual focus groups to understand the needs, concerns and barriers for this group regarding access to higher education, success whilst at university and opportunities to succeed after university
• a programme which seeks to include role models at all stages of the student lifecycle, drawing from the student body, alumni and boarder networks such as local employers. Role models can also be involved in outreach to inspire children from primary school throughout their learner journey.