How residential colleges break down barriers to opportunity

By Melanie Lenehan, Principal and CEO of Fircroft College

All five of the government’s missions will resonate with colleges. But at Fircroft College of Adult Education, there are two in particular – break down barriers to opportunity and kickstart economic growth – which feed directly into the work we do every day.

Breaking down barriers to opportunity is what we were built on and is at the heart of the college. Our community is very diverse; learners come from all walks of life, and many have been failed by the school system. We offer a second, third, or last chance for adults over the age of 19 to access education, experience social mobility and transform their lives.

Once these barriers are removed and adults gain skills and qualifications in a safe and supportive environment, they are able to re-enter the workplace, or go on to further and higher education, and contribute directly to kickstarting economic growth, and driving productivity.

In 2023/24, we had 1,342 enrolments. Of these, 74% declared a physical or health condition and 37% declared a mental health condition. The majority (85%) were unemployed and 55% were economically inactive. Around half were BAME, and 24% were over the age of 50.

At the end of the academic year, 95% of students agreed that Fircroft helped them to pursue their goals and ambitions, 94% said we helped them to socialise, work and communicate with others, and 92% said we prepared them for working life.

So, what makes a residential approach to education so effective at fostering a love of education and training, and inspiring previously disengaged adults to transition into the workplace or on to further or higher education?

The residential model
For many learners, the residential short course delivery model, an intensive transformative learning experience of 48 hours, can be a more achievable commitment in terms of their physical and mental health and wellbeing and other issues in their lives. It also enables significant outcomes to be achieved in a very short space of time. These short courses cover subjects such as personal development skills, skills for employment, volunteering and further study, and learning about the environment.

For learners accessing longer courses over nine months (usually an access to higher education course), students will stay at the college for the duration of the course and there is more time for extended activity, skills development and practice, and access to tutors and support staff.

At Fircroft College, 95% of learners say the residential environment supports their learning. As one learner described: “The main aspect was the atmosphere. It was very quiet and totally different to an FE college in the sense they are always hustly bustly and very hectic, students go in for one thing and run out. The college is much more student focused, and that’s what makes this residential stand out from the rest”.

More widely, in research on residential colleges in England published in 2017 by Sharon Clancy John Holford at the University of Nottingham, many learners described the social benefits and the sense of community which resulted from living and learning with fellow learners in a small and intimate environment, with one saying: “You’re surrounded by other people who motivate you”. Within this atmosphere participants confirm they feel a sense of community and fellowship, becoming immersed in an intensity of learning, and at times change profoundly, creating new lives and opportunities for themselves and others.

For many learners being able to stay on-site enables them to concentrate and focus on the learning experience, instead of being preoccupied with childcare, the daily commute, or having to cook and clean for themselves. Having a room to retreat to, with a desk, bed and shower, after a day of intensive learning, is perceived as an important aspect of the sense of being in a sanctuary for learning. A significant additional advantage of being residential is access to the library during both the day and night. Learners see access to such buildings as restorative, conferring “social justice” on people from working class or disadvantaged backgrounds.

Most learners attending the residential adult education colleges have experienced, or are still experiencing, some form of disadvantage; previous negative experiences in education resulting in low levels of qualifications and consequentially economic disadvantage, life choices which have resulted in drug and alcohol addiction and/or criminal activity and for high numbers of students, mental health issues either as a result of or independently of the above. Some learners may also have learning difficulties which may or may not have been diagnosed.

Holford and Clancy’s report also found that the college generates a sense of safety, security, retreat and refuge for people often stepping out of difficult home lives. This is vital to learners who have often had traumatic life experiences, such as domestic violence, homelessness, or are seeking asylum from the hard realities of unemployment and trying to make a living in precarious or unstimulating work.

Learner-centred curriculum
Residential colleges are learner centred, and at Fircroft college, teachers and students are “comrades in the quest for truth”. Our ethos is that “a good teacher must have the faculty for friendship”.

We recognise the roles of tutor and learners as equals. The small nature of the college allows for getting to know tutors and feeling that they can be approached as equals. Time outside the programmed lessons, for example mealtimes or sharing a coffee, is an opportunity for learners to get to know the tutor and vice versa.

One of our learners said: “The tutors here and their services and support networks are outstanding. There are no words to describe this place really, other than it’s a safe haven, a sanctuary for your education, for your health, for your mental health.”

The use of a critical, pedagogical approach in the residential college makes full use of experiential learning. Our tutors embed the lived experience of our learners as part of the content but always ensure this is within educational boundaries.

Our learners say that their experience fosters critical thinking and a radical understanding of politics and society and that challenges the mainstream and the establishment view. Debate, dialogue and exchange lead to thorough and engaged learning. In residential colleges these happen both inside and outside of the classroom, at the coffee machine, over breakfast, lunch and dinner and in the evenings after classes have finished.

Transformative learning was described by Mezirow in 1997 as “the process by which we transform problematic frames of reference, to make them more inclusive, discriminating, open, reflective and emotionally able to change.” We argue that residency creates the conditions in which transformative learning can happen in a very rapid way.

Many of our adult learners enrol at a point of transition, or what Mezirow would call a disorientating dilemma. In 2014, Calleja wrote that this is one of the major phases that such adult learners go through in their personal transformation; usually this is triggered by a life crisis or a major transition. Many of the learners within the residential colleges are, as a result of their disorienting dilemma, dealing with some form of life transition.

Our learners have high and sometimes complex support needs. The level of support from both academic staff and operational staff is a constant theme in feedback from staff and students. Staff talk about individualised, person-centred and ‘scaffolded’ support, and learners comment that ‘being listened to’ and knowing help was on hand if it was needed helps them gain in confidence.

We know that our extensive network of over 250 referral partners (including government agencies, health services and community and voluntary groups) view the residential colleges as key providers of the support and environment needed to help progress their clients on to a further stage in their development. In their rehabilitation, the involvement with colleges tends to occur once they have already reached a point of stability and are perhaps nearing the end of their ‘treatment’. At that stage our referral partners feel integration is a really important outcome which residential adult education can provide because our cohorts are so diverse. In our own research conducted with the partners, they described residency as a “supercharged educational experience”.

We have also been exploring the notion of creating “brave spaces”. Though seemly contradictory, safe spaces need to enable bravery to take risk, to change and challenge to try out new perspectives, to hear and respect others. In 1991, Leiven and Jackson observed that residential learners “experience changed roles and an interruption to their usual patterns of living. They see themselves in new ways and can risk doing things which they previously considered beyond their scope, or in some way unacceptable within their everyday roles, they take new risks in challenging themselves culturally and intellectually.”

Ultimately, residential adult education provides transitional places and transformative spaces that allow adults to have access to choices and opportunities. It provides a community and environment that gives hope and builds pride and ambition. In 1997, Anderson Fleming said the residential dynamic seems to capture and envelope the whole learner, enabling them to bring all of themselves to the learning and to take away from that experience all they are able to take, and I couldn’t agree more. For adults in transition and experiencing transformation this can be not only effective but life changing.