I had a dream

Julie Randles remembers her 13 year old self when she believed in better

Can you remember what you were doing when you were 13? Details are a bit hazy for me, but I know I was very into music (Meat Loaf and Abba at the time – I developed more musical taste later); I was reading anything from Antonia Forest to Dorothy Sayers; I played hockey or cricket most Saturdays; and I knew I was going to go to university.

That latter point might sound precocious, but in fact, as our research shows, almost 65% of girls in year 9 (aged 13 and 14) thought it very important to go to university (compared to 58% of boys). And that’s really important; students who thought university was a likely goal for them were more inclined to carry to with academic study after GCSEs, and were more likely to do 3 A Levels.

Our research identifies a number of factors that are important in shaping pupils’ aspirations, and their own belief in their abilities; these include attending a more academically effective primary school, a well-resourced secondary school, and being encouraged to spend more time on homework and enriching activities.

Of course, these factors aren’t always available to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and our research bears this out; only 27% of disadvantaged students think they will go to university, compared to 39% of their more advantaged peers. And this is borne out by university entry data which shows that only 19% of students from the poorest fifth of neighbourhoods go onto higher education, compared with 45% from the richest fifth.

I’m not from an advantaged background; I was the first in my family to be educated past the age of 16, I lived in Polar Quintile 1 ,I went to what was at the time a low-performing school, and as those who know me will attest, I definitely don’t have polished vowel-sounds. However, my parents never doubted that I should go to university, even if they didn’t quite know how to help me in my choices, and I read a lot (a LOT); and that made all the difference to me.

However, students from similar backgrounds to mine (with or without dubious musical taste) don’t always have the things in their lives that make the difference. Our Sutton Scholars programme helps to raise the aspirations and attainment of bright children from these backgrounds from the age of 11. But there’s so much more that could be done, and that’s why we’re calling for more support for students from poorer homes, including support to encourage reading for pleasure and other enrichment activities ; we need to level the academic playing field.

Incidentally, when I was 13 I was convinced I was going to study chemistry at university, and my degree is in English, but that’s another story. I still know all the words to Bat Out Of Hell, though…