Session Outline

Personal Academic Tutoring Workbooks: a tool for facilitating meaningful conversations and signposting

Aisha Shah (University of Worcester)

The approach to personal academic tutoring has arguably become more holistic in recent years, encompassing personal and mental health (pastoral) support, professional (careers and employability) support, as well as support with academic studies and skills for learning (study skills). For students new to the personal tutoring system in higher education, it can be difficult to understand what the personal tutoring system is and is not, as well as what they can do to make the most out of this service.

The holistic nature of personal tutoring also increasingly presents challenges for Personal Academic Tutors (PATs), as they must find the balance between supporting their personal tutees, with signposting them in the direction of appropriate services (OfS, 2022). Although the role of the PAT has become increasingly important as universities recognise their responsibilities in supporting students requiring additional support for disabilities and mental health related difficulties, the role of a PAT remains “often undefined and unstructured”, and “most experience gained by tutors is acquired while performing the role itself, thinking on one’s feet and very much in practice” (Lochtie et al., 2015).

The paper will discuss an innovative Personal Academic Tutoring Workbook initiative, which focused on reflection and personal development planning, briefly piloted at the University of Worcester. This is an initiative I introduced in my personal academic tutoring role, with the aim of taking a small step in addressing some of the challenges associated with the nature of personal academic tutoring. The purpose of the workbook initiative was to provide more guidance and structure for both students and Personal Academic Tutors, with the aim of supporting and empowering learners on their journey through higher education, to maximise their success both at university and beyond.

The paper will reflect on the PAT Workbook resource. It will discuss suggestions for how this resource can inform how we carry out personal academic tutoring, along with proposals of how the workbooks can be further developed and scaled for use as a university-wide personal academic tutoring resource.

References

Office for Students (2022) Suicide Prevention. Available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/equality-of-opportunity/effective-practice/suicide-prevention/advice/ (Accessed: 8 December 2025).

Lochtie, D. McIntosh, E. Stork, A. Walker, B. (2018) Effective Personal Tutoring in Higher Education. Routledge.

Integrated Academic Literacies and Personal Tutoring: Strengthening Student Preparedness and Graduate Capability in an MPH Global Health Programme

Manju Pallam (Manchester Metropolitan University); Ruth Phillips (Manchester Metropolitan University)

This ‘lightning talk’ will critically examine the effectiveness of embedding study-skills instruction alongside sustained academic advising by evaluating the successful implementation of this in a Master of Public Health (Global Health) curriculum. It will describe a model of constructive alignment (Biggs and Tang, 2011) between study-skills and the curriculum that could be transferable to other programmes. The talk will argue that this integrated pedagogic model enhances student success and supports broader graduate outcomes, particularly in the context of increasingly diverse postgraduate cohorts in the UK. Programme-embedded academic support is recognised as a key mechanism for promoting equity, fostering belonging and enabling successful progression (Universities UK, 2020; Thomas, 2021), especially when considering variation in prior-academic preparation, diverse linguistic backgrounds and often a lack of familiarity with UK academic conventions.

Within the Master of Public Health curriculum at Manchester Metropolitan University, academic literacies are developed across all modules to reveal the hidden curriculum and increase skill and confidence with criticality, research principles and assessment; a pedagogic approach consistent with scholarship emphasising that academic literacies are most effectively developed when integrated within disciplinary curricula. Such integration enhances relevance, authenticity and opportunities for sustained practice (Thesen & Rosario, 2019; Abegglen, Burns & Sinfield, 2023), especially when complemented by structured academic advising and personal tutoring. The latter provides an additional relational dimension of support, facilitating students’ understanding of expectations, encouraging reflective learning and enabling them to navigate the challenges inherent in postgraduate study. Initial qualitative feedback indicated that students reported more confidence, better engagement with complex global-health content and improved capacity to manage academic workload in consequence of this approach. These outcomes reflect that of existing research which demonstrates the value of relational, embedded support in strengthening retention, engagement and academic preparedness (Thomas, 2021; Baughan, 2023). This talk will therefore elucidate how an integrated model of embedded academic literacies and personalised advising can reduce barriers to academic achievement, enhance postgraduate preparedness and contribute meaningfully to the development of transferable research, analytical and communication competencies, to underpin strong graduate outcomes.

Student Success Officers: Enhancing Outcomes through Monitoring and Intervention

Holly McCallum (Abertay University ); Dorothea Tsatsali (Abertay University)

Starting university is a time of transition and adjustment. For students, this beginning can be a new start, a continuation of their college journey or for mature students a return to an academic environment. Students will often struggle with independent learning, new systems and academic expectations as well as social and emotional challenges. As an institution, our role is to ensure that students build the connectivity necessary to integrate into a university context. These connections are between students with their peers, academic staff and student services. Creating an inclusive environment where students feel like they belong has been associated with higher rates of engagement and consequently academic success (Gillen-O'Neel, 2021).

How does Abertay University measure engagement and promote support and positive outcomes for students? A key enabler for this is the role of Student Success Officer, whose remit is to monitor attendance and engagement by looking at attendance records and the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to highlight students requiring early support. The SSOs are recent graduates of Abertay which creates a comfortable and empathetic environment with students at the centre of it. Any student highlighted with low engagement will be contacted by the SSOs in the gentle form of a “check-in”. Checking-in promotes understanding and helps guide students and signpost to relevant services. The contacting process is a significant part in student support as it creates a partnership between the students and the institution with the common goal of the success – whatever that might look like for each student, informed by the Framework for Student Engagement through Partnership (Healey et al., 2014).

This is an early-stage intervention that allows students to receive support with any challenges evolved by the model reported by Millard and Janjua (2020). These processes also inform and advise the institution on the services needed by students as well as contribute to positive outcomes for student success and retention. The response to these early-stage interventions has been received by students as proof of the duty of care the University has towards student learning and success (Millard et al., 2025). Other institutions have reported higher retaining rates with early interventions of high-risk students (Thomas, 2012). Therefore, it is important to recognise the wider factors that affect student engagement. As student needs evolve, so should our understanding and adapt support. Many students will arrive with different backgrounds, life experience and academic readiness therefore this support will be tailored accordingly, and early interventions are essential to support academic progress and wellbeing. We can seek to ensure the transition to university is more successful, by creating a proactive approach that considers the individuality of each student and their needs. This session will report on SSO findings and explore how professional services may evolve in the future to support successful student outcomes.

Learning Outcomes

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