Students inspire schoolchildren to think about university

Students have turned mentors in a bid to inspire more ethnic minority youngsters to consider university.

Current students spent eight weeks mentoring GCSE students in Liverpool 8 in partnership with the Liverpool Arabic Centre.

The students, themselves from ethnic minority backgrounds, organised interactive sessions in Maths, English and Science and talked to the year 10 pupils about their future career plans.

Mariama Balde Djaura, of the Outreach Team in Student Recruitment Marketing and Admissions, said: “It was fabulous to see our LJMU students proudly acting as role models and to see their confidence and communication skills improve by getting involved.”

“It was lovely too to see the pupils really being enthused and gaining confidence and self-esteem from taking part. The parents were really happy and keen on bringing their children to participate every week." 

One LJMU student-mentor said: “It was amazing to feel like a role model to my mentee and witness how they’ve grown throughout the 8 weeks in terms of their skills, their ability to communicate and to exploring their future self.  Another, who is training to be a teacher said: “It really helped me develop my organisational skills, and has strengthened my general knowledge in doing research, preparing course materials and adapting my teaching method to each student. It made me feel like a proper teacher.”

One mentee said: “This has helped get the highest grades in my mock exams”, while her peer commented: “The students' help taught me how to deal better with problems in and out of school.”

The programme builds on work carried out by the Outreach Team in L8 over the past few years as part of the university’s Access and Participation Plan.

A similar programme has recently started with the Academy of St Francis of Assisi for black and minority ethnic GCSE Students, which along with other sustained LJMU outreach programmes in Liverpool City Region schools aims to equip young people with the necessary tools to access higher education.

For more information about other community and school initiatives aimed at widening access for under-represented groups contact outreach@ljmu.ac.uk