Welcome to Carer Aware at University
Carer Aware at University is for all staff working in Scotland’s universities. It is built around the voices of student carers as they share their stories of caring for a family member or friend, and the impact of their caring role on their education.
You can use what you learn to develop practices and ideas to identify and support student carers to successfully complete their studies. The course will help you reflect on and improve the support you provide for student carers. This learning can support your university to achieve and maintain the Going Higher for Student Carers: Recognition Award, or to review your progress if you have already achieved it.
The course comprises text,
video content and activities. It will provide
opportunities to reflect on the challenges student carers face, the impact on
their education and the important role you can have in supporting them at
university.
The course is divided into two levels, each containing two sections. Each level will take you 1–2 hours to complete, depending on your level of engagement with the activities.
- Level
1: Carer Aware
– Section 1: Becoming carer aware
– Section 2: Student carer experiences at university
- Level
2: Going Higher
– Section 3: Improving support for student carers
– Section 4: Going Higher Award
Level 1 is intended to improve your awareness of student carers while Level 2 is aimed at practitioners who have a particular role in supporting student carers or in working towards the Going Higher for Student Carers: Recognition Award. You can study each level individually or work through them in order depending on your awareness of and involvement with student carers.
At the end of each level there is a quiz for you to
test your knowledge. You will receive:
- a Carer Aware badge on
completion of Level 1
- a Going Higher badge on completion of Level 2
If you complete both levels and quizzes, you will receive a statement of participation.
The course has been developed in partnership with student carers, practitioners from the University of Stirling, Heriot-Watt University, Glasgow Caledonian University, the Open University in Scotland and Carers Trust Scotland with funding from the Scottish Funding Council. We are grateful to the College Development Network for allowing us to remix and build on the content of their Student Carers e-module.