RAPPORT
negotiate academic requirements
successfully and sometimes to achieve
beyond their expectations.
Charlotte Coleman’s particular interest
is in how the work placement, now
ubiquitous in most HEIs, impacts upon
and is impacted by the personal
tutoring/academic advising relationship.
This is an under-explored area and
Charlotte shows the need for better
‘joined-up’ thinking in institutional policy
to offer the best support to students.
Interestingly in one example she found
the tutor’s role unexpectedly extending
to supporting the placement supervisor
as well as the student – surely not a
unique circumstance and one which
policy needs to anticipate.
Rob Ward starts by exploring the
confusion of terminology and definitions
around the concepts of coaching and
mentoring and their relationship to
tutoring. He then uses this clarification
to analyse instances in the portfolios
where one or the other type of
relationship was being played out and
where the potential tensions between
the two roles are revealed. This analysis
has value beyond the context of HEIs to
the clarification of similar roles adopted
in many organisations, where a lack of
clear understanding of possible tensions
and conflicts may undermine wellintentioned
policies.
Her own institutional role has given
Ricky Lowes a particular interest in the
experiences of those tasked with
leadership of personal tutoring or
academic advising systems and
initiatives. There is little uniformity in the
position of such leaders in the university
hierarchy or their designation, which can
mean that frequently their power is
informal and based on their ability to
Issue 5 (August 2020)
influence other leaders with different
concerns. Like Emma and Cathy she
stresses the need for training and
support of tutors to carry out their role
as well as adequate time and
recognition from the institution of its
value. Her examples provide stark
evidence of the challenges faced and
the need for institutions to accept that
they can reap rewards from a wellplanned
system of tutoring/advising - but
only when they make a proper and
ongoing investment in it.
Gihan Ebaid is the only contributor to
this edition of RAPPORT who was not
involved in the CRA/SEDA Programme.
Her research was undertaken in Sydney
Australia, as part of the work for her
EdD degree at the University of
Liverpool. For those of us who have
been deeply embedded for many years
in the UK HE culture – a culture which
for many years took the ‘personal tutor
for each student’ concept for granted
without closely examining its challenges
or indeed the evidence for its benefits –
Gihan’s experience provides a
refreshing reminder of why this is an
important area worthy of more thinking
and research. Her small sample of
students and teachers appear to have
repeatedly discovered for themselves
the value of careful listening and timely
academic support. An outside
perspective can sometimes remind us of
why we continue to strive for an
objective against all challenges.
Steve Outram takes a step back in his
piece to provide an organisational
analysis of how such a system might
best work and what needs to be taken
into consideration for it to do so. Using
Gibbs’ (2009) 15-step model, he takes
the reader through the process of
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