Create a space for belonging for students with parental responsibility

Over the past two decades, students with parental responsibility (“student-parents”) in the UK have been encouraged into university by successive governments’ Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning agendas. However, they have remained largely invisible once they arrive at university (Moreau & Kerner, 2015). Very little attention has been paid to ensuring that student-parents are made to feel that they belong within their institution, or indeed within higher education more generally. This chapter provides a research-informed insight into what we can do to foster a sense of belonging for student-parents. It introduces interventions designed to provide tailored pastoral, academic, and practical support for this committed and motivated group and provides reflections from three student-parents on how a personalised approach supported their sense of belonging during their studies at the University of Chester Law School.

Citation

Todd, A., Simpson, E.-L., Williams, H., & Serena. (2026). Create a space for belonging for students with parental responsibility. In K. Edmunds & D. Gilani (Eds.), Student Belonging in Action: Practical Case Studies to Foster a Sense of Belonging Across the Higher Education Student Journey (pp. 73-79). Routledge.

Publisher

Routledge

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10034/629787

DOI

10.4324/9781003611578-12

Type

Book chapter

Description

This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge [Student Belonging in Action: Practical Case Studies to Foster a Sense of Belonging Across the Higher Education Student Journey] on [05/11/2025], available online: http://www.routledge.com/Student-Belonging-in-Action-Practical-Case-Studies-to-Foster-a-Sense-o/Edmunds-Gilani/p/book/9781041007760

Additional Links

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003611578-12/create-space-belonging-students-parental-responsibility-andrea-todd-emma-louise-simpson-helen-williams-serena