Contents Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………................ 2 Key findings…………………………………………………………………………. 2 Recommendations…………………………………………………………………. 3 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 East Slope Family Room – Creating a space for student parents……………… 4 Next Steps………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5 Representation of Student Parents……………………………………………….. 6 Research and Information…………………………………………………………. 6 Campaigning on Student Parent Issues………………………………………….. 7 Relationship with Institution………………………………………………………... 7 Communication……………………………………………………………………... 7 Support and Services……………………………………………………………… 7 Events and Activities……………………………………………………………….. 8 Valuing student parents……………………………………………………………. 8 Key Findings of Research…………………………………………………………………………... 9 Who are Student Parents at Sussex?............................................................. 10 What do student parents care about?............................................................ 12 Financial issues…………………………………………………………………… 12 Student life issues………………………………………………………………….14 Academic issues………………………………………………………………….. 16 Housing issues……………………………………………………………………. 19 Student parents and the Students’ Union………………………………………. 20 What can be done to improve student parents’ experiences of their time at Sussex?.................................................................................................................... 23 Appendix A: NUS Briefing – Improving the Learning Experience for student parents in FE……………………………………………………………………………….. 24 Appendix B: NUS Briefing – Involving student parents in your Union…… 25

Table of figures Figure 1: The East Slope Family Room following its refurbishment…………………….. 4 Figure 2: Level of study……………………………………………………………………. 10 Figure 3: Number of dependent children………………………………………………… 11 Figure 4: Financial issues………………………………………………………………….. 12 Figure 5: Student life issues………………………………………………………………. 14 Figure 6: Academic issues………………………………………………………………… 16 Figure 7: Housing issues…………………………………………………………………. 19 Figure 8: Awareness of and participation in the Students’ Union……………………… 20 Figure 9: Services student parents would like to see made available…………………. 22

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Executive Summary

Student parents were identified as a key target group in the ‘Hard to Reach Students’ initiative of 2010/11. At the start of the year, little was known about this group and their specific needs. To remedy this, the Students’ Union has undertaken a range of engagement exercises with student parents including running events and undertaking surveys. This has resulted in a number of initiatives leading to positive outcomes for student parents at Sussex. This report will consider not only the work that has been done within the Students’ Union this year, but the key findings of our research and the recommendations to the University which stem from these. The core elements and successes of the Students’ Union’s work this year have been:

The renovation of the East Slope Family Room The establishment of the Student Parents’ Association The running of student parent focussed events throughout the year Running the Student Parents Survey and two focus groups with parents Working with student parents on the campaign to save the nursery

The key findings of our research have been:

Student parents appear to be overrepresented in first year indicating that there may be a retention issue as was found nationally through the NUS Meet the Parents Report1.

The most significant area of concern was around finances with many appearing to have had some serious difficulties during their time as a student.

Another core concern was that of balancing studies and family life with many reporting issues with childcare or the illness of a child impacting on their ability to fulfil their study obligations fully.

The late release and changeability of study timetables seems to cause many student parents significant worries due to the difficulty in arranging and rearranging childcare at the last minute.

Lectures held at 9am or until later in the evening can cause difficulties for student parents as childcare/school hours may not enable them to attend these sessions.

There appear to be significant disparities between the levels of understanding student parents feel they are shown by academic staff with some reporting their tutors being highly accommodating and others reporting feeling highly underconsidered in the arrangements made for their courses.

Many reported missing lectures and deadlines due to childcare issues or the illness of a child.

Some reported feeling that the images of the University in the prospectus and online portrayed it as being family friendly, but that they were disappointed by the family flats and awareness of student parents issues upon arrival.

While awareness of the Students’ Union and its services was relatively high, there was much lower usage than in the wider student population, particularly of extra-curricular activities such as sports, societies and volunteering. However,

1 NUS Meet the Parents – The Experience of Students with Children in Further and Higher Education, p. 31. Available at: www.nus.org.uk/News/News/Meet-the-Parents-/

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usage of the Advice and Representation Centre was higher than among the broader student population.

There appears to be a lot of interest in Students’ Union democracy among student parents, and there is a significant appetite for specific student parent representation which is something that is currently being considered as part of our current internal democratic review.

Recommendations: Following on from these findings, we have made the following recommendations that the University could consider to make Sussex a model of best practice in the sector with regard to inclusivity of student parents:

1) Collect data at point of entry on whether students have caring responsibilities to ensure that retention and student numbers can be monitored to enable the University to plan effectively, that tutors can be made aware of student parents in their teaching groups and that timely and focussed information is provided to parents to alert them to financial support available and any family friendly policies the University intends to implement.

2) Include student parents in any Equality Impact Assessment processes. 3) Implement a family friendly timetabling policy to include timely release of draft

timetables, avoidance of last minute changes (with compensation for any which can’t be avoided), as few lectures as possible after 4pm, seminar programmes to encourage flexibility and to consider the possibility of starting classes at 9.30am.

4) Ensure that student parents are not put at a disadvantage through the illness of a child or a problem with childcare by recording all lectures (or at least those with student parents on the course), making lecture slides available and explicitly committing to child illness or unavoidable failures in childcare arrangements as legitimate grounds for mitigating evidence.

5) Incorporate training into the specific needs of student parents into all future Equality and Diversity training and ensure that all staff members are aware of any family friendly policy that the University wishes to commit to.

6) Increase the number of family friendly facilities on campus and raise awareness of these among the student parent community. Ensuring that those who would benefit from this information are able to access it would be made more straightforward through the implementation of recommendation 1. Particular issues to consider are those of baby changing facilities and the current lack of availability of the Family Room during summer months (when it is used as a storage facility). It is strongly advised that alternative storage space is found to ensure that a family space is available for those on campus during summer months.

7) Consult thoroughly with student parents regarding any future developments relating to on-campus childcare and family accommodation.

8) Include a focus on student parents in future widening participation activity including outreach, publicity and financial support packages.

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Introduction At the beginning of the last academic year, the Students’ Union created a ‘Hard to Reach Students Forum’ involving staff and officers from across the organisation to look at how we could make all elements of involvement in the Students’ Union more accessible to a greater variety of students. We identified three groups of students that we wanted to concentrate our work on over the course of this academic year; these were international students, postgraduates and student parents. This report will be detailing the work that has been done over the course of the year, as well as sharing some of the findings of the research that we have undertaken into the experiences of student parents, before making recommendations based on this research for improvements to be considered by the University to improve the student experience of student parents at Sussex. East Slope Family Room – Creating a space for student parents Over the course of last summer, the Students’ Union took on the project of renovating the East Slope Family Room2 which was funded by a generous donation from the University’s Community Social Fund. Intended as a space to be used by families to come together, socialise and build a sense of community, the room had unfortunately fallen into disrepair which is why we decided to give it a new lease of life. The renovation was a cross-Union project which brought all Union staff together to encourage greater awareness of student parents as an underrepresented demographic at the University. Once complete, the room was very much fit for purpose with a full complement of toys, games and craft materials for the children, a fully equipped kitchen and sitting area for the parents and even a mural! The room has since been used for regular social gatherings of parents, children’s parties and as a space for parents to meet and relax between lectures.

Figure 1: The East Slope Family Room following its refurbishment

2 Providing child-friendly spaces on campus was a key recommendation of the NUS Meet the Parents Report, p. 41.

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Next Steps Following the completion of the Family Room, we put together a detailed delivery plan of the areas that we aimed to work on over the course of the year, using the NUS Meet the Parents report as a starting point. We decided to focus on the following key areas:

- Representation of student parents - Research and information - Campaigning on student parent issues - Relationship with institution - Communication - Support and services - Events and activities - Valuing student parents

Within each of these areas we identified some primary aims and objectives, as well as ways in which we aimed to achieve these. These will now be addressed in more detail according to what aims were identified and what work has since been undertaken in these areas.

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Representation of student parents This area of focus centres around ensuring that student parents and particular issues that they face are addressed by the Students’ Union in order to ensure that we represent this group of students effectively and that they, in turn, feel represented by us. Thusfar, our primary mechanism for doing this has been our Student Parents’ Survey which we launched in Freshers’ Week – the survey looked primarily at the key concerns of this group ranging from housing to finances, their perceptions and awareness of the Students’ Union and what they’d like to see from us in particular. Following on from the survey, we held a focus group on the difficult balance between studies and other responsibilities as this emerged as a key concern from the survey. We have also conducted a focus group with student parents as part of our internal democratic review process – this was a key area where it seems there was lower engagement and this focus group helped to establish students’ current perceptions, as well as taking on board suggestions for how we can encourage greater engagement with the democratic processes of the Students’ Union among this group. The findings of this research will be discussed in more detail later in this report. A second key priority in this area was to facilitate the creation of a Student Parents’ society to provide a central point of contact for student parents to come together and share experiences. This was also the most popular answer in the ‘what would you like to see’ section of our survey with 82.1% of students feeling that this would make a positive difference to them. At one of the social events we organised in the Family Room, we invited Scott, the Activities Officer to attend and explain how to set up a society and shortly afterwards the Student Parents’ Association was born. It has since gone from strength to strength, bringing together parents from across campus and putting on events alongside the Students’ Union, as well as beginning to involve themselves with representing student parents as a group and raising issues. With ongoing support, we hope that this society will continue to grow and provide a focal point both for student parents to come together to provide each other with informal support networks and to share experiences, as well as to provide a centre for Students’ Union engagement with this group. Through the ongoing democratic review process, we hope that we will establish a means for student parents to be formally represented within the Students’ Union’s democratic structures to ensure that there is a robust mechanism in place for this. Our key means of encouraging involvement in the democratic processes of the Students’ Union among student parents is reimbursing any candidates in elections who have children for any childcare costs they incur through attending candidates meetings. Research and information Part of the process of becoming more accessible to student parents, is to establish a clearer picture of who they are, what their needs are and how we can better cater to them in all areas of the Students’ Union. To ensure this, as well as undertaking the survey and focus groups specifically looking at the experiences of student parents, we have integrated data collection into all areas of the Students’ Union so that we can monitor student parents’ use and involvement in everything from clubs and societies to advice to democratic processes. We hope that this will enable us to identify areas for improvement in order to make all elements of Students’ Union involvement accessible for student parents. We have also adapted our annual Big Questionnaire and What Matters to You surveys to get specific feedback on our services from this group.

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Campaigning on student parent issues It is important to the Students’ Union that we not only campaign on issues affecting student parents specifically, but that we integrate student parents into other campaigns. This year we secured consultation with student parents on the restructuring of the academic year, resulting in a proposed structure which takes the feedback of student parents into account. The Student Parents’ Association has been heavily involved in the campaign to secure the future of the nursery on campus through writing articles in the Badger and meeting with Charles Dudley to discuss the impact its closure would have on student parents as a particularly vulnerable group. We aim to continue involving student parents in the campaigning work of the Students’ Union in the future. Relationship with institution Over the course of this year, we have coordinated with the institution to create positive change for student parents. At the start of the year, we attended the University’s gateway day for mature students at which we promoted our coming events and providing targeted information for student parents. We have also built working relationships in various ways with staff in Residential Services, the International Office, Student Life Centre and Directors of Student Support to ensure effective joint working, collaboration and maximal awareness of what is being offered to student parents. We have also recently begun a dialogue with childcare staff around how we can ensure that student parents using their services are aware of the support available to them. Communication We have continued to develop our Students with Kids publication to provide targeted and effective information and advice for student parents. We have also for the first time developed a section of our website specifically for student parents which extends beyond advice and welfare provision to events, social activities and information on the Student Parents Association. We have also developed a mailing list of over 60 student parents through which we are able to circulate a regular newsletter providing specific information on forthcoming events specifically targeted at this group, as well as other events we offer which may be suitable for students and their children to attend. It also provides parents with information on the regular on-campus baby clinics, how to find student babysitters and the Student Parents’ Association, as well as encouraging engagement with the broader goings on within the Students’ Union such as elections, AGMs and the offerings of our advice service. This newsletter is also received by various members of University staff to keep them informed of what is happening. In the coming months we are also hoping to build links with external bodies such as the Family Information Service to establish how we can work in partnership to ensure that specialist, local information and support is as readily available to student parents as possible. Support and services Another key aim of our work with student parents is to ensure the relevance and usability of our services from shops to bars to advice to activities through usage monitoring, evaluation and service adaptation. We have integrated questions on this into our Big Questionnaire and What Matters to You surveys, as well as looking at this in the Student Parents Survey. The findings of these will be fed back to the relevant services to ensure that opening hours, stock and focus are student parent friendly – for example, we have recently started stocking children’s garments in our shops. We will also be briefing staff in relevant areas to ensure optimal awareness of student parent specific issues and to ensure that all areas of the Union are welcoming and inclusive of student parents.

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Events and Activities Over the course of this year, we have integrated a programme of events for student parents into both our Freshers Week schedule and the ongoing programme which runs throughout the year. Starting in Freshers Week, we ran a coffee morning which could be attended either with or without children, as well as a cross-campus treasure hunt to encourage students and their children to get acquainted with campus and meet each other. Following on from these events, we also worked with Residential Services to promote their annual Halloween party in the Family Room, as well as for the first time running a Christmas party in conjunction with Residential Services. We have also run various coffee mornings throughout the year and have been working with the Student Parents’ Association to establish a regular coffee morning. We hope to be able to run a trip for student parents and their children either this term or over the summer. In addition to these student parent specific events, we have been striving to ensure that as many of our other events are as accessible and enjoyable as possible for student parents. This has involved increasing the number of alcohol free events, more of a focus on cultural events, making children’s tickets available and promoting these events specifically to student parents. This has worked well and we have received highly positive feedback from student parents on this, as well as a growing uptake of children’s tickets. Valuing student parents Another core element of our work this year has been to demonstrate the value we place on student parents as members of the Students’ Union and an important part of the University community. This has involved making a clear statement on what we offer student parents on our website, incorporating student parents into the promotional images we use and considering the needs of student parents in all activities of the Students’ Union. We have ensured this through offering briefings to staff and officers on the specific issues facing student parents to ensure a holistic awareness in all parts of Students’ Union activity.

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Key findings of research This section of the report will give a summary of the key findings of the Students’ Union’s research over the course of the year including the Student Parents Survey, the student life focus group we held in the spring term and the focus group held as part of our internal democratic review process in the summer term. The findings of these will be summarised under the following headings:

- Who are student parents at Sussex? - What do student parents care about? - What can be done to improve student parents’ experiences of their time at

Sussex?

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Who are student parents at Sussex? Our findings suggest that student parents at Sussex are predominantly women, with this group making up 86.1% of our survey respondents. Student parents seem to be significantly overrepresented among postgraduate research students with 36.1% falling into this category compared to 9.5% of the student body as a whole3. However, there still appear to be a significant number of undergraduates with this group accounting for 41.7% of respondents.

Figure 2: Level of study It appears that student parents are more likely to be international students when compared to the picture of the overall student body with 25% of respondents being international fee payers and another 8.3% coming from elsewhere in the EU. These groups represent 17.9% of the wider student body4. Over 90% are enrolled in full time courses which appears to be roughly similar to the proportion among the total student population, although 11.8% of respondents were intermitting at the time of completing the survey which is over three times the average among the total University population indicating that student parents may be more likely to take the decision to withdraw temporarily from their studies5. Students from first year were significantly overrepresented but it is not clear whether this is due to the fact that a lot of our publicity was targeted through our Freshers Week programme or coordinated with University induction, or whether it may indicate a retention issue. However, the results of our 2009-10 Big Questionnaire (which is 3 According to the 2009/10 Digest of Student Statistics available at www.sussex.ac.uk 4 ibid. 5 When compared to data received from Student Systems as at the 23rd May 2011 when 9.1% of current students were registered on part time programmes and 3.1% of students were on temporary withdrawal.

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conducted at the end of the academic year) also show an overrepresentation of first years among those with caring responsibilities which may suggest that retention could be a significant issue at Sussex. This is a trend which is reflected on a national level, where the NUS Meet the Parents Report found that 60% of student parents had considered leaving their course at some point6. 60% of the Student Parents Survey respondents had only one dependent child, but a significant number had two or three. Half of respondents had children aged between 0 and two years old and another 44.4% had children aged between three and five indicating that childcare is likely to be an issue for a majority of student parents in some way. All respondents would be considered to be ‘mature students’ with the majority aged between 25 and 44 (with the other 5.6% being between 21 and 24).

Figure 3: Number of dependent children 41.7% of respondents are single parents balancing study with their caring responsibilities. 14.3% of those who responded to the survey consider themselves to have a disability, a little over the 2009-10 institutional average of 9.55%. 22.3% identified themselves as BME, with another 5.6% identifying themselves as belonging to an ‘other ethnic group’ – this seems to be significantly higher than the average across the University. 33.4% balance some kind of paid employment alongside their studies and caring responsibilities and a quarter are not in receipt of any benefits.

6 p. 31

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What do student parents at Sussex care about? Financial Issues This was the key area of concern for respondents with high levels of concern expressed in various areas. This was also reflected in the open comment box where one student stated that “money is always a worry” while another said that they were unsure of their ability to come back from intermission due to the financial implications. Financial issues were particularly likely to be a worry for single parents.

Figure 4: Financial Issues The most significant financial concern by far was paying for childcare, which was considered to be of ‘great concern’ for 62.5% of respondents, ‘some concern’ for 28.1% of respondents and the other respondents said that it was not applicable to them. Some expressed a desire for the University to assist student parents with childcare costs as for those eligible for childcare related grants and/or tax credits, some felt that it was not sufficient to cover what they needed to complete their studies, while most international students are not eligible for any support whatsoever for this additional cost relating to their studies7. Although student parents are considered a priority group for the Access to Learning Fund, many may be unaware of what is available to them as the University does not collect data on caring responsibilities on entry and is therefore unable to specifically target this information at those who need it most.

Securing funding for the course of study was of ‘great concern’ for 45.5% though 36.4% considered this to be of ‘no concern’ – postgraduate research students were

7 According to the NUS Meet the Parents Report, just 11% of student parents say they receive enough funding to cover childcare expenses (p. 57).

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less likely to be concerned by this however, as most have their funding arrangements secured before starting their course of study. Home and EU students were more likely to be concerned by this. Paying off student debt was the next most prevalent concern and this is again more common among home and EU students, as well as undergraduates. The fact that these two issues appear to be of such concern for home undergraduates may highlight that further work could be done to ensure equity of access for student parents in the post-2012 HE landscape. Budgeting was a very widespread concern, whereas the issues of personal debt such as loans and credit cards, being paid the correct benefits and finding paid work were of somewhat less concern (though still not insignificant). Concerns were expressed among international student respondents regarding the availability of employment for spouses who had accompanied them and their children to the UK.

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Student life issues The balance between study, other responsibilities and social lives is one which many respondents seem to find challenging in the University environment. This led us to run a focus group specifically relating to these issues and here I will report on both the findings of the survey and this focus group.

Figure 5: Student Life Issues The most common shared concern across all respondents in the entire survey was balancing study and family life with an overwhelming majority of 78.8% stating that this was a ‘great concern’ and the remaining 21.2% considering it to be of ‘some concern’. Many reported finding this balance a daily struggle making it a challenge for them to complete their studies to the best of their abilities and often preventing them from getting as involved as they would like with things happening on campus. The academic issues will be explored in more detail later on in this report.

This is again reflected in the fact that over three quarters of those who responded were concerned in some way about feeling a part of the University community. Feeling part of the local community was not as much of a concern. Some expressed that they would like to get involved with more on campus activities but found it difficult as these were often in the evenings. In the focus group, some reported finding their involvement in the Student Parents’ Association to be a key factor in their feeling a part of a community on campus and that it was comforting to know that despite often being the only student parent on their courses, there were others elsewhere in the University. However, there were concerns about fitting into the broader campus community as it was felt that there was a gap between the experiences of those students with children and those without.

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Another significant concern among over half of respondents was access to family-friendly facilities such as baby-changing and playing space. It seems that an expansion of the number of such facilities would be welcomed, as would clearer information on what is available. The absence of changing facilities in Falmer House is something that has been raised by the Students’ Union previously and something that is yet to be rectified. Concern was also expressed at the use of the family room as a storage space during summer months when many find it difficult to keep their children entertained on campus.

Other significant concerns were health and wellbeing and balancing study and paid employment with these being of concern to some degree for three quarters and just under half of respondents respectively. A key shared concern which emerged in the student life focus group was that many expressed that they had had difficulty in finding suitable childcare (outside of or in addition to the on-campus facilities) and that they felt that there was a need to provide greater guidance for student parents on these issues8. For example, it was suggested that a list of recommended childminders be provided and kept updated and that there be a contact on campus with specific expertise in this area to advise parents of their options. It was also suggested that an online facility could be created to provide a space for parents to exchange childcare recommendations as well as sharing other experiences.

8 The NUS Meet the Parents Report found that only 14% of student parents felt they had received enough information on childcare (p. 4).

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Academic Issues While most areas of the academic experience at Sussex were not found to be of great concern in the student parents survey, some specific areas have been highlighted as highly significant issues for student parents and these were raised again in detail in the student life focus group. From the results of last year’s Big Questionnaire, it seems that students with caring responsibilities tend to place greater emphasis on the standard of academic facilities available than the wider student body.

Figure 6: Academic Issues As is clear from the above graph based on the findings of the student parents survey, the primary area of concern is the timing and changeability of timetables – this was largely the case for undergraduate and postgraduate taught students. Many expressed considerable discontent around lectures which run up until 6 or 7pm and last minute changes being made to timetables. The former is a problem for many due to childcare hours being inadequate meaning that student parents are either required to ask others to collect and look after their children, or, as many without this support network report doing, miss their lectures in order to pick up their child. In the student life focus group some with school age children also mentioned difficulty in arriving for lectures at 9am when children needed to be dropped at school, while some found lunchtimes (1 until 2 o’clock) difficult due to the need to pick their children up for lunch from the nursery. The changeability of timetables is considered to be a significant problem as many report making complex childcare arrangements only to have to change them at the last minute or again missing their lectures causing them to get behind on their course. There were also a lot of comments regarding the late release of timetables, with many feeling that this made it almost impossible to plan childcare effectively and go into each new term

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feeling prepared. Participants in our focus group reported spending a lot of time and energy unsuccessfully chasing timetables from tutors and administrative staff. There was discussion both through the survey and in the student life focus group around the desire for the University to adopt a family friendly timetabling policy which would mean that lectures would only run until 4 o’clock, leaving seminars later in the afternoon so that if student parents were unable to attend they would be able to switch seminar groups. Some also indicated that where seminar sessions were bunched on one afternoon it was difficult if that was not a period where childcare was available. A suggestion was made that all lectures could start at 9.30 to avoid problems in the mornings. There was also a wish for the University to commit to providing full timetables further in advance and to limit last minute changes as much as possible to enable childcare arrangements to be made in good time and without need for constant change which can cause difficulties for student parents in their relationships with childcare providers. When academic issues were discussed in more detail, all participants expressed that they felt that they as student parents were not considered in key decisions of the University and within their departments with many feeling that there was a lack of awareness of student parents as a demographic at the University. There was particular concern about the awareness of academics with many feeling that it was somewhat ‘hit or miss’ whether you would be taught by a tutor who had an understanding of the specific challenges facing student parents. Some reported particular tutors being very helpful and accommodating, but it was felt that this was on a very much ad hoc basis as there appears to be no training or policies for staff to adhere to in relation to student parents. Many felt that the fact that academic staff were not aware that they were teaching a student parent meant that things were frequently done which would have a significant impact on them without the tutor realising – this was particularly the case around issues of timetabling. The NUS Meet the Parents Report indicates that support from staff is a critical factor in student parent retention9. Many reported issues with childcare or child illness causing them to miss lectures and seminars leaving them behind on their work (one student reported attending only 50% of her first year lectures) – some had asked for recordings to be made of their lectures in case this happened, but had largely been refused this request. All those present agreed that making recordings compulsory at least for lectures scheduled at difficult periods for student parents would be a positive step for the University to take – it was agreed that even if it was necessary for these only to be available that day to ensure that it didn’t encourage complacency, this would be hugely beneficial to student parents. There was also a strong feeling that all lecture slides should be made available to access online for those who couldn’t make their lectures. There was a strong agreement among the participants that it would be a positive step for the University to take to ask at the point of entry whether students had caring responsibilities10 so that tutors would be aware of the presence of a student parent in their class and could take appropriate steps to ensure that they were not overlooked in the consideration of how to structure the course. It was suggested that often where tutors become aware that they are teaching a student parent they become more sympathetic and that it would therefore be positive to make tutors aware of a matter of 9 p. 33 10 This is something that was reflected in the NUS Meet the Parents Report findings (p. 16) – most student parents interviewed agreed that they would welcome their HEI taking this step and would be happy to provide this information.

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course without the student having to approach each new tutor to inform them and request ‘special treatment’. The ad hoc nature of these discussions also led the group to agree that a family friendly policy would be beneficial to ensure consistency. Some also reported being forced to hand in work late due to childcare issues or the illness of a child which would not be covered by mitigating evidence procedures – they felt that the late sanctions they had received were not fair given the circumstances. One reported approaching the University to see whether there was any way of getting mitigating evidence due to a late submission caused by the illness of a child and was told that she would have to accept the penalty. She felt that this was unjust as if she had been in the workplace she would have been able to take time off legitimately for this reason. It was agreed that it should be made explicit that for those with caring responsibilities, doctors’ notes for the child or adult who that student is responsible for would be accepted as grounds for mitigating evidence. There was also a discussion of the levels of evidence required as many felt that a child’s illness may not necessarily be severe enough to require taking to a doctor, but that this may still have a significant impact on the parents’ ability to study and attend lectures – it was therefore felt that there needed to be some understanding of the difficulty in obtaining ‘adequate’ evidence for these scenarios. Overall, participants in the focus group felt that the University presented a family friendly image to prospective students by having family accommodation, the on-campus childcare facilities, the family room and play area, but that this inclusiveness was not necessarily carried through to all parts of the institution and that therefore student parents did not have a uniformly positive experience of studying at Sussex. There was a strong feeling that there should be a family friendly policy which made the University’s commitment to supporting student parents explicit, as well as providing something that parents could refer tutors to should they be having difficulties. It was also felt that guidance and training should be provided to University staff on the specific issues facing student parents and how they might be able to mitigate some of these difficulties. NUS have produced a useful briefing on how to improve the learning experience of student parents in Further Education (FE), the key recommendations of which have been provided as Appendix A. Although this briefing is aimed at the FE environment, many of the recommendations are also applicable to the Higher Education environment and many are mirrored in our own recommendations at the end of this paper.

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Housing Issues Although issues relating to housing were generally not as prevalent as other concerns, there were significant numbers of students reporting issues in various areas relating to accommodation.

Figure 7: Housing Issues The most common concern was around the difficulty in finding suitable housing. Multiple respondents reported feeling that the images and descriptions of the family flats on campus in the prospectus and online were not accurate representations of the property they found on arrival and either reported moving out shortly after starting at Sussex or choosing not to apply for this accommodation as a result. This was an experience that was shared by students at the student life focus group. Many also felt that the family flats were not conducive to communality or sharing among student parent residents as they had felt they might be. It was clear that for many the positive images of the family flats in University communications had been a key factor in their decisions to study here, but that they had been disappointed with the reality of this accommodation upon arrival. NUS have created a useful Many reported also having problems finding affordable accommodation in the private rented sector with landlords who would accept children. International students were particularly likely to report having problems with accommodation with over four times as many reporting difficulty in finding suitable housing as being a ‘great concern’ as well as being significantly more likely to report having problems with campus accommodation.

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Student Parents and the Students’ Union There generally appears to be relatively high awareness of Students’ Union services among student parents, but fairly low participation in most areas although most responses were received early on in the year with a large number of first years so it may be that this participation may have been at higher levels later on in the year.

Figure 8: Awareness of and participation in the Students’ Union Interestingly, the two areas with the highest levels of awareness – sports clubs and societies – generate some of the lowest participation ratings. This is despite the fact that 48.4% of respondents claim that there are clubs and societies relevant to their interests. This appears to be a symptom of the study/life balance issues discussed earlier in the report with 74.2% of respondents agreeing with the statement “I would like to get involved with sport clubs and/or societies, but am unable to due to childcare/work/study/other commitments”. It may be therefore that there is more work to be done to encourage clubs and societies to run more one-off events to allow people to get involved on a less regular basis. We are also currently considering implementing a childcare expenses policy for our volunteers to ensure that noone is unable to volunteer with us due to other commitments or pressures. The services within the Students’ Union that student parents are more likely to use appear to be either things that can involve more occasional or transient involvement such as student media and democratic services (such as elections) or those which are considered necessary for the smooth running of their course or life outside of their studies (the student rep scheme and the Advice and Representation Centre). The results of last year’s Big Questionnaire suggest that those with caring responsibilities are over twice as likely to make use of the advice services in the Students’ Union when compared to the broader student body – in our current year’s statistical analysis, 13.2%

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of all contacts with the ARC have been from student parents11. In terms of commercial services usage, these students are more likely to use the Students’ Union shops regularly than the bars or the Box Office although almost all of those who did make use of these services rated them either OK or excellent. Over half of the respondents to the Student Parents Survey felt that the Students’ Union lobbies the University on their behalf and just under half felt that campaigns run by the Students’ Union were relevant to them – since the bulk of the responses for this survey were collected, we have run a campaign on the future of childcare on campus so it will be interesting to see if this rating increases next year. Although just under half of respondents reported either having voted in a Students’ Union election, just over a third felt that they would like to engage further with the democratic systems of the Students’ Union but were unable to due to time constraints. There were also a number of responses to last year’s Big Questionnaire which indicated that this group of students felt that the key role of the Students’ Union was to be a representative body focussing on issues affecting students. This is one matter which has been considered by the current internal democratic review process during which a focus group specifically relating to student parent representation within the Students’ Union was held. The main findings of this focus group were that it was felt that the Students’ Union was supportive of student parents and helped to empower them to make their voice heard, but at the same time there was an expression of interest in having direct representation for student parents elected from within the student parent community on campus. This is a possibility which will be explored through the democratic review and it is hoped that a system whereby directly elected representation is available to student parents will be developed. Other areas being addressed in the review are those of policy creation and implementation, and transparency. Improvements made in these areas may also serve to help student parents feel more able to engage. One of the key priorities in running the student parents survey was to ask for feedback on what sorts of things student parents would like to see and over the course of this year we have strived to implement as many of these as possible. The most popular response was a student parents’ society which has since been set up. The second biggest priority was to have better or more affordable childcare options and it has since been established with the University that student parents will be consulted on any new childcare arrangements to explore issues such as potential term-time only sessions and different opening hours to suit student parents. In addition to this, over two thirds wanted more social events for student parents and children which is again something that has since been implemented, with a variety of events being held throughout the year. We hope that this events programme will continue to grow in popularity and frequency in the future. We will continue to monitor on an annual basis what student parents would like to see and aim to implement popular suggestions as far as possible to ensure that our provisions are tailored to the specific needs of this group.

11 As at 19th May 2011

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Figure 9: Services student parents would like to see made available The ideas of an online babysitting board and an unwanted clothes/equipment swap scheme were also popular and we are now considering how to implement these. We have also taken on board the desire for more targeted information and publications for student parents by making a clear statement on our webpage about what is offered to student parents and pointing students towards other useful and relevant information. Ideas such as a parent-led after school/holiday club and playgroup were also popular and are something to explore further in the future – we have already seen parents creating informal support networks to help each other with difficult childcare situations this year. There was also an appetite for an increase in family friendly facilities which is something that we have aimed to address through the renovation of the family room and the installation of a small play area in our Common Room, but we would also welcome the installation of baby changing facilities in Falmer House, as well as further locations around campus as we have already expressed to the University. NUS have also produced a briefing on involving student parents in the Students’ Union, the key recommendations of which have been provided as Appendix B. While many of these recommendations have already been implemented, others will be considered as we develop our work with student parents in the future.

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What can be done to improve student parents’ experiences of their time at Sussex? Following on from these findings, we would now like to make a number of recommendations for practical measures that could be taken on the part of the University which we believe would significantly improve the experience of student parents at Sussex:

1) Collect data on students with caring responsibilities at the point of application/entry12. We believe that this would be beneficial for the following reasons:

o Our research indicates that student parents appear to be significantly more likely to be in first year indicating that there is potentially a retention issue. This was a key finding of NUS’s Meet the Parents Report as 60% of student parents interviewed had considered dropping out at some point13. It is vital that the University is able to monitor retention rates among this particularly vulnerable group, as well as those with adult caring responsibilities in order to plan effectively.

o In addition to this, without any awareness of the number of student parents at the institution, it is impossible for either the University or the Students’ Union to plan effectively for this group often leaving them feeling like they are not catered for or considered. By collecting this data, the University and Students’ Union could work together to establish an integrated and comprehensive system of support for student parents. This is also the case for students with adult caring responsibilities.

o Despite being a priority group for the Access to Learning Fund, many student parents are not aware of their eligibility due to a lack of information being received. Were the identity of student parents to be known, it would be possible to send targeted and timely information to ensure that those who were eligible and would benefit greatly from the receipt of this additional income are able to access it.

o Many tutors are unaware that they are teaching a student parent and are therefore unable to plan their courses sensitively around the needs of this group. To prevent student parents needing to approach tutors themselves, it would enable the University to flag student parents on course lists (should they choose to declare their caring responsibilities) so that tutors can plan effectively to ensure a more positive experience for student parents or those with adult caring responsibilities.

o Should the University choose to implement a family friendly policy across the institution, it would be possible to make student parents aware of this policy and their rights under it at the earliest possible stage.

This is something which has already been implemented elsewhere at a Russell Group institution and over 5% of the student population were found to have caring responsibilities of some kind, most of which were for children – given Sussex’s high numbers of mature students, this figure could potentially be higher here.

2) Given that student parents are clearly a vulnerable demographic in the Higher

Education environment, it is recommended that they be included in the Equality

12 As recommended by the NUS Meet the Parents Report, p. 16 13 ibid., p. 31

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Impact Assessment process of any future institutional changes14. With a majority of student parents being women, there are also gender equality considerations to take into account here.

3) Implement a family friendly policy in relation to timetabling procedures which would:

o Release timetables one month before the start of term15 to ensure that parents are able to arrange childcare in sufficient time.

o Keep timetable changes to an absolute minimum and where absolutely necessary to change timings, compensate any parents who have incurred additional childcare costs due to this.

o Ensure that as far as logistically possible lectures are only run until 4 or 5 o’clock to ensure that parents do not have to miss lectures when their child’s childcare arrangement ends.

o Ensure that seminar groups are not all held at similar times so that it is possible to swap between classes.

o Explore the possibility of starting all lectures at 9.30am.

4) Ensure that student parents are not put at an unreasonable disadvantage when they need to miss lectures or make a late submission due to unavoidable situations relating to problems with childcare or the illness of a child by:

o Establishing an arrangement where at least those courses attended by student parents are required to provide recordings of all lectures, particularly those which are held at the beginning or the end of the day. These could either only be available for a day or so, or only to those who request it if there is concern about student complacency.

o Making all slides and lecture handouts available online. o Making the illness of a child who the student has caring responsibilities

for a legitimate grounds for mitigating evidence and explicitly state this in the mitigating evidence procedure.

5) Provide training for key members of staff in all departments of the University and

include awareness of student parents issues in any future Equality and Diversity training/staff induction programmes. Ensure that all staff are aware of the family friendly policy of the University.

6) Increase the number of family friendly facilities on campus and ensure that these

are well publicised. Baby changing seems to be a particular issue and the absence of facilities in Falmer House is something that we would ask to be rectified. Another situation which should be resolved is the current lack of availability of the Family Room during summer months, meaning that those who remain on campus during this period do not have access to a family space – this is a large number of students given that almost 60% of those who responded to our survey are postgraduates and many undergraduates remain on campus throughout their course.

7) Ensure that student parents are thoroughly involved in any future discussions

relating to on campus childcare provision (particularly around hours of service) and family accommodation (with specific consideration of whether either the images in the prospectus need to be reviewed or the existing family flats need to be renovated to restore them to their original standard).

14 ibid., p. 5 15 ibid., p. 33

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8) Consider including a particular focus on student parents in future widening

participation activity, through continuing to develop tailored financial support packages to help with childcare costs and adapting publicity and outreach materials to explicitly include this group. It may be that in the new HE funding landscape, especially with proposed cuts to many benefits, maintaining access for parents will be particularly challenging and further financial support needs to be directed to this group.

9) Consider reviewing existing student support arrangements to see what specific

support is available for student parents. Some suggestions for useful support included a regularly updated list of recommended local childminders and an online facility to be created and maintained for student parents to share experiences and recommendations. It was suggested that there should be one key contact on campus with good knowledge of the local childcare situation and contacts with the Family Information Service and other local organisations who could advise student parents on their options. These services could logically sit within either the Students’ Union or the Student Life Centre, but would clearly have funding and resource implications which would need to be considered.

Should all of these recommendations be carried out, we feel that the University of Sussex could help to establish itself as a leader in the inclusivity of student parents, providing a model of best practice in the sector.

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Appendix A: NUS Briefing – Improving the Learning Experience for Student Parents in FE 1 Student parents need to receive timetables – even if only draft ones – one

month before term starts. Not having this information in time causes stress and worry but can also lead to loss of childcare places and not having childcare at the beginning of term, meaning they have to miss teaching time.

2 Child-friendly libraries can ease difficulties for student parents who need to drop

off or pick up books when they don't have childcare. 3 Student parents sometimes need to miss class because their children are

unwell or their childcare fails. For this reason authorised absence policies should reflect these experiences and parents should not be punished (particularly financially) when they have no alternative but to miss classes.

4 To help parents catch up after unavoidable absences, it can be helpful to make

notes from classes available online. 5 Holidays can be the most stressful time for student parents since the majority

only have childcare during term-time, so their workload actually increases during Christmas and Easter. Spreading deadlines out across the year helps student parents to plan and complete their assignments.

6 Many student parents travel long distances to attend their course, rather than

move their family. For this reason and because of difficulties finding childcare, they should be offered the opportunity to hand in their work by e-mail if a lack of childcare prohibits them from submitting it in person.

7 For the same reason, colleges could consider implementing virtual office hours

where student parents are able to discuss their work with their tutors. 8 Student parents can feel isolated and detached from their classmates because

of a number of different issues, including the fact that most are only in college during contact hours because of childcare restrictions. One way to help foster a sense of community and would be to set up an online discussion forum.

9 Students who become pregnant during their course are especially vulnerable to

a lack of support and dropping out. Making sure that women who want to can continue with their course, or defer if necessary, is paramount. Writing this down in a pregnancy policy would ensure that students have something to rely on should they become pregnant.

10 Student parents are more likely to want to change their mode of study from part

to full-time (or vice versa) because of their family responsibilities, which are often unpredictable and likely to change. Ensuring that courses are flexible and allow students to change mode if necessary will really help parents to take part in further education.

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Appendix B: NUS Briefing – Involving Student Parents in your Union 1 Survey your members. Data collection on student parents is essential in

improving your ability to effectively support them. Are your student parents taking part in clubs and societies? Are they voting? Do they have their own ideas about how the students' union could change to be more inclusive?

2 Establish a student parent network. An online network can give student parents

flexibility and ease of access to channels of communication. International students would particularly benefit from such a network.

3 Throw a family-friendly fun day and encourage student parents to bring their

children and partners. Include activities which appeal to a wide range of age groups, such as sports competitions, arts and crafts, or a picnic.

4 Give parents a breather. Plan events where students with caring responsibilities

can unwind without their children, providing childcare if possible. And remember to give plenty of notice!

5 Make buildings accessible and child-friendly. By creating family friendly spaces,

your union can encourage student parents to visit with their children, make use of the facilities, and meet friends. In addition to pram access, breastfeeding areas, and gender-neutral baby changing facilities, have items on hand which appeal to older children, such as playstations, Wiis or even just Internet access.

6 Signpost services and activities that might interest student parents in key areas

– near crèches, toilets, libraries, baby changing facilities, campus entrance and exits, computer clusters, and departmental notice boards. Advertise a list of external services which offer assistance to parents, such as local Children's Centres or holiday play schemes.

7 Consider creating a key staff contact to specifically support student parents,

and ensure that relevant information is provided to all individuals who work with and advise students. Review which representative roles include student parents within their remit and make sure these officers are aware of the issues.

8 Make democratic processes accessible. Run meetings, vote counts and

elections in accessible venues, away from alcohol, and at times when student parents will most likely be able to attend.

9 Make union positions fit for student parents, not the other way round. Job-

shares and non-sabbatical representative positions may encourage students who cannot otherwise undertake a full-time commitment to get involved in your students’ union. Offering financial support for childcare can also help student parents to participate.

10 Include student parents in your diversity training for clubs and societies. Remind

them that the more diverse a membership they reach out to, the higher their participation in the activities.

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