Session Outline

Peer coaching circles (PCCs) for Personal Academic Tutors (PATs): Celebrating success through peer collaboration and building a new community of practice.

Elisabeth Herbert (U C L)

Supporting PATs through providing opportunities for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) can influence more positive academic and wellbeing outcomes for students (Gammage et al, 2021; Gannon, 2025). Coaching encourages PATs to engage in reflective practice, leading to transformative learning and improvement (Jones & Smith, 2022). Training PATs to use structured coaching frameworks can build transferable skills for application in diverse contexts. Coaching is commonly used as an evidence informed approach with students; however this lightning talk describes a different scenario, explaining how a series PCCs were established with a group of PATs at UCL (led by UCL Arena) to enhance their confidence and skills in their role, through engaging in structured and reflective dialogue with peers. Coaching approaches in Higher Education have been shown to foster improved confidence in participants. (Seraj & Leggett, 2023).

Small cohorts of PATs work with a qualified coach across five one hour online sessions. Session 1 sets expectations, roles and facilitates group agreements; Sessions 2–5 are structured peer coaching conversations in which participants take turns to bring a current tutoring challenge for exploration. Each meeting offers protected time to pause, think and learn in a purposeful, coaching style dialogue, enabling participants to test ideas, refine practice and celebrate success. Participants offer each other feedback and share best practice tips. Eligibility requires current PAT status and experience, alongside commitment to attend all sessions and actively contribute.

Grounded in coaching theory (e.g. Whitmore, 2017), PCCs treat coaching as a non judgemental, goal focused partnership that builds strengths, reflection and self efficacy. PATs use GROW (Goal, Reality, Options, Will) to clarify aims, explore pathways and commit to actionable steps, while adopting questioning over giving directive advice. Drawing on collaborative learning theory and Vygotsky’s ‘zone of proximal development’ (1978), PCCs create a social space where fellow PATs co construct understanding within a safe psychological climate, extending learning, scaffolding through supported challenge.

We outline practical techniques used in PCCs; e.g, contracting, active listening and open ended questioning, reframing, and action planning and explore how these practices built confidence, clarity and self awareness for participants. Evaluation from pilot cohorts highlighted key strengths: (1) the formation of a Community of Practice (COP) that sustains mutual support and sharing of effective strategies; (2) a regular structured ‘stop point’ for constructive reflection; (3) small group intimacy that enables confidentiality, psychological safety and honest discussion of complex cases. Suggestions that enhanced effectiveness included fortnightly sessions to maintain momentum, sharing one sentence challenges in advance, an optional in person launch to build trust, and extending the final session for richer collective evaluation.

Crucially, PCCs develop transferable coaching capabilities that PATs can apply directly with tutees. By modelling collaborative, scaffolded inquiry, PCCs also equip tutors to foster student agency, engagement and wellbeing, while strengthening advising consistency across programmes. Participants report greater reflective capacity, improved confidence handling sensitive issues, and deeper appreciation of peer dialogue as ongoing CPD. This talk showcases the PCC process, evaluation insights and invites UKAT colleagues to discuss opportunities for replication; celebrating success through peer collaboration and building sustainable COPs.

Mapping the Landscape: Institutional Approaches to Academic Mentoring in a Changing Higher Education Environment

Daniela Perez Aguilar (LSE)

UK higher education is undergoing sustained transformation, shaped by increasingly diverse student cohorts, widening participation priorities, rising staff-to-student ratios, and a continuing focus on student wellbeing. Within this shifting context, academic mentoring and personal tutoring remain essential mechanisms for fostering belonging, supporting progression, and enhancing student success. Research shows that a sense of belonging is a key predictor of engagement and continuation (Lochtie et al., 2025; Thomas, 2012), yet many traditional tutoring structures, originally designed for smaller and more homogeneous student populations, are now under pressure. These conditions highlight the need for adaptable and contextually responsive mentoring models rather than a single uniform institutional approach (Trowler, 2008).

This panel presents findings from institutional research conducted at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Drawing on interviews with 23 departments, the research maps the varied academic mentoring models used across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The findings indicate a wide spectrum of approaches, including traditional faculty-led arrangements, hybrid structures that involve both academic and professional staff, and newly created specialist mentoring roles. This variation illustrates how departments are adjusting their practices to meet the needs of their disciplinary cultures, student cohorts, and resource environments. These adaptations build on earlier analyses of the pressures facing personal tutoring (Stephen, O’Connell and Hall, 2008) and reflect the increasingly complex realities of contemporary higher education.

Two departmental case studies provide deeper insight into how these models operate in practice. The first focuses on a specialist first-year academic mentor role introduced in the Department of Geography. This role is dedicated exclusively to mentoring an entire undergraduate cohort. Early indicators, including student satisfaction data and qualitative reflections, suggest that this model enhances consistency of support and may help address rising levels of student well-being concerns. This example also reflects on the challenges of providing personalised support in the context of mass higher education (Prowse, Ruiz Vargas and Powell, 2021).

The second case study examines an integrated model in the Department of Anthropology, where academic mentoring is combined with structured formative and summative feedback for all first-year students. This approach enables students to receive personalised and dialogic feedback, drawing on principles articulated by Nicol (2010), while also providing early-career teaching staff with opportunities to develop feedback and mentoring expertise. This model demonstrates how academic mentoring can simultaneously address student learning needs, promote a sense of belonging, and support staff development, as emphasised in sector guidance such as Lochtie et al. (2025).

Overall, the findings show that there is no single optimal approach to academic mentoring. Instead, departments require the flexibility to design mentoring structures that respond to their disciplinary traditions, student demographics, and staffing configurations. The session will invite participants to reflect on how institutions can balance this necessary diversity with a commitment to equity, consistency, and high-quality student experience. It will also encourage discussion about how institutions can support mentoring systems that are adaptable, sustainable, and aligned with the changing landscape of UK higher education.

Mediating cross-cultural challenges through Personal Academic Tutoring in UK HE: A mixed-method study of international students & faculty

Edet Okon (University of Sunderland); Gabriela Preutesei (University of Sunderland)

The internationalisation of UK higher education has created a diverse environment in which international faculty and students must navigate cross-cultural sensitivity challenges of unfamiliar communication styles, feedback practices, and academic expectations (Ryan, 2012). These cross-cultural differences often lead to misunderstanding, reduced confidence, and barriers to student engagement and academic success (Leask, 2015). These premises heighten the question of how HE institutions' faculty can effectively advise in times of rapid change. Conversely, Personal Academic Tutoring (PAT) practice can potentially offer a relational space where students can interpret academic norms, articulate their concerns, and build a sense of belonging, thereby supporting engagement and academic success.

This study aims to examine how PAT mediates cross-cultural challenges between international students and faculty in UK higher education, and how it can be leveraged to support inclusive advising in a time of rapid change. The following research questions will guide the study.

1. What cross-cultural communication and academic adjustment challenges and adjustments do international students and faculty experience in UK HE?

2. What is the impact of these cross-cultural challenges on international students' confidence, academic integration, and sense of belonging?

3. How do international students and faculty describe the role of PAT as a relational space for mediating cross-cultural difference, academic integration, and fostering belonging?

This study will employ a mixed-methods research design within an interpretivist paradigm, utilising a phenomenological approach to examine the lived experiences of both groups (Creswell & Poth, 2018). It combines survey data from over 100 international students and faculty with two focus group interviews in London. The survey component specifically addresses the quantitative understanding to answer RQ 1, 2, and 3. At the same time, the focus group interviews provide qualitative insights to explain/triangulate the PAT mediating effect in international student and faculty cross-cultural sensitivity building. These combined methods allow for in-depth investigation of how PAT influences cross-cultural sensitivity, supports academic integration, and fosters relationship-building. Thereby, producing a valid, reliable analysis to improve future policy and practice (Sammons & Davis, 2017; Zhou et al., 2024).

Findings: The Literature review highlights the key but understudied role of PATs. They suggest that PATs can influence student integration by acting as informal mentors, utilising responsive strategies such as active listening, empathy, and awareness of backgrounds to guide students (Brown & Holloway, 2008; McDonald, 2014; Lochtie et al., 2018; Spencer-Oatey & Dauber, 2019; Deuchar, 2022; Wang et al., 2025). However, evidence is fragmented, mostly anecdotal, and rarely supported by rigorous research. These mixed findings cannot support current times' reality in the UK HE, hence necessitating a systematic, rigorous research to examine how PAT mediates the cross-cultural sensitivity challenges of international students and faculty in a diverse UK HE sector.

The proposed study argues that PAT practice goes beyond academic support to foster intercultural competence, aiding institutions in developing inclusive cultural sensitivity practices. Its novelty lies in supporting UKAT's aim to use PAT as a strategic tool for bridging cultural gaps and promoting equity in diverse UK higher education, enhancing student engagement.

Learning Outcomes

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