M i n d the gap
by Lisa Stubbs
In 2001 when I first started work at Lewisham College
as a part time visiting tutor, the percentage of Lewisham
College students moving from the BTEC National Diploma
into higher education was 0%. By contrast, 30% of
the A2, A/S and LOCN students achieved a place at
either university or drama school. The two groups were
comprised of students from similar economic groups,
but the main differences occurred around their academic
qualifications. The LOCN/A level group tended to have
GCSEs, some had A levels, and most had English grade
A-C. This group also tended to include mature students,
some single mothers and generally comprised students
with more self-discipline and life experience. In the initial
audition process, students were
‘creamed-off’ for this LOCN/A level
group, with the remainder going to the
National Diploma.
This pattern had been established
at Lewisham College for some time:
students who didn’t do well in schools
but had raw talent would go onto the
National Diploma, which in turn had lower
status within the drama department. The
general ethos was that this course was
designed to keep these students ‘off the
street’ and also provide ‘bums on seats’
i.e. revenue for the college.
I was hired one day a week as a visiting
tutor to teach these National Diploma students
but was not given a specific syllabus. In fact,
I taught the work related learners the same
material that I taught the National Diploma
students, even though the latter vocational
qualification was meant to be equivalent to 3
A levels. On average, the National Diploma
took 16 students in year one, of which
approximately 12 moved up into year two. On
the A level courses there were generally 14
students in the first year, and as few as 7-8 in
the second year. Despite these numbers, very
few resources were allocated to the National
Diploma course.
There was no technical support for shows;
space allocation included the studio but not
the theatre; enrichment theatre trips were
limited to one, maybe two per year. No invited
audiences saw these final shows because
they tended to be of poorer quality because
the students had so little input during their
training. There was no planning for this course
which I was involved in and although there
must have been a Course Tutor, I was not
made aware of who it was.
students on regular theatre trips, to stage innovative
projects and to tour local schools. This had far reaching
effects which profoundly changed my teaching practice.
In 2004 we devised the Babel Project which was based
on testimonials by refugees coming to England. The
Babel Project received international acclaim and we were
invited to Italy as part of a cultural exchange to perform
in an international theatre festival. The Babel Project was
also selected for the National Student Drama Festival in
Scarborough in 2005. We were the first F.E college to be
selected for this festival.
Travelling to Italy and Scarborough with my students
allowed me to get to know them on a personal basis –
they told me their stories and I became more familiar with
Everything changed in 2003 when a new
Programme Area Leader was hired: Liz
Leek. Liz promoted me to a part time staff
member, working 3 days per week, and
hired another part time staff tutor, Heather
Terry. Between us, Heather and I taught
the 1st year National Diploma (BND1) and
2nd year National Diploma (BND2). This
meant that each year group had a course
tutor and we were actually in college for
the 3 days that the students attended
their course. We were also given the
theatre for half the week to rehearse and
stage our productions. A meeting was
scheduled at the commencement of each
year in which the PAL would diary for the
entire year all the shows that were going
into the theatre, studio spaces, or out on
tour. Perhaps most importantly, Liz gave
Heather and I opportunities to be upskilled. We took workshops at the Young
Vic and the National Theatre on a termly
basis. We were put through a teacher’s
training course (PCET), and received
staff appraisals every 6 weeks. We were
encouraged to be creative in our ideas
and our teaching.
For the first time financial resources
were released to enable me to take the
their families while planning these journeys.
Before the Babel Project, I use to teach
and then go home and like most teachers,
I tended not to think about my students
away from work. After Babel my whole
teaching practice changed. For one thing,
all my students had my mobile number and
knew they could contact me at anytime if
there was a problem. I also started selecting
units that would complement and prepare
them more fully for the demands of H.E. I
felt not only responsible for what they had
achieved but needed to ensure that those
going on to higher education were going to
be successful.
In addition to creative projects, trips and
“Some people believe we
should all be doing maths.
Why shouldn’t we all be
playing the piano?
Why shouldn’t we all be dancing?
There is a hierarchy of usefulness….
people don’t say ‘don’t do maths,
you’re never going to
be a mathematician’.”
Sir Ken Robinson, author
tours, we established a new relationship between
the drama department and the guidance team
enabling all students to have advice and support
for housing, connections, counselling and anger
management. A new relationship was forged
with the Learning Resource Centre whereby
students had access to programmes like Aim
Higher. They received advice on careers, attended
the Job Shop, and participated in ‘buddying’
and mentoring schemes. Most importantly,
we established links with higher educational
institutions which were available to all students in
the department; these new links were initially used
by the National Diploma students.
In a very short space of time huge changes
were evident. We had the same students on the
same course, but the teaching core had been
vastly improved and now different opportunities
and pathways were suddenly available to these
students. New projects were encouraged and
supported by Liz Leak, and whereas A level tutors
tended not to want to change their routines, both
Heather and I jumped at this invitation. We devised,
for example, Theatre in Education projects that
went out on tour to secondary schools. This took
Lewisham College out of the college and into a
wider educational and public context. Our tours got
us noticed which in turn brought more students to
our courses.
When we started to open up higher education
links it was easier to forge links with drama school
and especially with Rose Bruford because I was
an alumni. Personal preference is important in
understanding how these links came about, and
why I eventually set up Mind the Gap…
I was born into a working class family in the Midlands in 1967. My father and brother
were miners and my family were part of the tight knit mining community that experienced
the emotional and economic upheavals of the Thatcher years. My family had no
exposure to the performing arts and no tradition of going on to higher education. In this
respect, my background is similar to that of my students. This allows me to come to the
management table ready to identify and fight for their needs.
I recognise the huge impact that the class system has on their
lives, as it did on mine, for example: they need coaches to take
them to the college viewing days because they feel intimidated
going on their own. Often defeated by the perceived gap between
themselves and the other students at college, they would prefer not
to go.
“(In exams) I barely passed anything…
couldn’t remember even one
of the words I knew.
I use to hate the fact
that I couldn’t spell, couldn’t do
maths……how you learn
has nothing to do with how
smart you are; how you
learn has nothing to do
with your brilliance”
Henry Winkler, actor
In 2005 two of my students from the Babel Project got accepted at
Rose Bruford college on the American Theatre Arts course. I knew that
both these girls were practically very capable, but one of them, Student
F, had not written anything during her time at Lewisham. This girl had
had hardly any secondary schooling; her mother had deserted her
family and she had spent a lot of her formative years raising her younger
brother.
All of Student F’s written assessments had to be evidenced through practical
tasks and video diaries. The other student, Student A, although academically
bright, had family pressure from her traditional Indian family. She was given a
choice to either get married before the course began or not to do the course at
all. She chose the first option. Her husband remained in India until her studies
were completed in 2008.
It was at this point that I began to realise that my students
would need a bridge from F.E. to H.E. and the idea for Mind
the Gap began to ferment. One of my formative aims was to
ensure that our students got appropriate tutor support which
arose out of the emotional bond that I had formed with these
two students and the ongoing relationship I had with them
while they were at rose Bruford. Both A & F started calling
me to ask for assistance in their first term. Like me, they were
the first members of their family to have gone on to a level 4
course. These calls were not for academic support – although
they were struggling with this - but for more basic needs. They
wanted help with housing, train fare and crucially they needed
assistance dealing with their families:
In the drama department at Lewisham College the emphasis is
split equally between teaching the skills that our students need
to achieve their qualifications, and the skills they need in their
communities. What became immediately clear was that when
our students moved to higher education, they were not getting
appropriate pastoral care. These students need support to
succeed in higher education. At Rose Bruford students have to
book in with their personal tutors to talk about their problems.
From student feedback it is clear that tutors at Rose Bruford do
not initiate personal conversations. One tutor there has said it
is because of the age of the students and the assumptions that
they should be treated as adults. Perhaps there is a gender
bias at work here too: all tutors at Rose Bruford are male
whereas at Lewisham College they are all female. Are female
tutors more likely to recognise and initiate conversations
relating to food, finances, housing, personal problems?
‘I share a
bedroom with my
younger brother,
I don’t have a computer,
I began meeting students A & F in my holidays, in Lewisham
Centre. During their first year we met in cafes and shopping
centres. I gave them advice, emotional and financial support.
Struggling on full time courses, they had little time for part
time jobs and therefore little money for clothes, food or bus
fare. I also dealt with some of their family issues, calling
student F’s dad to ask if she could live with student A’s family
because student F’s dad was expecting Student F to babysit
and provide childcare. However there was nothing I could do
when student A had to fly to India to take part in an arranged
marriage. This was the forfeit her family made her pay before
they would permit her to study at Rose Bruford.
how can I do my homework?’
In their second year at Bruford, they had the opportunity to
spend a year of study in America during which we kept in touch
via email. During this period away from family pressures they
bloomed and grew in confidence. They bonded with the other
members of their groups and realised how they had isolated
themselves through fear and prejudice. By this time three
other Lewisham students were now studying at Rose Bruford.
I felt duty bound to track their progress and tutorial them too
since in the absence of anyone else to turn to, they had also
started calling me:
“I can’t talk to them.
I don’t know them.
I’d rather talk to you”
Student K
I realised at this point that a system needed to be put in place
to share key information with Bruford tutors in order for these
students to stand any chance of finishing the course. With
funding and support from Creative Way, I set up Mind the Gap
in 2007 as a practical and research pilot project designed to:
(1)
(2)
(3)
Provide academic support where needed for our
students attending Rose Bruford College.
Develop a Progression Agreement between
Lewisham College and Rose Bruford College
Provide appropriate tutor support
Mind the Gap has tracked students moving from the National
Diploma course to Rose Bruford College as follows:
2007-2008 – 2 students accepted (students B and L)
2006-2007 – 3 students accepted (students K, P & N)
2005-2006 – 2 students accepted (students A & F)
2004-2005 – 2 students accepted (student JD & D)
Mind the Gap has provided academic support by linking our
students up with appropriate Open University courses (OU).
Creative Way introduced us to the opportunities available
through the OU to provide the kinds of skills upgrade in literacy
that our students need in order to complete the academic
requirements on level 4 courses. For example student B
received OU training on a summer school programme prior to
starting her course at Rose Bruford in 2008. Student A received
literacy and academic support from the OU in the second year
of her course.
example, we have taken BND2 to see a final year production
of ‘Moll Flanders’ in January 2009 and ‘Mud, River, Stone’
in March 2009. Both of these Rose Bruford productions
include students who have progressed from
Lewisham College.
The second aim of Mind the Gap was achieved when a
progression Agreement was signed and formalised with Rose
Bruford in 2007 that entitled Lewisham College students
to have a free audition i.e. waivering the mandatory £30.00
audition fee. Our students would also be invited to see
Rose Bruford shows for free. They would get a
bespoke tour of the college facilities and one of the Bruford
tutors would come to Lewisham College to talk about the
courses on offer. In this way, this specific aim of Mind the Gap
has been met. Currently it seems to be working well, for
As I identified, appropriate tutor support is not currently
available for our students. My proposals include specific
training for H.E. tutors tailored to meet the needs of F.E.
students in issues relating to class, economics, race,
ethnicity, and gender. The introduction of HND and/or
Foundation degrees, jointly taught between Lewisham College
and Rose Bruford could provide a crucial bridge for our
students into higher education. The first collaboration between
these two institutions happened in spring 2009 when Jeremy
Harrison and I worked together on ‘Success’ a play submission
which was entered for the National Theatre Connexions series
and achieved second place in this national competition.
Mind the Gap has formalised this process enabling me to
have time with students to help with housing issues and
tutorial time to talk through anxieties until they have gained
enough confidence to confide in their new tutors and
integrate fully in their new surroundings. We have established
a solid relationship with Steve Dykes, head of the American
Theatre Arts course at Bruford. Thanks to Steve, we have
the opportunity to discuss individual students and provide
key information that enables their progress. For the past four
years, Steve has taken two or more Lewisham students each
year. These students then act as powerful role models for our
current students and as they progress through their degree,
they in turn offer support for new incoming Lewisham College
students. This mentoring system has proved beneficial, has
helped with retention mainly by reducing new students’ sense
of isolation and unworthiness, providing first hand experience
of life at drama school.
However, the gap seems to be widening: as of September
2009, no remission of hours is to be given for the Mind the
Gap project due to the credit crunch. Without financial
support and investment by Bruford, Lewisham College or
outside agencies, there will be no development of the
tutoring system for our students.
Statistics are even grimmer: 30,000 young people leave
school every year with no passes and 80% of this group will
do nothing more about gaining qualifications. 140,000 young
people leave school every year with nothing better than a grade
D. It is clear that disadvantaged young people do not achieve
without help. Statistics also suggest that without qualifications,
future pathways are not only limited, but perhaps bleaker still:
51% of UK prison inmates cite ‘getting qualifications’ as a main
need, with 24% acknowledging that they have literacy needs
as well.
Postscript
In July 2008 both student A and student F
graduated with a BA in American Theatre
Arts. Student F did not attend her graduation
ceremony because she could not afford to
hire the cap and gown.
In his bestselling book, Outliers: The Story of
Success, author Malcolm Gladwell speaks
about a ‘culture of possibility’ where he
asserts that successful people – from Bill
Gates to top football players – achieve their
success as a by-product of:
One of the disadvantages that trip up a
great many of our F.E. students is a lack of
parental, family and peer support often due
to cultural, economic and class barriers. Mind
the Gap has tried to formalise and structure
a ‘web of advantages’ which up until recently
has been managed in an adhoc and informal
way by tutors at Lewisham College, who in
many ways act as surrogate parents.
I am still in contact on a fairly regular basis
with both students. I felt responsible for
them while they were studying and still
wonder if I did the right thing in encouraging
them to go on to study at degree level. What
could we have done differently? How do we
ensure that our students are not disabled at
higher education? How do we ensure that
their talents and abilities are counted?
“…history and community,
of opportunity and legacy.
Their success is not exceptional or
mysterious. It is grounded in a web
of advantages and inheritances, some
deserved, some not, some earned,
some just plain lucky – but all critical
to making them who they are.”
Malcolm Gladwell, author
Acknowledgements
Ruth Silver Judy Kenney Larry Newman Karla Ptackek Sue Baynton Sam Punnett Steve Dykes Jeremy Harrison - Principal, Lewisham College
- Creative Way
- Head of School
- Course Tutor Award, Lewisham College
- Senior Practitioner, Lewisham College
- Course Tutor BTEC ND, Lewisham College
- Course Tutor American Theatre Arts, Rose Bruford
- Course Tutor Actor/ Muscian Rose Bruford
Lisa Stubbs
Programme Area Leader in Drama and Media
Lewisham College
Lewisham Way
SE4 1UT
020 8692 0353 ext 4039