Redefining Traditional: Making Higher Education Family Friendly
Student parents are a growing group of students at the University of Toronto (U of T) facing unique challenges that appear invisible to those who do not share their experiences. In 2018–19, the Innovation Hub partnered with the Family Care Office to investigate the experiences of student parents and identify the tensions and barriers they face at U of T. Building on this, Innovation Hub identified areas for improvements in policies, programs, services, and spaces that departments and divisions can undertake to be more inclusive of students who are also parents.
Fall/Winter 2019-2020
How can we bring together student parents, researchers and practitioners?
Student parents face unique challenges in navigating the university experience; so too do the university personnel and student representatives who seek to support them. To understand how student parents’ family responsibilities interact with their experiences as students, the Innovation Hub and the Family Care Office have collaborated since 2018 to collect their stories and identify the tensions and barriers they face.
KEY FINDINGS
University personnel and student-group representatives want increased dialogue about how to support student parents.
Three themes were identified to describe barriers to, and opportunities for, supporting student parents within the broader university culture.
The themes include discussion questions to prompt conversation and for facilitators to use in their own communities. The Innovation Hub also used these themes to create design principles and recommendations to ideate a June 2020 symposium on student parents’ needs (currently postponed).
- Want to Know Who You Are
- We Are Resources and We Need to Access Them Too
- Building Community Across Divides
I Want to Know Who You Are: Both university personnel and student representatives want to better understand student-parent perspectives so they can tailor their support. Demographic data would help them do so but is often lacking. To fill this deficiency, they use creative strategies to learn about the populations they serve. Some also bring understanding from their own lived experience as student parents.
We Are Resources, and We Need Access to Them Too: University personnel and student representatives also face challenges and show creativity in accessing resources. To complete their work and help their students, they must gather resources; navigate university, government, and community support; and help students themselves to navigate. They do all this while juggling multiple roles and feeling constrained by funding.
Building Community Across Divides: University personnel and student representatives want to build community for student parents and with their own colleagues. Those who feel best able to support student parents are embedded in networks with colleagues, student representatives, and other personnel. Conversely, when staff and student representatives struggle to bridge institutional divides, they feel isolated. They also question their visibility and value in university culture.