An Academic Personal Tutoring Team - Two Years On

Charlie Seager (University of Salford)

Tuesday, April 8, 2025 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM

SUCCESS AND OUTCOMES

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Session Outline

The relationship between academic personal tutors and students has been shown to foster a sense of belonging, enhance student satisfaction, and promote connectedness, which are critical factors in academic retention and success (Palmer, O’Kane, and Owens, 2009). According to Advance HE, creating a strong sense of community positively impacts academic integration and retention (Thomas, 2012). These findings underscore the significance of academic personal tutoring in higher education.

Despite its importance, the literature evaluating the effectiveness of academic personal tutoring remains limited, particularly outside of social sciences and health-related programmes. The assumption is often made that the benefits of academic personal tutoring observed in these fields can be generalised across disciplines, though evidence to support this remains scarce.

In 2022, Salford Business School at the University of Salford implemented its first Academic Personal Tutoring (APT) pilot scheme. This involved appointing a dedicated team of six Academic Personal Tutors to provide tailored 1:2:1 academic support for undergraduate students across a variety of programmes: Business, Law, and Accounting & Finance. The initiative aimed to promote a more personalised learning experience by conducting individualised academic progress reviews and intervening proactively to support students who showed signs of struggling. After eight months the early findings which were presented at UKAT's 2024 'Personal Tutoring in the Spotlight Conference', suggested that the pilot was contributing positively to the educational gain of our students but it was too early to make further substantiated findings.

Now, with two full academic years of the APT scheme in operation, further observations have emerged around its impact. Quantitative data reveals a notable contribution towards progression and submission rates among students who engage with their APTs, while qualitative feedback highlights enhancements in academic confidence, a stronger sense of belonging, and better identification of study skill gaps. Students report feeling more empowered to take ownership of their learning journey and have been appreciative of the personalised approach to their academic development, while staff observe that the APT scheme facilitates the development of autonomous learners.

Aligned with the UKAT 2025 conference theme of "Learning Well," this presentation will explore how a dedicated APT team can chart a course for the future, promoting personalised learning while improving key academic outcomes. We hope to share the successes and challenges of the pilot, focusing on how personal tutoring enhances progression, fosters resilience, and strengthens students’ ability to thrive academically and personally.

By showcasing our extended findings, we aim to provide the wider community with valuable insights into the benefits and limitations of a dedicated APT scheme and to invite feedback, and critique.

Learning Outcomes

Understand and critique the impact of the implementation of a dedicated Academic Personal Tutoring team at Salford Business School.
Consider examples of best practice to take forward into the sector around personalised academic tutoring

Bibliography

Palmer, M., O'Kane, P., & Owens, M. (2009). Betwixt spaces: Students’ accounts of turning point experiences in first-year transitions. Studies in Higher Education, 34(1), 37-54

Thomas, L. (2012). What Works? Student Retention & Success: Building Student Engagement and Belonging in Higher Education at a Time of Change. AdvanceHE

Competencies
This session addresses the following competencies of the UKAT Professional Framework for Advising and Tutoring