Community engagement, extending higher education student learning and raising aspirations of primary school children: initial reflections

This innovative practice paper reflects on how a university community engagement (CE) project, run at a higher education (HE) institution in the south of England and established in 2014 as a series of community sport type initiatives, has had two elements related to widening participation emerge. Firstly, the CE has played a role in extending the learning of over 100 students enrolled on sports coaching degrees. This is demonstrated through some of them explicitly stating that their experience of the CE has informed their decisions to continue their education and enter Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programmes. The second element relates to the specific experiences of a local primary school that visits the HE to participate in the CE programme. Here, by linking community needs and resources, some of the key personnel from the school have explained how the visits have contributed to the schoolchildren's educational aspirations. Whilst this element is not necessarily certain in its eventual outcome, given the young age of the participants, this innovative practice paper does extol the benefits of community collaborations and uniting efforts; it shares some of the key principles necessary for others to replicate the CE programme in order to support widening participation and lifelong learning.