As part of the University’s Centenary Celebrations, a team led by David Stack in History has been researching the experiences of students and staff from working-class backgrounds at the University of Reading. Beginning with the widening participation roots of the University in the 1890s Oxford Extension movement and coming right up to date with policy recommendations for a more socially inclusive campus, the team have aimed to highlight working-class presence, celebrate success, and acknowledge ongoing challenges. Over the next few weeks, we are going to publish a series of linked blogs exploring some of the themes the team have been working on. Today, our former student Brooke Harding writes about her experiences.

For first-generation students the journey of entering higher education is a multifaceted one. After all, it is not necessarily just us exploring new territories, but those closest to us too.  

I remember the first time I proposed to my parents the idea of me applying to university, whilst I was still at sixth form. I had been brought up by a close-knit working-class family of East Enders, who believed that school was not a place where people like them needed to succeed. For my parents, their predecessors, and those around them, life revolved around leaving school as early as one could to earn their keep by working blue-collar jobs. Academic achievement had little importance to their daily lives.  

Those manual labour jobs, however, often (though not always) came with job insecurity, low pay, rare promotional opportunities, and poor working conditions. Thus, I had been encouraged by my parents from a young age to aspire to an office job in ‘the city’, where better offerings supposedly existed. We didn’t discuss further what exactly this job ought to be, or how I might go about getting it, but we collectively hoped it would offer an escape from financial insecurity.  

What my parents hadn’t been prepared for was my keenness to continue on to higher education. So, when I first mentioned that I wanted to attend university, I was initially met with confusion and questions stemming from a place of unfamiliarity.

My parents had a point. What business did I have trying to enter an environment where people like me just didn’t go? I wasn’t aware how a degree might make one more employable to enter a city job; after all, we didn’t know anyone personally with a degree, apart from our own schoolteachers. And anyhow, how much was this all going to cost?

Despite these uncertainties, my gut feeling never altered. I had only scratched the surface with studying History as a subject at school. I felt there was so much more to learn (and I’d soon discover, much more to write, argue, critique, recommend…). I became determined to enrol at a university to continue studying.

With the help of my parents, I spent the following months researching all there was to learn about maintenance loans and tuition fee loans, league tables (universities are not one and the same?!), the difference between words like ‘lecture’ and ‘module’, and I attended Open Days – paving the way to my formal applications. Like many working-class students, at times I experienced imposter syndrome and self-doubt, though with the support of those around me I continued to push through. Having the opportunity to even considering applying to university, when there were (and continue to be) many talented students who do not have the resources or capital to do so, was enough motivation for me to not waste the chance.

After many drafts, I submitted my personal statement and my shortlisted preferences, and not long after very excitedly accepted an offer to study History at the University of Reading, beginning in autumn 2020. Reading particularly stood out, largely due to the History Department being run by incredibly passionate experts whose collective expertise span a wide breadth of specialties, time periods, locations, and focuses.

I left the University of Reading with not just a degree certificate, but a priceless experience which has continued to influence how I navigate the world. I gained so much more than I ever expected was possible. And I landed a corporate job after graduating too!

My own experience demonstrates aspects of social mobility across generations, and the value of degree level study to those from backgrounds like mine. The opportunity I enjoyed should be available to others and important projects such as this and the incredible work being carried out by staff at Reading are therefore vital.

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Brooke Harding studied for BA History at the University of Reading and graduated with a First Class degree in summer 2023. She currently works at Leadenhall Search & Selection as a Consultant – an office job!

This article was written for the “Celebrating Class” blog series, exhibition and conference. You can join the conversation on our Padlet.