Good Practice

Providing Evidence for the Care Experienced Students Bursary

This how to guide, created by the HUB for SUCCESS (HfS), aims to support teachers and careers advisors, and care experienced learners, with providing evidence of care experience when applying for the Care Experienced Student Bursary (CESB) at college and university.

A series of professionals can provide evidence for care experienced students in support of the CESB application.

Providing evidence for an individual, in relation to their care experience, is usually quick and easy!

How To Guide: Providing evidence of care experience for the Care Experienced Students Bursary

Discretionary Funding in Higher and Further Education

Financial issues are one of the biggest barriers that students, with care experience face within further and higher education. Students most often do not have the ‘back up’ of familial financial support and voice tells us that it is often a struggle meet day to day costs whilst studying. Our data tells us that financial hardship distracts from studies and has a detrimental impact on retention.

Discretionary funds are often the only route available to our students when financial issues arise. Click here to find out how you can apply a trauma informed lens to the application, assessment and communication of discretionary funds.

Spotlight on Good Practice: Discretionary Funding in Higher and Further Education

Spotlight on Good Practice: Colleges approach to the Care Experienced Student Bursary

As we analysed our data in 2022, a clear theme emerged from student voice: that the payment of the bursary was linked to an attendance policy which required 100% attendance, or at least, that attendance was linked to the payment of the bursary in a way that was not intended in the SFC bursary guidance

There have been great progress made by colleges to ensure students are supported to engage with their studies, and still receive their bursary. There has also been additional guidance by the Scottish Funding Council on ensuring we use a measure of ‘engagement’ and not solely ‘attendance’.

Spotlight on Good Practice: Colleges administering The Care Experienced Student Bursary for Further Education Students

Workshop Opportunity

Relationships as the building blocks of trauma informed practice delivered

The Hub for SUCCESS can deliver a workshop at your place of learning. We can tailor it to meet the needs of your institution, and will cover the following:

The Promise, how it relates to tertiary education, the meaning of care experience, where care happens and consider your role as
part of the scaffolding of the care system in Scotland
Your views of relationships and why they matter for students with care experience. We will explore what students tell us matters
Consider perceptions of care experienced individuals and where these perceptions come from. Through exploring what we all need
to thrive we will consider our own support systems and recognise how our own needs are met
Impact of childhood trauma, specifically looking at how disrupted relationships may affect children and young people and how this
may affect learning
Professional curiosity and radical candour – how caring personally while challenging directly can be invaluable in building
relationships

To enquire, please contact g.maxwell@napier.ac.uk