York St John University and Inspiring Choices secure funding to support students from armed forces backgrounds

Beyond the Barracks, a project to promote equality of opportunity in higher education, is one of only eleven projects to have been awarded innovation funding from the Office for Students (OfS). 

The partnership between York St John University, Inspiring Choices (Uni Connect Partnership), Askham Bryan College, York College, Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT) and the Service Children’s Progression Alliance (SCiP Alliance) aims to more effectively address the needs of students from armed forces families. 

Funding for the project, in the form of a £173,958 grant, comes from the  Office for Students Equality in Higher Education Innovation Fund which supports new ideas and innovations in delivering equality of opportunity. The OfS identified service children as an at-risk group after research highlighted the risks that frequent school moves posed to their higher education access. As such, universities are urged to include them in their widening participation plans for targeted support. 

The innovative Beyond the Barracks project will look at current post-16 interventions supporting students from armed forces families. It aims to build knowledge and evidence of what works when supporting this group in further and higher education settings.  

York St John University and partners will look at established interventions and co-create programme design that more directly addresses the diverse needs of students from armed forces families. HEAT will develop a new Automated Comparator Group Tool which will be integrated within its existing system and used by partners to record and evaluate all activities. The tool will empower partners to identify comparator groups, building on our strengths as a collaboration to generate strong correlational evidence of ‘what works’ when supporting students from armed forces families in post-16 settings. 

Head of Inspiring Choices, Louisa Dobson said: 

“Work to improve Armed Forces students' outcomes in further education (FE) and higher education (HE) presents a significant and enduring challenge because we know very little about their experiences in this phase of education. With thousands of young people from an armed forces background living and studying in North Yorkshire, this funding will enable partners to address a known gap in knowledge and support of service children within FE and HE settings through the design and delivery of impactful interventions and we are thrilled to be part of this successful joint bid.” 

The success of the project will enable providers to rethink their work with students from armed forces families and develop a framework to increase collaboration between FE colleges and HE providers, in data collection (through HEAT) and in designing and delivering impactful interventions. 

Director of the SCiP Alliance, Philip Dent said: 

“Service children can benefit from the unique nature of armed forces family life, but disruption to learning, relationships and support can harm their wellbeing and education. We are delighted to be working with York St John and other partners in the Alliance community to address a known gap in knowledge and support through this innovative project and are grateful to the OfS for their support.” 

The funding will help set up a pilot scheme with colleges and universities in the York and North Yorkshire region and assess its effectiveness before it is made available across the UK. 

Read about York St John University's support for armed forces families.

More information is on the Inspiring Choices website.