It’s been obvious for years that as student numbers increase the diversity and complexity of support needs of the student body increases alongside. Post the Covid-19 pandemic, with the cost of living crisis hitting more students’ ability to engage in their studies, and more intense pressure on the higher education sector to demonstrate that it has a grip on students’ wellbeing, universities are taking a long hard look at their academic support systems.
The limits of personal tutoring as a vehicle for academic support are clear: overloaded academics, students not always knowing who their tutor is or how to contact them, unclear roles and responsibilities, and over-dependence on students raising problems spontaneously whether or not they have the skills, language, or confidence to do so. Efforts to address one aspect of the problem reveal its wicked nature – more training for tutors simply increases workload; efforts to triage out to specialist services increase the likelihood that students fall through the gaps.
Yet the aspiration for students to have a human point of connection who is concerned with their progress and wellbeing rightly remains. It’s encounters with – mainly, but not exclusively – supportive academic staff, that make a difference when students are struggling. And universities rightly recognise that human connection in the academic community helps create the conditions for academic engagement, and can be highly rewarding and motivating for both students and staff.
