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Author: Philippa Waterhouse, The Crossroads Working Group
  • Activity
  • 20 minutes

At a crossroads: navigating work and/or family alongside study

Updated Wednesday, 7 August 2024

Balancing the demands of studying with family or employment responsibilities can be difficult. This interactive explores different challenges, including lack of understanding and support from family members and employers, time pressures, and dealing with the emotional side of navigating work, family and study. Based on the real-life experiences of students*, our evidence-informed tips and advice are here to help.

* Research with students.

Find out about The Open University's Health and Social Care courses and qualifications.

Jaya is studying on laptop stressed at university

Click on the image above, or click here to start your interactive experience.

Instructions

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Research with students

The interactive is based on the real-life stories and self-reported strategies of students collected as part of an Open University funded research project involving 348 undergraduate students. 

It was further informed by consultations with and feedback provided by students from across the UK as part of an Office for Students funded collaborative project called Positive Digital Practices, which has its own resources hub. All of the resources are completely free to access download and use; they aim to help those working in Higher Education embed and sustain positive digital practices that support mental wellbeing for part-time, commuter, and distance learning students.



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