Session Outline

Academic advising and pastoral care are designed to support student development, reflection and wellbeing, yet in practice their boundaries with teaching are often ambiguous for students (Butcher and Lane, 2024). While staff may view their roles in different contexts as distinct and granular, students often experience them as fluid and overlapping, creating uncertainty and missed opportunities for support. This issue is particularly significant for neurodivergent students, who represent an estimated 15-20% (Pigato, 2024; Doyle, 2020). Barriers that affect many learners often have intensified consequences for neurodivergent students, thereby exposing systemic weaknesses in advising and support structures (Butcher and Lane, 2024; McDowall and Kiseleva, 2024). Evidence suggests that belonging is critical to student wellbeing, and that advising relationships can underpin psychological security. Therefore, misaligned boundaries and processes can undermine inclusion (Rubinstein, 2025; Accardo et al., 2025).

Unclear role distinctions and advising processes can leave students uncertain about when and how to seek help, particularly in contexts where support information is delayed or inconsistently communicated (McDowall and Kiseleva, 2024; Butcher and Lane, 2024). These challenges are compounded by further delays or inconsistencies in the creation and dissemination of student disability support plans (McDowall and Kiseleva, 2024), whereas students are told and rightly expect that their support plans have been seen and their needs understood by all staff they will encounter. Rigid routines and impractical meeting times can reduce confidence and impede engagement, while literal interpretations of institutional or advisor communication may inadvertently deter students from making contact when they would benefit from it (Pigato, 2024).

Academics encounter parallel constraints, including limited or delayed access to student disability support plans, which restricts timely and tailored advising. There is persistent tension between maintaining consistency in the application of the advising models, meeting institutional expectations, and following frameworks (Accardo et al., 2025), while affording flexibility to meet individual needs. Ambiguity in role expectations across advising and teaching further complicates practice, while ethical dilemmas arise over whether matching students to advisors based on specific needs enhances equity or risks profiling (Butcher and Lane, 2024).

Pragmatic opportunities include streamlining communication and support pathways to ensure the timely sharing of essential information (McDowall and Kiseleva, 2024). Establishing mentoring or peer support schemes can add continuity and relational depth to advising interactions (Accardo et al., 2025), while privileging relationship building over transactional meetings helps foster belonging and mattering (Cook Sather et al., 2014). Finally, embedding reflective practice and inter institutional sharing of solutions can sustain inclusive approaches at scale (Pigato, 2024).

This workshop will draw on the reflective practice and professional experience of academics within two departments within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Manchester. Janine Dixon is a Senior Lecturer and Final-year Year Manager in the Department of Materials Fashion Business Technology. Neil Morrison is a Senior Lecturer and Student Support and Wellbeing Tutor within the Department of Mathematics. Both departments follow the university’s Academic Advising Model, but with variations to the format of their approach. Attendees will be encouraged to discuss how boundaries and barriers shape student experience and staff practice at their institutions, and which strategies and changes could most effectively reduce barriers for both students and staff?

Learning Outcomes

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