Session Outline

Personal Tutoring as a Driver of Student Success and Graduate Futures: Towards Shared Understandings of Impact

Aleksey Kozikov (Newcastle University); Anna Tiuniakova (AT Training Class)

Personal tutoring is widely positioned as a cornerstone of student success and positive graduate outcomes. Yet, despite strong institutional rhetoric, there remains limited clarity regarding how personal tutoring contributes to student outcomes across the student lifecycle and how such contributions can be meaningfully evidenced. This talk presents findings from a national dataset involving over 100 personal tutors across UK higher education institutions, offering a sector-wide snapshot of tutors’ own perceptions of their impact on student success, progression and graduate futures, as a starting point for sector dialogue.

Drawing on an exploratory mixed-methods survey combining scale items with open-ended responses, we explore how tutors conceptualise their role in supporting students from Foundation Year through to graduation and beyond. The findings identify and rank key domains of educational life where tutors perceive their strongest contribution across the student lifecycle, including academic decision-making, confidence and self-efficacy, navigation of institutional systems, employability awareness, resilience during periods of transition, etc. The study also examines tutor-reported effectiveness of different modes of tutor-tutee interaction, highlighting preferred communication channels and relational practices underpinning sustained engagement.

Crucially, the research reveals a significant sector-wide gap between tutors’ recognition of responsibility for influencing student success and the absence of shared, systematic and institutionally recognised ways of articulating and evidencing this impact. This gap is driven by two interrelated challenges: the absence or inconsistency of institutional mechanisms for collecting evidence of impact, and limited tutor engagement with existing evaluative frameworks where these do exist. Institutions demonstrating the strongest outcomes are those where responsibility for evidencing impact is shared, supported and embedded rather than individualised.

The session argues that addressing this challenge requires a tripartite approach involving institutions, tutors and a third professional actor capable of providing coherence, standards and sector-informed guidance. In this context, UKAT is positioned as uniquely placed to enable and support the co-development of shared, sector-informed evaluative practices that amplify student voice while remaining feasible for tutors in a time of change.

Participants will gain insight into how tutors nationally perceive their contribution to student success and graduate outcomes; identify key structural and cultural barriers to articulating and evidencing tutoring impact; and develop a clearer understanding of how shared, sector-level approaches to impact can inform reflection on personal tutoring practice within their own institutional contexts.

Strategies and Frameworks for Embedding Culturally Diverse Resources in Personal Academic Tutoring for Business and Management Qualifications

Muhammad Wajid (University of Sunderland )

The growing cultural diversity within UK Higher Education has reshaped expectations surrounding personal academic tutoring (PAT), particularly in business and management programmes where international and non-traditional student enrolment continues to rise. Personal tutoring plays a critical role in supporting academic progression, wellbeing, and student belonging; however, limited research exists on how culturally diverse resources can be effectively embedded into PAT to enhance inclusivity and student success. This study examines strategies, frameworks, and challenges associated with integrating culturally responsive resources into personal tutoring for business and management qualifications.

A mixed-methods approach was employed to capture both tutor and student perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 academic tutors from two London-based Higher Education Institutions to gather insights into their experiences of supporting culturally diverse learners and their current approaches to embedding cultural inclusivity in tutoring practices. Complementing this, a survey of 200 business and management students explored their expectations of PAT, their perceptions of cultural sensitivity in tutor interactions, and the influence of culturally responsive support on engagement, confidence, and academic outcomes.

The findings indicate that embedding culturally diverse resources in PAT significantly improves student engagement, sense of belonging, and overall learning experience. Effective strategies include culturally informed induction meetings, personalised learning support tailored to cultural and linguistic needs, inclusive communication styles, the use of culturally relevant academic resources, and targeted signposting to support services. Tutors also highlighted the value of cultural humility, trust-building, and proactive outreach, especially for students unfamiliar with UK academic norms or hesitant to seek help due to cultural expectations.

Despite these benefits, several challenges were identified. These include limited tutor training in intercultural competence, inconsistent institutional guidance on culturally responsive tutoring, competing workloads, and differing student expectations around autonomy and tutor roles. Students reported that when cultural diversity is not acknowledged within PAT, they may experience reduced confidence, disengagement, or misunderstanding of academic expectations.

Based on these insights, the study proposes a structured framework for embedding cultural diversity into PAT for business and management qualifications. The framework focuses on four areas: enhancing tutor intercultural awareness; integrating culturally inclusive resources and practices into tutoring; strengthening institutional policies and support systems; and establishing effective feedback and evaluation mechanisms. This research contributes original knowledge by offering one of the first dedicated models for culturally responsive personal academic tutoring, providing practical recommendations to help institutions develop inclusive and equitable tutor–student support systems.

Listening to Mature Student Voices: Experiences of Personal & Academic Tutoring Across Higher Education.

Mihaela Dariescu (University of Sunderland, London)

Mature students represent a significant proportion of learners in HE, yet their experiences of personal and academic tutoring remain comparatively underexplored. Existing research shows that mature learners navigate HE within complex life circumstances, often balancing employment, caring responsibilities, and financial pressures that shape how they can engage with institutional support (Bolam & Dodgson, 2003; Lyu et al., 2025). Despite the visibility of mature students, many university systems continue to reflect assumptions aligned with the “ideal” full-time youth student: high campus presence, extensive extracurricular involvement, and a linear educational trajectory (Gregersen & Nielsen, 2023). These norms can make mature students feel peripheral or “out of place,” undermining their sense of belonging and mattering.

At the same time, the practice consistently highlights that mature students bring strengths that are often undervalued within academic support structures. They frequently adopt deeper, more meaning-oriented approaches to studying and are motivated by clear, intrinsic goals, contradicting persistent deficit narratives framing them as underprepared or lacking academic skills (Howard, 2013). Qualitative work further illustrates the identity work involved in returning to study and the emotional, social and practical transitions that shape engagement with tutors and advisors (Saddler & Sundin, 2020). Social support from family and friends remains crucial, yet institutional services are underused due to time scarcity, lack of awareness, or feelings of intimidation (Heagney & Benson, 2017). These insights point to the need for tutoring systems that recognise mature students’ life contexts, and proactively build relational connection.

This study aims to examine mature students’ lived experiences of personal and academic tutoring across HE institutions, with the goal of identifying the practices, relationships, and structures that enable them to feel supported, connected, and able to thrive. By foregrounding mature students’ own narratives, the project responds directly to the conference themes of student voice and belonging and mattering, offering an evidence-based account of how tutoring can either mitigate or exacerbate the challenges mature students face.

The research is guided by four key questions:

1. How do mature students describe their experiences of personal and academic tutoring, and what forms of support do they perceive as most valuable?

2. What barriers (structural, cultural, or relational) do mature students encounter when engaging with tutoring and advising systems?

3. How do tutoring practices influence mature students’ sense of belonging, mattering, and legitimacy within higher education?

4. How can tutoring support could be redesigned to better recognise mature students’ life experiences?

Using qualitative interviews and narrative-oriented methods, the study engages mature students as experts on their own educational journeys. Interpretative phenomenological analysis provides an in-depth lens on how they make sense of tutoring interactions, transitions, and the conditions that help them persist.

The anticipated contribution is a set of practical insights for academic and personal tutoring professionals. By highlighting what mature students value, what makes them feel seen, and what unintentionally signals exclusion, the study offers guidance for designing relational, flexible, and inclusive tutoring models that strengthen belonging and success across an increasingly diverse student body.

Learning Outcomes

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