RAPPORT
Issue 5 (August 2020)
not set a learning goal. At this point, I
helped her see what her options
were and she realised that it was too
early in the year to start panicking
about not being able to reach these
academic goals. However, I shortly
realised that there was an emerging
issue as what she was feeling more
distressed and sad about was about
not having her family or close friends
around, which is why she had been
thinking about not completing her
study placement and going back to
[her country] …
Subsequently the student continued at the
host university and worked to achieve
goals set with the Tutor set in order to
improve her situation both in terms of
performance and in respect of her wider
social environment.
Reflections on case studies and
implications for practice.
From the analysis and case study material
presented above it seems clear that the
implementation of approaches
characterised by elements of coaching and
mentoring practice within the work of
personal tutors and academic advisors in
higher education is able to be identified.
As anticipated, practice suggests the
terms - and the practice - do meld into one
another. However, such practice – as
illuminated through the Case Studies, is
limited and seems likely to prove
challenging and perhaps problematic to
implement more widely, particularly in the
context of staff-student working, as
opposed to peer (student-student)
mentoring schemes for example. This is
not to suggest that colleagues do not have
aspirations to engage in more ongoing and
developmental practices. Writing about
departmental policies, for example, one
Senior Tutor indicated that:
my main aim since I have taken the
post is to make tutoring a mainly
proactive rather than a purely
reactive activity, in line with
acknowledged best practice …This
means encouraging regular
scheduled meetings to discuss
progress and development,
supported by guiding documentation
rather than only ad hoc,
undocumented meetings in response
to crises. (Portfolio 30)
More generally however a lack of such
practice is evident in this area with policies
and procedures identified relating
exclusively to mentoring and coaching for
staff in the context of workforce and
professional development. This may be a
consequence of several factors:
• the limited time availability/allocation for
tutorial work with students, particularly
for the sorts of developmental
relationships highlighted by the
mentoring definitions cited above and to
the value placed upon such activity
suggested by this;
• possible tensions within what might be
termed solutions-focussed’ and
‘relationship-focussed’ approaches, and
between taking a less-directive
approach as suggested by some of the
literature and within some illustrations,
and such institutional/departmental
agenda as student retention and
student anxieties related to academic
performance and achievement, or to the
necessity to demonstrate competency
on programmes which require ‘fitness to
practice’ and lead to professional
recognition. In the latter contexts in
particular mentoring and supervision
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