Course overview

Who is this course for?

This course, Carer Aware at University, is for staff working in Scotland’s universities. The content is intended to be useful in your practice, whether you have a role in widening access, student support, teaching or senior management. It is centred around the voices of student carers themselves, as they share their experiences of caring for a family member or friend, and the impact the caring role has on their education.

The course is designed to help you reflect on your practice and the support you currently provide for student carers as part of your role. You can use what you learn to develop ideas to better identify student carers and support them to succeed at university. You can also use the course to support your university to achieve or retain the Going Higher for Student Carers: Recognition Award.

Download this video clip.Video player: Meet student carers, Charlotte and Stephen, who were involved in developing the course.

Show transcript|Hide transcript

Transcript: Meet student carers, Charlotte and Stephen, who were involved in developing the course.

CHARLOTTE MUIR

So, hi, I’m Charlotte, and I am a first year primary education student at Queen Margaret University, and I have been a young carer since the age of eight but I didn’t identify as one until I was about fifteen or sixteen in high school when my guidance teacher finally told me a bit about what a young carer is and matched me up to be one. So, I also went to Leaps for a little bit, and I really struggled due to my caring role so I had to leave. I originally went to University of Glasgow down on their Dumfries campus to do the same course, but had to move home again due to my caring role. Luckily, I live in Musselburgh, which is right next to QMU, and they started up a primary education course which I applied to and got in. So, that’s a bit about me.

STEPHEN SMITH

Hi, I’m Steven, I am currently an architecture student at the Glasgow School of Art. I was a young carer from the age of about twelve or thirteen, and I didn’t identify as a young carer until about fifteen or sixteen. I refused to acknowledge it, mainly because I didn’t understand what a young carer was or what it meant, I just thought it was going to be singling me out and making me different in a bad way, where actually it’s the complete opposite, something to be proud of. I received support from Fife Young Carers who were a saviour to me as a group, and led me down quite a good path. Through my caring role, I didn’t get many qualifications at school, but moving forward, I got offered an apprenticeship based on someone giving me an opportunity that I didn’t have the best start through being a young carer, and it then progressed on to me going to university studying architecture at Glasgow School of Art.

End transcript: Meet student carers, Charlotte and Stephen, who were involved in developing the course.

Download

Meet student carers, Charlotte and Stephen, who were involved in developing the course.

This course was created during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we were restricted in how we could gather video material we had to use online platforms for recording. As a result, you may notice the quality of the video production was influenced.

Next, go to Course structure [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .