Help support young carers in your learning environment

National Carers Week (5th – 11th June), will raise awareness of the daily challenges carers face. With hundreds of thousands of young people juggling significant caring responsibilities and academic work, we explore the practical steps you can take to support them…

According to the Children’s Society, there are currently 800,000 young carers in the UK. Of those according to the charity’s research: 

  • Two in every five (39%) say that nobody in school is aware of their caring responsibilities
  • A quarter (27%) miss school
  • One in three have a mental health issue

And according to Carers’ Trust research carried out last year:

  • 42% of young carers ‘always’ or ‘usually’ feel stressed
  • 27% say they struggle to balance caring with school or college work
  • 40% say they ‘never’ or ‘don’t often’ have someone at school to talk to about being a young carer

The need couldn’t be clearer. So what practical, positive steps can you take to identify and support young carers in your learning environment?

  • The first is a simple and easy one. Head over to the CPD page on our Learning4LifeSussex site to sign up for a free ‘Introduction to supporting young carers’ webinar, run by Southern Universities Network. The webinar runs from 3.15pm – 4.45pm next Thursday (25th May) and is open to schools, colleges, universities and wider community organisations
  • It’s also worth visiting the website for Carers UK, which is a valuable signposting resource for helping young carers access additional support they might be entitled to.
  • Check out Young Minds’ website for practical mental health strategies and tips for young carers 

Progressing to higher education is a particular challenge for young people with caring responsibilities, so it’s also worth exploring the findings of our ‘Aiming High’ research, undertaken in partnership with the University of Sussex and The Carers Centre (Brighton & Hove), to understand some of the unique barriers they face from guilt through to financial concerns. You can also hear direct from young carers themselves in a video we created in partnership with Brighton and Hove Carers Centre.

And if you’re supporting young carers set on university as an option, point them in the direction of UCAS’ dedicated support pages which signpost dedicated information, advice and support as well as tips for young carers about sharing information about their responsibilities in their application.