There was a fascinating moment the other day at our Secret Life of Students event when someone on a panel suggested that academic staff shouldn’t be personal tutors – on the basis that a more complex and diverse student body needs professional coaching, not amateur chats.
It was a comment that got a very significant cheer.
It was interesting partly because of the way in which most of the sector right now assumes that those who teach must also undertake research and must also coach students.
An assumption – with a growing student body – whose pressure points dominate the informal discourse surrounding industrial action.
