New to schools outreach? Here’s how to get started

Impactful outreach inspires young people to consider careers they might have overlooked. For staff, designing outreach activities and programmes can develop a wide range of skills that later open doors to career opportunities. But for somebody with little or no outreach experience, this is easier said than done.

Beyond motivating students, outreach should stretch knowledge by allowing them to apply their learning in new contexts that compliment and extend beyond the curriculum. Here are tips for designing and delivering valuable experiences. 

Understand the school’s needs

Strong working relationships with schools, particularly those that specialise in your subject area, are essential. These often begin with existing connections, or when university staff join a school board. Whatever your route, your aim should be to give teachers confidence in the quality and educational value of your activities. For example, the chance to visit state-of-the-art teaching labs and use specialist equipment for the first time is the kind of STEM outreach activity that stands out to school staff flooded with requests. Building relationships can take time but benefits all involved.

Create relevant and engaging activities

An understanding of the curriculum is key to designing age-appropriate activities. Without it, you risk overwhelming students with content that is too advanced. Focus on expanding existing knowledge before introducing new topics that students have not been exposed to. 

Outreach workshops should be practical, interactive, engaging and accessible. They should make theory concrete by incorporating topical, real-world examples. For example, a science workshop could show students how their mobile phone works, or a spectroscopy workshop could demonstrate how athletes taking part in a sporting event at the time of the activity are tested for prohibited drug use. 

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Find upskilling opportunities

Outreach is a hands-on activity that often requires support, so contact any outreach staff at your institution to find out if they can help. There may be shadowing opportunities to give you experience before going at it alone.

For PhD students interested in outreach, programmes may offer both training and opportunities to design and deliver sessions.

Many sessions have lesson plans, so find out if you can see examples before designing yours. 

Make the sessions human

Platforming peer role models in outreach events helps participants see themselves in higher education contexts. You might ask a student or staff member who went to the school involved or grew up in the area to run a workshop. 

Whether workshop leaders have personal links to the school or not, beginning the session with an introduction including insights into their career journey, their interest in STEM and how their work impacts the daily lives of the young people involved can build rapport and interest. 

How to measure outreach success

You can use a range of methods – from written surveys to focus groups – to measure the efficacy of your activities. These should gather feedback on the activity itself as well as how likely students are to pursue university study in the relevant field before and after. Follow-up surveys distributed a year later can help determine longer-term impact. 

Questions include whether somebody felt more inspired to consider studying a subject at university, and what the most engaging or useful part of the event was – and why. 

Joining up initiatives within your university can increase the impact, so record delivery somewhere visible, such as in the Higher Education Access Tracker database.

University study isn’t right for everyone. So, while outreach activities can highlight unfamiliar subjects and careers and make some students more likely to enter higher education, this is not the only measure of success. Another is whether through participating students realise they are interested in a different subject altogether or decide not to pursue higher education study after all. Successful activities equip students to make informed decisions about their futures. 

We should not see school outreach work as separate from other university work. Ideas and concepts from activities can be used to support the transition into university and other student support initiatives, and in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. This work can also improve research communication skills and expand the reach of your university’s research to a wider audience. Finally, it provides cross-team university collaboration opportunities, ultimately leading to new ideas and approaches.

Carl Harrington is associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences and widening participation academic lead at the University of East Anglia.

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