The participants required include students aged 16-25 years old, who are ‘care experienced’ and who are currently studying a course at the college. Care experienced refers to any student who has experienced being ‘looked after’ or is now considered a ‘care leaver’. The aim of the study is to explore what contributes to young people ‘thriving’ in further education. Therefore, participants are expected to identify as currently ‘doing well’ in college. For the purposes of this study, thriving includes doing well on the students own terms and despite the challenges they may have in other aspects of their life; especially in what has been an incredibly difficult year for many young people.
Each participant will be required to participate in one interview of approximately 45 minutes in length, which will be conducted at a convenient time and date to be arranged. Due to social distancing measures, these interviews will be carried out on Zoom at a convenient and safe location for the care experienced young person. Due to the category of student, they may choose for a staff member to be present during the interviews to minimise the chance of them feeling uncomfortable. There will also be a pre-interview, paper-based activity sent to the young person’s home for them to complete in their own time. This activity will seek to gather information about what young people suggest further education colleges could do to improve support for care experienced young people.
In accordance with ethical guidelines consent will be sought from the participants prior to participation. Furthermore, the researcher who will be in contact with the participants has undergone satisfactory DBS checks. Participation is entirely voluntary, and participants will be reminded of their right to withdraw throughout the study. All answers and results from the interviews will be kept strictly confidential and steps will be taken to ensure participant anonymity and data will be stored in line with GDPR.
The results of the study will be reported in a final dissertation. A summary of key findings will be made available to you after completion of the study in September 2021. This research has been reviewed by the University of Manchester Research Ethics Committee and research supervisor, Dr. Sarah MacQuarrie. If you wish to contact the supervisor directly, please do so at [email protected]
If there are any issues regarding this research that you would prefer not to discuss with members of the research team, please contact the Research Practice and Governance Coordinator at:
87 The Research Practice and Governance Co-ordinator,
Research Office,
Christie Building,
The University of Manchester,
Oxford Road, Manchester,
M13 9PL
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0161 275 7583 or 275 8093
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After taking some time for consideration I hope you will feel happy to participate. If you would like more information, or to register your interest please contact me at [email protected], so we can arrange a meeting to discuss the study in more detail.