New year, new start
Grit partnering in a major new research project
We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, Sheffield Hallam University, Liverpool John Moores University and the UK Council for Graduate Education on a major project tacking systemic inequality in access to, and participation in, doctoral education for racialised groups.
The Equity in Doctoral Education through Partnership and Innovation is a four year project funded by the Office for Students and Research England. We will be working with postgraduate students from racialised groups to change the way they think about race, support them to see past blind-spots, assumptions and biases brought about by systemic inequality. We will tackle isolation, develop of a sense of belonging and mattering.
And we’ll be working with the wider research community to disrupt the transfer of cultural norms and practices that perpetuate inequalities in participation from supervisors to Postgraduate Research candidates.
It all kicks off on February 1st!
And the partnership is looking for a Programme Manager. More details here
Liam’s story
Liam was in year 10 at a school in Warwickshire when he did a Grit programme in 2021.
As Liam puts it himself, “I was going off the rails.” There were days when he didn’t go to school at all, just hung around the streets with a crowd of other young people getting involved in anti-social behaviour. Even when he was in school he spent his time arguing with teachers, getting kicked out of lessons and fighting with other students.
The coaching was a revelation. At last, someone who would actually listen to what he had to say. Not a teacher or his Mum telling him off, trying to get him to do something or behave in a certain way. Just someone who made him feel appreciated for who he is. Someone who “helped me get stuff off my chest.” Someone who spoke to him like an adult. But also someone who “said it straight,” someone who cut through.
The intensive has made a massive difference to how Liam sees the world and his place in it. It made him question the decisions he was making, decisions about being late, about getting kicked out of lessons. It made him ask, “Do I really want this for my life?” He saw what he needed to change, what needed to change now.
He is staying focused. Already he’s studying hard to catch up on work he’s missed. “I’m writing pages instead of a sentence.”
He is starting to put his hand up in class, answer questions, get work done. “The teacher says I’ve done a u-turn.”
And at home, life has transformed. “Mum is really proud and happy.” They don’t argue anymore because, “there is nothing to argue about anymore.” It feels so good.
“Grit,” says Liam, “has been so influential. It has helped me so much to make better choices. I’d recommend it to anyone.”
Talking about Grit
Recently we’ve been working with students Staffordshire Students Union and the University of Newcastle. This is what they have been saying about Grit.
