In this conversation, we were delighted to speak to Professor Emerick Kaitell from the University of Roehampton about his experiences of coming from a low socio-economic background, his career path and why he wanted to partner with CoachBright.

What is your current role at the university?

I am an Associate Professor at the University of Roehampton and a programme leader for the undergraduate Sports Coaching degree. I have also written a new degree programme called Education and Youth Studies which I will be leading.

What do you like about CoachBright’s mission and work?

CoachBright offers an exciting programme for underprivileged young people to engage with. What drew me was the way CoachBright helps young people who may not have strong support mechanisms in their lives, by going into schools.

I resonate with the young people that CoachBright works with. I came from a low socioeconomic, one-parent home. My mum worked long hours to keep a roof over our heads. School had low aspirations for my future, they were just happy that I behaved. I didn’t even learn about university whilst at school. The only guidance was to work with my hands. Every young person has their own story and their own experiences. Enabling young people to identify possibilities they haven’t considered before is vital for their growth and to be inspired and fulfilled.

Why did you want to partner with CoachBright?

It was from hearing about students' experiences of working with CoachBright and learning of young people who wanted to support younger students in school to succeed, regardless of their background, affluence, gender, ethnicity, or religion. It was also about CoachBright's drive to offer schools a supportive programme to ignite aspirations, something that enables children to aspire to be more significant than they believe they can be. That's what connected with me. Secondly, it sits well with my work. We strive to enable our students to make a difference within their communities. Our aspirations are similar so it made sense to partner together.

We can continue to enhance the opportunities on offer for Roehampton students. Engagement with CoachBright programmes helps our students grow and develop. Seeing students implement the learning from the university courses and then implement that learning in their local community is priceless. We have a highly diverse group of students, many of whom will understand and relate to some of the challenges that CoachBright beneficiaries face. Again, it makes sense to bring the two together to help unlock potential.

Social mobility underpins the Education and Youth Studies degree as the modules implement the latest thinking on the topic and how, as future educators, we are change agents.

What does your current partnership with CoachBright involve?

Predominantly, students are recruited as volunteers and trained to become CoachBright coaches. For the new Education and Youth Studies degree, I formed an employability advisory group. I contacted CoachBright as I saw synergy between your work and the degree students that we aim to bring in.

CoachBright contributed to the degree design, ensuring that our assessment and the content we're looking to put in are relevant and meaningful for the students but also meaningful for employers. The aim is now to have CoachBright contribute to modules, bringing in their expertise, empowering our students, and inspiring them to participate in the programmes CoachBright provides. I aim to have a student or two whom Coach Bright might even employ after graduation as CoachBright's aims and aspirations also grow.

What impact have you seen the CoachBright programmes have on both the pupils in schools and your students?

I have seen students who started off being on the receiving end of coaching, who have then grown and become CoachBright employees. Within the university, I've met students who volunteered on programmes and gained valuable life experience whilst negotiating career options. The programme’s impact includes students gaining the confidence to attempt more ambitious life moves. So we see benefits to all parties, not just the children in the schools you're working with, but the young people placed in the coach role.

Why do you think other universities should partner with CoachBright?

There are several reasons:

* CoachBright supports underprivileged children in schools. In terms of widening participation, this should align with the values of all universities in the UK.

* They provide a robust experience for undergraduate students as they gain essential training before delivering support in schools. The opportunity to gain real-life experience, develop employability skills and give back to their community is invaluable.

* The programme enables universities to connect students with the community in ways we can't. Students can then talk about university life and demonstrate to schoolchildren what they can aspire to.

* Engaging with CoachBright supports our performance for the Office for Students metrics. CoachBright is connecting with degree programmes and modules that can inspire our students to higher performance. So, working with CoachBright can improve our retention, continuation and progression of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

* The staff that work for CoachBright are enthusiastic, professional, and driven.

How important is education to social mobility?

Education is vital and schools are just one of many sources of education. Recognising that school can be challenging for children as they navigate societal challenges (health, caring, ethnicity, finance, culture, religion and sexuality, to name a few) is also vital.

Where your postcode is, who your parents are, and what school you attend affect your chances of success and the opportunities on offer. We all – from the privileged to the less privileged – have a responsibility to help reduce barriers to social mobility by making education fairer.

I left school with one usable qualification. I came from a single-parent family and I was a black child whose parent had a low socioeconomic status. I had the energy, passion and drive to succeed, but I didn’t have anyone to mentor me, as my community did not look like me, and their image of me was negative. I was in my mid-twenties when I returned to college to gain my BTEC HNC (Higher National Certificate). This enabled me to acquire a place at a university. The teaching environment was so different to that of school and challenged me on multiple levels. I am only here today due to gaining these educational experiences.

Thank you very much for talking to us and we look forward to seeing students from diverse backgrounds engage with the new and very exciting Education and Youth Studies degree.