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)

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.

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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)

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 employed 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 combined 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 provided 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 study findings highlighted the key but understudied role of PATs in international faculty and student relationship-building. It reveals 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. The study concluded 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.

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