Dorset conference to focus on getting working class boys to university

Education experts are meeting to discuss the problem of how to get more working class boys into university.

The Learning to Level-Up conference is being hosted by Arts University Bournemouth, with the universities of Portsmouth and Winchester.

Organiser Dr Alex Blower hoped impact hubs with local experts as advocates for working class boys would be established as a result.

Dr Blower said "collective action" could help.

The conference will hear from experts in the field, including Professor Nicola Ingram, who has authored a book about working class boys and educational success.

Dr Blower, access and participation manager at Arts University Bournemouth, was himself expelled from school after what he described as a "bit of a bumpy ride educationally".

The 34-year-old said: "We know over the last 20 years there's been a highlighted disparity for boys from working class backgrounds progressing into higher education."

Figures from the Department for Education from the 2018/19 academic year showed 20% of boys on Free School Meals in Bournemouth achieved a grade 9-5 in GCSE Maths and English.

A report last year found poor white teenagers in England's former industrial towns and those living on the coast are among the least likely to go to university, according to the watchdog for fair access.

The conference has 104 delegates coming from universities across the country.

Dr Blower said for many boys problems stretched back across multiple generations.

"But with collective action we can support them to access the cultural and social resources they need in order to achieve good GCSEs to progress into higher education" he said.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].