Carers Trust Scotland aims to improve support for students in Scotland’s colleges
Over 12,000 student carers will receive extra support thanks to a free training module developed by Carers Trust Scotland and the College Development Network.
Supporting Student Carers at College is an innovative digital training module designed to help college practitioners to better understand the challenges faced by many student carers and provide guidance on how to improve support for these students at college.
It comes after research by Carers Trust found that young carers are four times more likely to drop out of college and university than other students.
Despite the number of student carers growing from 3,400 in 2013-14 to almost 12,000 last year, many told the charity they feel unsupported as they juggle their academic life with the responsibilities of caring.
The new resource compliments existing work to raise awareness, improve identification and ensure adequate support is in place to give student carers a fair chance to be successful in their education.
Scott Lafferty, development manager for Carers Trust Scotland, said: “Carers Trust Scotland is delighted to have worked with College Development Network to launch Supporting Student Carers at College, a digital training module for college professionals.
“It aims to raise awareness to the challenges that many student carers face and offers guidance on how colleges in Scotland can provide improved support to the over 12,000 student carers in Scotland, so that they have a fair chance to be successful in their own education and achieve their true potential in all aspects of their lives.”
Andree Carruthers, Access and Inclusion Consultant for the College Development Network, added: “We know that there are over 12,000 declared student carers studying in our colleges, and that they are four times more likely to withdraw from their course. College offers carers a break from caring and new opportunities for the future, and we owe it to them to support them to make the most of their time at college.
“The module is brought to life by the voices of the carers that courageously and selflessly shared their experiences and the challenges of combining their caring duties and studying.”
The module, which was funded by the Scottish Funding Council, is available on the College Development Network website.
