Students of the Future

For Teachers

This website can be used for children to work through independently, with support from you or following on from an in-school session with us. There are downloadable activities in each section to test knowledge and understanding and to initiate further conversation in the classroom and at home about the themes covered. The downloadable resources can be accessed by completing the below form, the resources will be emailed to you within 5 working days. If you need any support or assistance, please get in touch through the form.

Here is a list of activities we have available:

Can You Help Our Students Get To Their Lectures?
Who Inspires You?
What Would You Like To Achieve In The Future?
Let’s Get Ready For Secondary School
How Do You Learn? (Instant download from our how do you learn page)
Budget Like A Student
Make Your Own Mortar Board (Instant download from our graduation page)
Can You Match These Courses To Their Careers?
Can You Match The Equipment To The Courses?
What Degree Should I Do? (Instant download from our courses introduction page)
Where Would You Live As A Student? (Instant download from our where you live page)
Create Your Dream University
Design Your Own Society

Why work with primary school aged children?

It is generally accepted that approaches to widening participation need to start early in a student’s educational life to be effective and engage young people at different stages of their educational journey. For this reason, the University of Liverpool has worked with Year 5 and 6 pupils for over 20 years. We have worked with tens of thousands of children, both in-school and on campus in order to raise aspirations and awareness about university.

Gaps in attainment for disadvantaged groups appear early on and tend to widen throughout secondary education (Chowdry et al., 2012). Poor reading and writing scores at primary school are significantly associated with later low achievement (Cassen and Kingdon, 2007). Longitudinal research by Croll and Attwood (2013) concluded that differences in school-level attainment, which are associated with social background factors, are by far the most important explanation for differences in rates of HE participation between social groups. The gap in attainment in exams (rather than latent potential) creates the barriers to groups progressing post-16 and into HE.

Analysis by the Sutton Trust shows that there are large numbers of high attaining disadvantaged pupils at the end of primary school who lose ground in examinations during later years, so reducing the ‘attrition rates’ of high performers has been identified as a priority (The Sutton Trust, 2008b).

This work is particularly important at the moment in light of recent disruptions to primary and secondary education. Recent articles in the Guardian suggest that urgent support must be targeted at disadvantaged pupils and schools in areas of high deprivation, as figures reveal the gap in England between some pupils and their wealthier peers widened by 46% in the school year severely disrupted by the coronavirus lockdown.

The Education in England: Annual report found the following:

The attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has stopped closing for the first time in a decade. Policymakers have not succeeded in responding to earlier reports warning of a major loss of momentum in closing the gap.
Disadvantaged pupils in England are 18.1 months of learning behind their peers by the time they finish their GCSEs – the same gap as five years ago.
The gap at primary school increased for the first time since 2007 – which may signal that the gap is set to widen in the future.

This summarises why the work we do at primary age is so important, both to the children, their families and the school they attend. If you would like further information about the above, please contact Emily Walsh esmailes@liverpool.ac.uk

Students of the Future

Students of the Future

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Students of the Future

For Teachers