Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, University of Glamorgan, 14-17 September 2005
Socialising with like-minded peers: the importance of friendships to students at National Academy of Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY) summer schools.
Stephen M. Cullen
Mairi-Ann Cullen
Geoff Lindsay
Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR),
University of Warwick.
Address for Correspondence:
Dr Stephen Cullen, CEDAR, The University of Warwick, COVENTRY, CV4 7AL.
1. Introduction
1.1 NAGTY Summer Schools
The National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY) offers a range of services and opportunities for its student members, such as online forums and study groups, and local face to face events. However, the Academy’s flagship events are its summer schools, held at universities throughout England during July and August. The summer schools were piloted at the university of Warwick in 2002. Following that pilot, summer schools have been held in 2003, 2004, and 2005. The numbers of courses, known as strands, and universities involved have increased over this period, so that by the summer of 2005, eight universities ran NAGTY summer schools – Bristol, Christ Church Canterbury, Warwick, Leeds, Durham, Lancaster, York, and Imperial College – offering 53 strands between them. The strands cover a wide range of academic disciplines, including subjects not typically encountered at school, such as anthropology and robotics. Each strand is usually led by an academic specialist in the field, supported by a qualified teacher and one or two post-graduate teaching assistants. Around 18-22 NAGTY students attend each strand, and universities offer from 6-8 strands per summer school, with the majority of schools running for two weeks, and some running for three. Over 1,000 students attended a NAGTY summer school in 2005 alone.
The summer schools are open to all NAGTY members, aged 11-16, although some strands operate a more restricted age entrance requirement, often 14-16, usually as a result of laboratory safety requirements. Candidates can be nominated by their schools, or they can nominate themselves. They are expected to have shown an active interest in NAGTY activities, for example, by taking part in the online study groups. In allocating places at the summer schools, NAGTY places an emphasis on the candidates’ application statements, requiring students to demonstrate:
· ‘The ability to show commitment to the course selected through provision of clear reasons for choice.
· How participation in Summer School will help them in their overall personal learning/social development.
· A willingness to contribute positively to a community-focused residential programme, both academic and social.’
(http://www.nagty.ac.uk/student_academy/summer_schools)
Summer school fees were, in 2005, £550 for a two week course, and £710 for a three week course. The expectation is that a student’s school or LEA will contribute towards this cost, although there is no obligation on either body to do so. In addition, NAGTY offers means-tested bursaries, of up to £310 for the two week schools, and £390 for the three week schools, for students.
Although the academic element of the summer schools is of central importance, NAGTY stresses that the social and friendship aspects of the summer school experience are highly valued, both by NAGTY and the students. In the guidance for potential summer school applicants, NAGTY notes:
‘Social time is an important aspect of our Summer Schools, and our members tell us that the social and recreational programme really makes the experience for them. So, try to be open-minded, ready to meet and engage with students from a whole range of backgrounds, and willing to throw yourself enthusiastically into things you may not have tried before’.
(http://www.nagty.ac.uk/student_academy/summer_schools)
NAGTY's stress on addressing the all-round welfare of gifted and talented children, of providing for their social development in a supportive environment, is consistent with research that emphasises that whole-child development applies as much to very able children as to any other group (Freeman, 1991, pp216-218)
The Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR) at the University of Warwick, has conducted independent evaluations of all aspects of the summer schools since their inception. Evaluations have been carried out using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Students, academic staff, qualified teachers, graduate assistants, Residential Assistants, and the parents of students, all participate in the evaluations. In relation to this paper, all students are offered the chance to complete questionnaires during and after the summer schools, and a random selection (typically 4-6) of students from all strands at evaluated summer school sites are interviewed using semi-structured interview schedules. In 2005, for example, student interviews were carried out with students at the Warwick, Durham, Leeds, Bristol, York, and Imperial College summer school sites. The evidence base for this paper is drawn from the questionnaire generated data from the 2002 pilot, and the 2003 and 2004 evaluations, along with interview generated data from those evaluations, and some preliminary findings from the Durham and Leeds 2005 summer school sites.
1.2 Friendships at the NAGTY Summer Schools
The CEDAR evaluations of the 2002-2004 summer schools, and the preliminary findings from the 2005 field work, indicate that, for students, the friendship aspects of their summer school experiences are the most important outcomes of attendance. Students have been universally enthusiastic about the opportunity for making and developing friendships with those whom they frequently characterise as being ‘like-minded people’. Students often perceived this aspect of summer school attendance as being the most significant benefit they gained from the experience. Many students felt that they were able to make important advances in their social and friendship skills. Students often claimed that they had ‘made friends for life’, and there is evidence that students have been able to maintain friendships after summer school attendance, despite the geographical spread of the student Academy. Students frequently commented upon the unique atmosphere among the student body at the summer schools, an atmosphere that they characterised as being one of tolerance and acceptance. For some students, this experience contrasts with their normal experience of formal education, where they are compelled to make allowances for a less supportive environment. As such, summer school friendships, and the social environment of the summer schools, have provided some students with major life-enhancing experiences.
2. Student expectations prior to the summer schools
Many students revealed, in interviews, that they had been apprehensive about the prospect of mixing with other NAGTY members on a residential course. Typically, students find themselves on summer schools where they do not know any other students. This is particularly the case for students who have not been on a NAGTY summer school before, but, even for returnees it is unusual for a student to know more than one of two other students. As a result, students often feel that the social aspects of the summer school will be the most difficult part. Students worried that other students would be ‘posh’, or mainly from private schools, or that other students would be significantly more able than themselves. One student, in the 2002 Warwick summer school expressed a common fear that before attending the summer school she ‘thought they [the other students] might be “boffy” or “geeky”, but they are all nice’ (Lindsay, Muijs, Hartas, & Phillips, 2002, p.34). This perception was also expressed by students on later summer schools, at all sites. Typically, students arrived at the summer schools with stereotypical images of what other ‘gifted and talented’ young people would be like. Phrases such as, ‘everyone would be geeky and straight into their books’, ‘everyone else would be wanting to go to their rooms and read books’, ‘everyone would be in suits and stuff, really posh’, ‘everyone would be all swotty’, were used to describe their initial thoughts and expectations (Hartas, Cullen, & Lindsay, 2003, p.27). However, these expectations were quickly challenged.
3. The experience of Summer School friendships
The most enthusiastic responses from students during interviews were generated by questions associated with friendship at the summer schools and afterwards. Asked if they had found it easy to make friends at summer schools, typical responses were: ‘Yes’, ‘Yes, it’s very easy’, ‘Yeah, everyone is really friendly’, ‘Everyone wants to make friends’, ‘It’s good, it’s really, really good’, and, from a group of students that had been critical of the teaching and learning experience, a joint, spontaneous,
‘Yes !’ accompanied by laughter (Cullen, Cullen, & Lindsay, 2005, pp.75-76). There was a feeling among many students that they were with a large group of people with whom they felt they had much in common. Students talked about being surprised to find that there were so many people with similar interests. One female student, to the agreement of others in her strand group, noted: ‘The strange thing is that everybody I have met has the same taste in music – rock’ (Cullen et al., 2005, p.77). This observation was followed up by a half-serious comment from another student: ‘if you are intelligent, you have good taste’. Not only did students feel that they had similar tastes in music, they also felt that they shared motivations, ‘like-mindedness’, and all being members of NAGTY, all helping them to make friends. In addition, they experienced a sense of finding themselves among a community of supportive peers, an atmosphere that enabled friendships to develop quickly. ‘People are nice here’ was a common comment from students on all sites, and different summer schools throughout 2002-2005. Individual students noted:
‘We support each other. When someone’s down, we ask them are they ok’.
‘We’ve all got the same sort of experience, and are helping each other’.
(Cullen et al., 2005, p.77)
This experience of friendship led many students to report that they felt liberated from many of the constraints that they normally experienced in similar situations, often enabling them to go beyond their previous feelings of shyness:
‘I’m normally, like, really shy, but here I just sort of, the first few days, I just randomly walked up to people and smile and say, “hello, who are you?” kind of thing, in differing ways, but, you’d just go up to anyone’.
‘Because I’m normally so shy at home, I won’t walk up to anyone, but here [it’s different]’
‘I wouldn’t think of talking to someone normally’.
‘I actually find it easier to socialise here, because there is so much you can talk about’.
(Cullen at al., 2005, p.78)
Preliminary findings from field work at 2005 NAGTY Summer Schools indicate that this pattern of friendship experience has continued to be the norm throughout the system. Representative comments from interviewed students include:
‘It’s easy [to make friends]. Everyone is lovely here. There is no-one who is going to criticise you for wanting to learn’.
‘I’ve found it very easy to make friends’.
‘Talking to each other is very much part of the whole process, both in [friendship] groups, and in the course’.
‘I’ve made lots of friends […] you bump into people, and you start talking, and I’ve made a lot of friends’.
‘Everybody else wants to make friends as well’.
‘It’s great; it’s really easy to make friends’.
(Taken from recorded interviews with students at the NAGTY Summer Schools, 2005)
This evidence drawn from the interviews with students is supported by the questionnaire-generated data. In responses to the 2004 summer school questionnaire, for example, 93% of respondents (from a total of 968 students) indicated that socialising with like-minded peers was regarded as important:
Table 1. Importance placed on socialising with like-minded peers
End of summer school questionnaire (N = 968) %To a great extent 65.3
Somewhat 27.7
Slightly 5.1
Not at all 1.3
(Cullen et al., 2005, p.77)
4. Understanding the friendship process
Students from all summer schools and all summer school sites have exhibited a reflective and clear insight into why they found it easy to make friends. They are aware of the combination of circumstances, structures, and people that enable the making of friendships on the summer schools. They also exhibited an awareness of the interplay between these elements which enhanced the creation of friendships. In addition, some students made contrasts with their normal schooling environments, which, they felt, were not as conducive to the creation of friendships. Their understanding of these processes, and these contrasts, have been, if anything, more exact than their understanding of the learning and teaching experiences of the summer schools.
4.1 Circumstances
Students were clear that the residential nature of the summer schools is a key variable in creating the conditions necessary for friendships to flourish. They were aware that very few students knew anyone else before they arrived at summer school, and that, in consequence, they were all at the same starting point as far as friendship and socialising were concerned. In addition, they appreciated that whether the summer school was a three or a two week one, that time was both a short and a long time. It was seen to be short in that students realised that they had to act quickly if they were to make friendships, but they also recognised that two or three weeks on a residential course would be a very long time if one did not make any friends. Representative quotations, from students on summer schools in 2005 are typical of the majority of students:
‘We’re here for two weeks, and if you don’t go out there to be friendly and to be sociable, it’s going to be really tough. And so everyone has gone out there with an optimistic outlook, and everyone has been really friendly, and even though it is different age groups, we are all together [everyone] appreciates that everyone has their own interests’.
(Recorded interview with student at the NAGTY summer schools, 2005)
‘We all come here, and I only knew one person before I came here, and most know no-one, and you have to make friends. And I’ve hardly seen him all week because you make new friends because everyone is in the same position as you’.
(Recorded interview with student at the NAGTY summer school, 2005)
Students on summer schools in 2004 made the link between the awareness that ‘everyone is in the same position as you’ with the residential nature of the schools:
‘I think it’s good for making friends because, not only do you just spend time at the school, when you get back to the things [accommodation and common rooms] you have RA [Residential Assistant] groups, and lots of different things you can do, so you make friends everywhere because you spend so much time together’.