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In the UK, students — particularly those from homes on low income — are being encouraged to pursue further education and degree through the Open University (OU) while being employed.
For the past four years, Monkseaton High School in Whitley Bay, Tyne, and Wear has been hosting the successful pilot project that is now being offered to educational establishments and employers across the country.
The program enables students to take up a variety of working positions (such as teaching assistants at schools) to earn a maximum of £6,000 per annum while gaining a degree from the OU. To help students juggle their studies, the university does not allow them to study more than 25 hours a week.
The OU'sYoung Applicants in Schools and Colleges Scheme (YASS) at the OU enables academically gifted students in years 12 and 13 to study a wide range of undergraduate modules at first-year level alongside their AS and A levels. This highly successful and respected scheme (developed in partnership with Monkseaton High School in Whitley Bay) is now offered in more than 300 schools. It has proved very popular with students and teachers alike.
The scheme allows students valuable opportunities to study at the university, encourages independent learning, builds students' confidence, and has the added bonus of differentiating them from other students when it comes to applying to traditional universities.
Academic Adrian Monck, author of Can You Trust the Media, is a former TV journalist with CBS News, ITN, and Sky. He took time out of his hectic schedule to offer his opinion:
It certainly sounds like a decent-enough idea. In the US, universities have long offered opportunities for people to work and study. I benefited from scholarships and the direct grant system, so personally, I believe in the power of education to transform people's lives.
But poverty is rarely relieved just by education. Poverty narrows your contacts and often means increased obligation to extended family, as well as meaning that you have to work harder to get a break.
On behalf of the OU, Margaret Chaytor is the national YASS coordinator for schools. Chaytor has been looking forward to extending the program. She discussed this with public-sector employers and educational establishments. "Working and studying this way — that's a motivator. Students can see the relevance of what they're doing," Chaytor said in an interview with the Independent. "There's been a lot of interest in it. It offers much more experience in life skills than somebody who has gone from A-level to university," she added.
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Chaytor meets her students fortnightly for an hour to allow them to share their learning experiences and to set targets. As the coordinator, she realizes that combining A-level study, university study, and personal life can be difficult, so these meetings are used to ensure that the students remain on target. She told IOL that she was backing the plans for a nationwide system with the pioneering scheme piloted at Monkseaton.
Schools are now being encouraged by the government to deliver higher education (HE) as part of a full-time, level-3 program for an individual student, and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) will fund that HE qualification.
The scheme directly fits the government's agenda in the 14–19 Education and Skills White Paper (2005) to "enable the most able teenagers to take HE modules while in the sixth form."
External Recognition
YASS is supported by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) , the CfBT Education Trust in its new National Program for Gifted and Talented Education (NPGATE), and the National Extension College (NEC) .
The scheme is also recognized by the Standards and Effectiveness Unit of the Department for Education and Science now the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills), the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).
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Case Study
Student Perspective: Richard Orrick
"I like the OU because you can earn and learn! It's easy to manage at home and fit it around everything else."
Richard joined the 6th form at Monkseaton to study an AVCE IT double award. He had also applied for a job in the school as a network development officer (part of a new scheme whereby a 16 year old can study with the OU through YASS, be in the 6th form and be employed). He works 4 days each week supporting staff and students, managing user accounts, emails, deploying applications and setting up hardware. He has one day off a week when he can focus on his OU and school work.
Richard studied data, computing and information together with Networked living while in year 12. He is now studying Level 2 modules with the OU and is intending to complete his Foundation Degree in Computing and its Practice with the Open University by the time he is 21.
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