Create a space for belonging for students with parental responsibility

Abstract

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.