BLUE SKY THINKING
Working on this intervention has been a rewarding and eye-opening journey. One of the biggest changes I noticed was in my own approach—I became more flexible, reflective, and experimental in how I engaged with FE tutors and HE students. I was able to speak directly with students who had progressed into HE (all over 18), which provided valuable first-hand insights into their experiences. For FE students under 18, I couldn’t interview them directly, but speaking with their tutors offered a wealth of information about their challenges, aspirations, and creative potential. This combination of perspectives helped me adapt my methods and develop interventions that were both meaningful and ethically sound.
Time was definitely my biggest challenge—finding enough hours to read, carry out interviews, organise data, and reflect was tricky. I quickly realised I needed to prioritise, so I focused on the key literature that really spoke to my intervention and skipped a lot of the other papers. That decision helped me keep moving and stay grounded in what mattered most.
Several things worked really well. The sessions were insightful and fun, and the tutors were engaging—they really brought the process to life. Group discussions were fascinating, as we don’t usually get the chance to meet colleagues from other courses or colleges, and it was a good leveler. Some students I didn’t fully understand at first, especially in terms of their experiences and terminology, but I was happy to try and learn—it was all part of the process.
Through my AR interviews, listening to tutors talk about their passion and dedication reminded me why this work matters. Their insights, combined with honest HE student reflections, helped me identify subtle barriers like dress codes and unconscious bias—issues that might otherwise be overlooked. Small interventions, like workshops encouraging creative confidence or reflective practice, were well-received and highlighted the power of even minor, thoughtful support.
For the intervention, barriers were mostly logistical and ethical, like navigating tight A Level syllabuses and ensuring sensitive, ethical practices were followed. Overcoming these required careful planning, creative thinking, and close collaboration with tutors. Each challenge became an opportunity to learn and improve my practice and intervention ideas.
Looking ahead, the “blue-sky” thinking from this project has the potential to influence more than just my own work. I can imagine co-creating inclusive, HE-aligned projects with FE colleges, supported by fashion industry partners, giving students richer, more independent experiences. Beyond FE–HE transitions, there’s a real opportunity to bring Knowledge Exchange projects into secondary schools, helping younger learners develop creative thinking and hands-on problem-solving—skills that are increasingly squeezed out by a focus on STEM subjects. By embedding these approaches into both FE and HE curricula, we can help students explore creativity early, while also feeding ideas and inspiration back into our wider CSM Fashion program. This is a team effort: embedding these projects across the program creates scalable, sustainable support models that foster independence, creativity, and equity, and ensures our impact reaches more learners.
In short, this project has been a journey of learning, experimenting, and reflecting. It has celebrated the expertise of FE tutors, the resilience of students, and the creative possibilities that emerge when thoughtful interventions meet real needs. The future feels full of potential—not just for my own practice, but for our whole Fashion program more broadly M School & Knowledge Exchange team—and I’m excited to see how these ideas can grow and evolve collectively.