‘It was definitely a turning point!’ A review of Aimhigher summer schools in the south west of England

Abstract

Although summer schools are a popular and widely used activity for widening participation in higher education, their impact on their participants' subsequent educational careers has not been widely researched. This article draws on qualitative and quantitative evidence from a study across the south west of England to suggest that participation in a summer school had a positive impact upon young people's subsequent educational careers. The summer schools replicated the university experience sufficiently well to transform participants' learner identities by enabling them to feel confident about ‘fitting in’ socially and academically within the HE environment. This article argues that ‘raising aspirations’ should not be viewed as a ‘one‐off’ but as a series of steps through which aspirations are created, personalised, developed, and finally, consolidated. Summer schools have a distinctive role in helping the learner to negotiate this process successfully.

Keywords:

• summer schools
• widening participation
• raising aspirations