Up Close and Personal: Up Close and Personal: The policy and practice of The policy and practice of support for the individual support for the individual studentstudent

Jenny Kean

I’m really depressed. I can’t sleep, then I can’t get up to face the world. It’s all getting out of control.

I’ve got problems going on at home – my parents are splitting up and my dad’s got serious health issues.

My grand-dad’s paying for me to be here – but I just don’t want to be doing this. It’s going to break his heart if I go - but I don’t want to stay. How can I tell my family?

I have to travel to Sheffield 3 days a week for work – is there any way I can access some kind of hardship fund?

I’m suffering quite badly from anxiety. Should I go to the doctors?

I don’t get on with my flatmates at all. I just can’t seem to make friends

I’ve wanted to come to university since I was 11 years old. It was my dream – but I’m just not enjoying it.

I’m not learning anything – what am I getting for my money?

The contextThe contextThomas & Hixenbaugh (2006 p.3)Thomas & Hixenbaugh (2006 p.3)

Increasing student numbers

Worsening staff/student ratios - staff to student ratio at University of Hertfordshire Business School went from 25:1 to 35:1 in 6 years to 2006 (Bunce 2006)

The contextThe context (contd)(contd)Greater student diversity –

Owen (2002)Competing demands on staff

(learning & teaching, research, admin)

Pressure to ensure high rates of student retention and success

Bunce, S (2007)

Does personal tutoring Does personal tutoring matter?matter?Student satisfaction and success

(Thomas & Hixenbaugh 2006, Race 2010, Neville 2007 p.138)

Retention – “to increase retention you must personalise your relationship with your students” (Chapman 2003, Neville 2007 p.12)

Follow the money -“It’s cheaper to retain than to recruit”; the student not just as “consumer” but “investor” (Thomas & Hixenbaugh 2006 )

Does personal tutoring Does personal tutoring matter?matter?We’ve said it does. Although…

“This is usually work that goes on literally and metaphorically behind closed doors and without accolades.”

How much do we really value it?Neville 2007 p.3

What the students wantWhat the students wantRegular, frequent, scheduled

meetingsA PT who takes an active role

throughout their degreeA PT who is accessible, approachable

and reliableA PT who is enthusiastic and cares

about themThey want to be “known, ‘tracked’

and supported” throughout

Owen 2002, Thomas & Hixenbaugh 2006

““Only Connect” Only Connect” E.M. ForsterE.M. Forster

“It is becoming clear that relationships are at the heart of the issue of the students’ experience of university.”

Thomas & Hixenbaugh 2006 p.55

What personal tutors sayWhat personal tutors sayI’m looking after all these students – but who’s looking after me?

The cling-on effect

I wouldn’t give it up. [It’s] one part of the job where it is possible to make a difference to someone.

Thomas & Hixenbaugh 2006

The Pastoral model The Pastoral model Earwaker 1992Earwaker 1992

May be reactive or proactiveAre regular meetings structured in?Is the role of the personal tutor clearly

defined to both the tutor and student? “Niche” time

“In the mass university, the ideal [of the caring, committed pastoral tutor] works only at a huge cost in terms of people-hours and stress.” (Owen 2002)

The Professional modelThe Professional modelBased on providing ‘professional’ support

servicesDifferent models – one-stop shop, Student

Support and Guidance (including Academic Advisers)

Available when students need itHighly reactiveNo consistency, no relationshipTeaching staff ‘pass the buck’

Thomas & Hixenbaugh 2006, Bunce 2007

The curriculum modelThe curriculum modelModule with personal tutor groupLearning skills, info about institution and HE

generallyAllows relationships to develop between

student and PT, but also amongst peersMakes it a positive developmental

experience, rather than just being about ‘problems’

Takes time out of the curriculumStudents don’t readily buy into anything

perceived as ‘not what I’m here to do’Bunce 2007, Thomas & Hixenbaugh 2006

My practice – what workedMy practice – what worked

Part of inductionScheduled meetings built in to profileAppointments, not fill-your-own-slotReferring ‘doubters’ to 2nd yr students

My practice – what didn’t My practice – what didn’t workworkLack of clarity about roles and liaison

with other deptsLack of follow-up‘Knowing, tracking, supporting’ (Owen

2002) – little or none of the 1st twoLack of knowledge about uni regs,

systems, other services that could help them

Lack of training or help in skills I might need to help students

An action planAn action planGet to know SL officer and meet regularlyBuild in follow-upGoogle docs to share marks/attendance?Contact hours (Neville 2007 p.33)

MentoringTraining/induction for new tutorsTry a more curriculum-embedded model?

Magic wands Magic wands and and

happy endings?happy endings?

Leeds Met puts students Leeds Met puts students at the heart of everything at the heart of everything

we do…we do…

Assessment, Learning & Teaching Strategy Assessment, Learning & Teaching Strategy 2008-122008-12

Leeds Metropolitan UniversityLeeds Metropolitan University

ReferencesReferences Neville, L., 2007 The Personal tutor’s handbook. Basingstoke, Palgrave Race, P. & LMU Teacher Fellows, 2010 Making personal tutoring work. Leeds

Met Press Thomas, L .& Hixenbaugh, P. (eds), 2006 Personal tutoring in higher education.

Stoke on Trent, Trentham BooksJOURNALS Bunce, S. (2006) ‘Establishing a student support and guidance office to replace

personal tutoring in University of Hertfordshire Business School’, The Higher Education Academy, August

Bunce, S. (2007) ‘Personal or Systematic? Do we have to take the ‘personal’ out of personal tutoring in HE?’, Higher Education Review 40 (1) Autumn pp 85-87

Owen, M. (2002) ‘Sometimes you feel you’re in niche time: The personal tutor system, a case study’, Active Learning in Higher Education, 3: 7

Stephen, D., O’Connell, P. & Hall, M. (2008) ‘’Going the extra mile’, ‘fire-fighting’ or ‘laissez-faire? Re-evaluating personal tutoring relationships within mass higher education’, Teaching in Higher Education,13 (4) August pp449-460

Trotter, E (2004) ‘Personal Tutoring: Policy v. Reality of Practice’, Education in Changing Environment conference, University of Salford