Resources for College and University Staff (Supporting Student Carers)
On this page you will find materials for college and university staff. These materials include downloadable resources that you can use within your university or college.
University Staff Resources:
Carers Trust Scotland teamed up with Open University Scotland along student carers, and practitioners from University of Stirling, Heriot-Watt University and Glasgow Caledonian University to create a free online learning course for university staff. This enables staff across Scotland’s universities to identify, support and report on students who have unpaid caring responsibilities.
Carer Aware at University is a free online module available to all staff working in Scotland’s universities who have an Open University Open Learn account. The course provides opportunities to reflect on the challenge’s students with unpaid caring responsibilities face, the impact on their education, and the important role you can have in supporting them at university.
We have created free downloadable posters for university staff to use across their campuses to raise student carer identification and to increase awareness of the support available to their existing and prospective student carers at university:
Student Carer Services poster for universities
Student Care Services poster for universities (add your university logo)
College Staff Resources:
Carers Trust Scotland and College Development Network (CDN) joined forces to help improve support to over 15,000 student carers in Scotland, who are studying at college alongside providing unpaid care for a family member or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or addiction problems.
Supporting Student Carers at College is an innovative free digital training module for all college staff across Scotland. It has been developed by Carers Trust Scotland and CDN from funding received by The Scottish Funding Council. The module helps college practitioners to better understand the challenges faced by many student carers, and it provides guidance on how to improve support for these students at college.
This new resource compliments existing work being undertaken by both organisations to raise awareness, improve identification and ensure adequate support is in place to give student carers a fair chance to be successful in their own education.
We have also created free downloadable posters for college staff to use across campus to raise student carer identification and to increase awareness of the support available to your student carers at college:
Student Carer Services poster for colleges
Student Carer Services poster for colleges (add your own college logo)
CDN has also produced the following two resources for colleges below:
Enabling Student Carers Guidance
This resource is a professional development tool for staff in colleges involved in guidance activities, including interviewing. It includes notes for trainers and a video case study drawn from the testimony of an adult student carer.
This short course is aimed at student carers and enables them to identify and use skills they have developed when applying for jobs and attending interviews, as well as introducing them to their rights at work. You can request a copy of this Moodle course.
Resources for College and University Staff:
We have developed a suite of free downloadable resources that support colleges and universities across Scotland to have the capacity to identify, support and report on their student carers:
- Student Carer Support Policy
- Statement of Intent
- Student Carer Action Plan
- Going Further for Student Carers Recognition Award Toolkit
- Going Further for Student Carers Recognition Award Checklist
- Going Higher for Student Carers Recognition Award
- Going Higher for Student Carers Recognition Award Checklist
If you would like to talk to anyone about any of our resources for colleges and universities, please contact Carers Trust Scotland on 0300772771 or scotland@carers.org for more details.