A grandmother's love, determination and vision

Graham Ward

Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford

Graham Ward has been Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford since 2012. He has previously held positions at the University of Manchester, the University of Birmingham and Peterhouse College, Cambridge. He originally read English and French at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

There are two reasons why I’m committed to Widening Participation. The first is personal; and the personal is deeply rooted. My grandmother, along with my three younger brothers, brought me up. Like many in my class, leaving school at sixteen and getting a job looked inevitable. My three brothers all did this. If I were in any way different it was that I liked reading and I was always curious. 

When I was eight or so my grandmother walked me into Manchester by a circuitous route, through Salford University. I was impressed by the buildings and the students hurrying this way and that with books in their hands. My grandmother told me that if I worked hard at school I might one day go there. As a young girl brought up in the north-west, she had been picked out at school as very clever and offered a scholarship to stay on. But her parents needed her to go to work and help support the family. So she left school at fourteen. When there were no suitable jobs to be had for me at sixteen then that conversation, and my grandmother’s conviction that education was the most valuable commodity to be had, came back to me. I returned to school and entered the sixth form, setting my sights on gaining a place at university.

The second reason for my commitment to widening participation is more political. I still recall my classmates and the kids on the estate who I played with where I grew up. Children are savvy about each other’s abilities or lack of them. Among my friends, very few of whom stayed on at school, there were leaders and managers, those with dazzling abilities to memorize, analyze and plan, problem-solvers and creative innovators. I often wonder what happened to them. I wasn’t alone among those with intellectual abilities. But I had a grandmother’s love, determination and vision. And later I had teachers who saw potential, worked with me and eventually encouraged me to try for Cambridge University. So now when I visit comprehensive schools and sixth forms to talk to them about university I know there are many who just need their aspirations and expectations expanded. The ability is there; I remember seeing it and admiring it in several kids my own age. 

Those of us committed to Widening Participation are like talent scouts – we just want to find and nurture it. Politically, we want to extend the opportunities that were, for one reason or another, extended to us.
 

This article is from the spring 2014 edition of aspire, the IntoUniversity newsletter. To read the newsletter in full, click here.