As the 3rd feature of Ripple’s Spotlight Series, we had the pleasure of speaking to Temi Kamson from GT Scholars. Having gained a Mathematics PGCE from the University of Cambridge and subsequently taught in both state and independent schools, Temi set up GT Scholars with the hope of helping ambitious young people achieve their potential – regardless of socio-economic status and background.
Thank you so much, Temi, for speaking with us today. We’ll start with a nice easy one to kick off – can you tell us a little bit about GT scholars?
GT scholars is a social enterprise based in the UK. We run tutoring, mentoring and personal development programmes for young people aged 11-18. Our social enterprise model means that we use a proportion of our profits to support young people from lower-income homes.
We have a 3:2:1 scholarship model for our tutoring, mentoring and personal development programmes. This means that for every three paid places, we offer two partial scholarships and one fully funded place.
We offer free places to young people on free school meals and we offer partial scholarships to young people that may not be on free school meals, but still live in relatively low-income households.
The personal development days sound really interesting. I take it that’s a more holistic approach to development, outside of the academic focus?
Yes, that’s exactly it. We’ve always been keen on getting students to understand the opportunities that are available to them – we do that by teaching young people how to ace their exams, how to develop a growth mindset and how to choose a career.
Before the pandemic we used to run an annual career day in London where we’d invite speakers from top organisations like EY, PWC, Goldman Sachs and more to talk to young people about their careers. We’d visit places like Rio Tinto in London, which is a global organisation. We had days where we’d go to the Google Academy and teach young people about coding and we also ran programmes where we’d teach study skills. So there’s a real focus on building the skills of our young people, and helping them understand the opportunities that are available to them.
That holistic approach is definitely something that’s come to the fore in the last few years – and how fantastic that it has.
I did actually figure out the answer to this next one when I was having another look at your website this morning, but for those, like me, who didn’t get there straight away – where did the name GT scholars come from?
GT stands for Gifted and Talented – we believe that every young person is gifted and talented, and we want to make sure that we’re reminding young people of that all the time. I think the schooling system can end up labelling kids – particularly if you go to a school where they’re setting and streaming. If they’re in set 2, set 3 or below, young people end up thinking, “maybe I’m not that good if I’m in the lower set, or perhaps I’m not that bright”. It’s quite damaging and all the research shows that it actually hinders academic progress. Our message is that every young person is gifted and talented.
As part of this, you don’t use words like ‘underprivileged’ and ‘disadvantaged’, which do actually appear quite frequently in discourse like in the media etc… what’s the reasoning behind that?
I grew up in a single-parent home, and grew up in council housing, so it was a relatively low-income household. Lots of ‘disadvantage’! Interestingly, I didn’t consider myself ‘underprivileged’ or ‘disadvantaged’ in any way.
I remember thinking if I had known that was what people thought of me when I was younger, how would that have impacted my aspirations in life? Anyone can experience disadvantage at some period in their life, but it is not a permanent state and it shouldn’t be used as a label. When you use it as a label, what you’re really doing is projecting your view onto another person.
It also creates a completely unnecessary power dynamic. I think when you use language like that it’s not helpful at all, as it’s just reinforcing the state as it is currently and it’s probably making it worse!
I’ve seen organisations that believe that young people from ‘disadvantaged’ backgrounds should be given a fair chance. But rather than seeking equality, creating a dialogue and empowering young people to fulfil their full potential, the goal is often to simply help them get by – and that’s not even close to a fair chance.
We want to avoid perpetuating a saviour mentality from the people in power. Very few people appreciate the damage that’s being done by their use of language. These words impact your views and attitudes and your expectations – it then becomes ‘us’ and ‘them’ rather than ‘we’.
You’ve also got a strong emphasis on making your programmes available to children from all backgrounds, and I can see that there are various levels of scholarship depending on household income. Why is getting the kids to mix regardless of their background something you’re so passionate about?
I think the way that most people view the world is that some are privileged and have access to certain support, and those that are ‘underprivileged’ need a bespoke way to access that same support, which would otherwise not be available to them. This includes tutoring and mentoring.
I agree that there are things that you might not be able to access if you don’t have the financial means. However, I think society’s typical way of viewing this is to make one programme for the rich and to make one for the poor. I think this adds further to the divide.
If you are truly being fair and are offering something of the highest quality, why can’t you aim to provide the best possible quality to families with a lower income? Why redesign and create a different programme for families from lower-income homes?
The same applies to organisations that are aiming to help students from lower-income homes to attain their GCSE grade 5 – this is effectively a C-grade or pass at GCSE. Why not aim to help young people to get an A-grade, or to help them to get into a top university or top-tier apprenticeship? It seems that too many organisations have a completely different set of standards for young people based on their background and this double standard is only widening the attainment gap.
Also, there are so many benefits to bringing people together from different backgrounds. Young people can learn so much from each other. Rather than assuming that those from a low-income background should be separated from everyone else, we’d rather focus on how to bring people together to create a more cohesive society.
That’s certainly what the Spotlight series, and indeed Ripple Learning, is aiming to achieve as well. You must get to meet some fantastic students in this line of work – what’s your most memorable moment?
This memory is from a few years ago. Michael was a student on our programme for about two or three years where he had a mentor and a tutor. He was always amazing, just so dedicated. I always used to think, wow! with him. You could see that he had something special and he was going to go far with the right kind of support.
He stayed in touch when he went to university, even speaking at some of our events and volunteering every so often, which was great. He ended up being in the Guardian (link at the end) where he spoke about his period at university and how he studied and worked at the same time – including doing night shifts and then going to lectures during the day. He also mentioned how having a mentor through GT Scholars helped him to stay motivated while completing his A-Levels.
His story in the Guardian made me realise that we never truly know the challenges that young people and their families are dealing with in their day-to-day lives. I remember feeling inspired by him when he was on the programme, but even more so at that moment. I am so proud of him for going for his dreams and realising that we had played a small part in making that happen.
We don’t always know the long-term impact we might have, and for me, it was powerful that he still remembered his experience with us and how his mentor and tutor helped him. That was really great.
To find out more about GT Scholars and how you can get involved go to https://gtscholars.org/
To find out more about Michael’s journey, go to https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/nov/24/work-night-shifts-sainsburys-university-living-costs-loan
To find out more about GT Scholars and how you can get involved go to https://gtscholars.org/
To find out more about Michael’s journey, go to https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/nov/24/work-night-shifts-sainsburys-university-living-costs-loan