I have continued to enjoy my time here in Oxford whilst undergoing my research project. Over the past two weeks we have had more free time to individually work on our group projects. For me, this has mainly involved diving deeper into the literature related to our research topic: the impact of co-curriculars on educational equality. Systematically writing notes on these articles within a shared Excel spreadsheet, ready for our first literature review draft, which we will write in week 4, has been an intellectually stimulating and rewarding process as my knowledge on the area broadens. The use of Excel has also proven very effective at tracking the contacts of the third-party organisations (extracurricular providers across the UK) which we have contacted for potential interviews as part of our primary research. We currently await the responses to our emails, although our main focus remains the literature review.

 In addition to independent research, as a cohort, we have benefited from more informative sessions, with one on mixed methods and another using the Nvivo software for qualitative data, which we may find particularly useful once we begin coding interview transcripts. Furthermore, on Friday we had a community tour of Blackbird Leys, an area of outer Oxford. The area contrasts starkly with the affluence of the city centre, with far higher poverty, demonstrating the 'town and gown' divide which characterises Oxford. The visible inequality shows the importance for continued and increased local engagement in areas such as Blackbird Leys, particularly in educational outreach and enrichment initiatives. Despite socioeconomic challenges, I could feel a strong sense of community and had some friendly interactions with the locals.

I look forwards to the prospect of conducting our first interviews, I am also excited to collaboratively integrate our individual ideas and literature findings into a first literature draft. I have found it encouraging to see our project progress and am feeling increasingly confident about the work we will produce.