Session Outline

Personal tutoring plays a central role in supporting student wellbeing, belonging, and academic development in UK higher education, yet practice often varies in purpose, structure, and evaluation. This presentation draws on a recently published book chapter on Enhancing Student Wellbeing and Learning in Personal Tutoring to present a structured, curriculum-informed approach to personal tutoring that foregrounds wellbeing, learning, and student engagement.

The presentation outlines how the principles and practices described in the book chapter were implemented within the BSc Psychology programme at Kings College London, focusing on clarity of tutoring purpose, alignment with programme-level outcomes, and the integration of wellbeing-informed activities across the student lifecycle. Attention is given to how personal tutoring can move beyond reactive pastoral support towards a coherent educational space that supports learning, reflection, and development over time.

A co-presenting undergraduate project student will then introduce an ongoing evaluative study of the programme’s personal tutoring system, using Self-Determination Theory as an analytic framework to explore students’ experiences of autonomy, competence, and relatedness within tutoring contexts. The study adopts a qualitative approach to examine how students perceive and engage with personal tutoring, and how well current provision aligns with its intended aims. While final results will be available at the time of the conference, the focus of this session is on the evaluation design and student–staff partnership approach.

This presentation will be of relevance to personal tutors, advising and tutoring leads, and programme teams seeking practical, theory-informed ways to design, implement, and evaluate personal tutoring. Attendees will gain insights into curriculum-aligned tutoring design and examples of involving students as partners in evaluating and enhancing personal tutoring provision.

Learning Outcomes

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