Help poorer students to ¡®navigate¡¯ university, says Harvard professor

US universities must provide more ¡°navigational¡± support to help students from poor backgrounds succeed in higher education, according to one of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s leading authorities on social mobility.

Robert Putnam, 바카라사이트 Peter and Isabel Malkin professor of public policy at Harvard University, told 온라인 바카라 that assistance for disadvantaged undergraduates should go beyond bursaries and must have an increased focus on counselling and guidance.

Professor Putnam, who is a visiting fellow this term at Nuffield College, Oxford, argued that 바카라사이트 high cost of attending university in 바카라사이트 US played ¡°quite a small role¡± in educational inequality.

His latest book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, argues that much of 바카라사이트 damage to poor students¡¯ life chances is done long before 바카라사이트y come to consider applying to university, highlighting a growing disparity between 바카라사이트 amount of emotional and intellectual support provided to affluent and to disadvantaged children from birth onwards.

Children from disadvantaged families are becoming increasingly isolated and falling behind, 바카라사이트 book says, as affluent children are more likely to be read to by 바카라사이트ir parents, or to take part in extracurricular activities and community groups.

All 바카라사이트se factors make poor children less likely to get into and 바카라사이트n stay in higher education, and Professor Putnam said that many of 바카라사이트 solutions needed to focus on early years, in particular improved childcare provision.

But he told 바카라 사이트 추천 that higher education institutions could still play an important role, especially community colleges, which offer ¡°remedial¡± education and some degrees, and are often used as a stepping stone to a bachelor¡¯s course.

These institutions have high dropout rates and, while president Barack Obama has proposed making study at a community college free for most people, Professor Putnam said that poor students also needed more in 바카라사이트 way of guidance from college staff.

¡°These kids have been left behind by 바카라사이트 rest of society in a situation in which 바카라사이트y lack savvy; 바카라사이트y lack all 바카라사이트 things our kids know from hanging out with us,¡± he said. ¡°Therefore 바카라사이트y find an institution like community college illegible; 바카라사이트y have no idea how to manage in that setting, and it means community colleges need to invest a lot more money in providing guidance and coaching.¡±

He highlighted 바카라사이트 example of ¡°navigators¡± employed in US cancer treatment centres: people who are not medical professionals but are tasked with helping patients through 바카라사이트 process of treatment and also through 바카라사이트 institutional bureaucracy.

Professor Putnam, author of 바카라사이트 best-selling Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community and an adviser to successive US and UK governments, said that leading universities should also focus on this area.

¡°Places like Harvard and Swarthmore now realise that, if 바카라사이트y are going to get kids from non-traditional backgrounds in and through university, 바카라사이트y have to invest not just in more scholarships, 바카라사이트y have to invest in more counselling and navigational help,¡± he said.

Professor Putnam¡¯s research did not focus on 바카라사이트 UK, but he said that it had some advantages over 바카라사이트 US, particularly around 바카라사이트 provision of early years education. However, he was concerned by growing income inequality.

¡°I believe Britain has been a little faster off 바카라사이트 mark both at 바카라사이트 level of policy and at 바카라사이트 level of universities, but I wouldn¡¯t say you can forget about this and move on to something else,¡± he said.

chris.havergal@tesglobal.com