Student voice

What we’ve done so far

  • 42nd Street worked with seven colleges to introduce the on-line service. 827 college learners were contacted via a survey to understanding help seeking behaviour online.
  • A bespoke online platform able to offer confidential one to one support, group work and drop-in advice
  • Feedback from the 42nd Street on-line service showed a growth in the use of the service by 16-18year olds
  • Student workshops in Wigan and Leigh College and Oldham 6th Form College held in March 2021 exploring student voice around choices and college environments, plus how coped during pandemic and impact on their transition from schools

Our approach

  • By working with 42nd Street, we have been able to have a targeted approach to young people, to gather opinions, likes/dislikes when it comes to online support services.
  • 42nd Street has a plethora of resources dedicated to supporting young people within the LGBTQ+ community, but this is not easily available to further education staff. By developing, adapting and tailoring these resources, working with three Greater Manchester colleges, we will be able to offer a digital library of resources to all Greater Manchester colleges on a dedicated further education webpage.
  • The project has enabled 42nd Street to increase its one-to-one capacity, enabling waiting lists to be reduced and has seen a rise in the number of college-aged young people accessing their service, particularly during lockdowns. This service also offers text-based access, synchronous live chats and asynchronous weekly messages, which 42nd Street are aiming to increase over time.

Next steps

We’re working with 42nd Street to continue to develop on-line access platforms across Greater Manchester, explore remote learning, how this supports transition and involve students in the design and improvement of the on-line support services. 42nd Street:

  • Working with Bridge College, St John Rigby 6th Form College and Wigan and Leigh College to adapt their resources and training in order to focus on ASD/SEN LGBTQ+ YP
  • Hosting host a further education page which will contain a LGBTQ+ digital library of resources, reading materials, videos, training sessions and case studies. This will be available to all college staff September 2021, after a trial with three colleges in July/August 2021
  • Hosting a number of face-to-face sessions (when restrictions lifted) by their Q42 volunteers for LGBTQ+ learners and staff

Q4a staff will host four open Q&A sessions for staff and students around sexual identify and gender in relation to mental wellbeing.

42nd Street online support for further education across Greater Manchester Summary Report

42nd Street online support for further education across Greater Manchester Full Report