Boundary setting within staff student relationships; how to be successful and overcome challenges.

Elizabeth Halstead (UCL)
Elisabeth Herbert (UCL)

Tuesday, April 8, 2025 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM

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Session Outline

Building a positive relationship in a personal tutoring framework is important for both staff and students 1,2 and important for enhancing belonging and supporting retention3,4. With the increasing mental health needs of students and the overwhelming academic pressures5,6,7 we want to consider in this workshop the following questions

1. What is acceptable within our role of personal tutors?

2. How can we manage feelings of guilt, anxiety and responsibility towards students?

3. Student voice: what students value abut clear boundaries- experience of UG and PG ad international student voice

4. What can be a barriers to setting effective boundaries? With a focus on neurodiversity associated with student mental health needs

5. How can we best protect our mental health as personal tutors by boundary setting?

Within the workshop we will also want participants to bring and share success stories of boundary setting and work through exercises based on cognitive behavioural principles to help personal tutors work through some of the challenges in successful boundary setting. We will be presenting student voices on boundary setting via videos created by a Changemakers project (funded by UCL). The session will use physical interaction methods such as post it notes and whiteboards, alongside an online Menti presentation.

Learning Outcomes

The session learning outcomes will be that attendees:
• Will have an enhanced understanding of the importance of boundary setting and how that can foster mutually positive relationships between staff and students.
• Will leave with a toolkit of strategies to put this knowledge into practice within their settings with consideration to diverse student needs.

Bibliography

1. Grey, D., & Osborne, C. (2020). Perceptions and principles of personal tutoring. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(3), 285-299.

2. McFarlane, K. J. (2016). Tutoring the tutors: Supporting effective personal tutoring. Active Learning in Higher Education, 17(1), 77-88.

3. Ross, J., Head, K., King, L., Perry, P. M., & Smith, S. (2014). The personal development tutor role: An exploration of student and lecturer experiences and perceptions of that relationship. Nurse Education Today, 34(9), 1207-1213.

4. Stephen, D. E., 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), 449-460.

5. Thomas, L. (2006). Widening participation and the increased need for personal tutoring. In Personal tutoring in higher education (pp. 21-31). Trentham Books.

6. Wootton, S. 2013. Personal Tutoring for the 21st Century. Further Education Tutorial Network.

7. Yale, A.T., 2019. The personal tutor–student relationship: student expectations and experiences of personal tutoring in higher education. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 43(4), pp.533-544.

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