RAPPORT
WWW.RECORDINGACHIEVEMENT.AC.UK
Issue 1 (2017)
students come with particular ‘baggage’ (e.g.
multiple roles and responsibilities they have to
juggle alongside their studies). Teaching
excellence in such institutions involves facing
challenges that require creativity and dedication
on the part of the staff; the latter is not often
captured in typical measures of teaching quality.
For example, students who lack certain key skills
(e.g. IT or writing skills) because they have been
away from education for some time are accepted
on four-year courses where they spend the first
year (‘foundation year’) catching up or brushing
up on their rusty academic skills, and most
important, building up self-confidence. Some
students may interrupt their studies and take
longer to complete their degrees. Personal tutors
and other academic staff need to listen to their
problems and provide high quality advice to help
these students make the decisions that are best
for them.
Diversity in HE, according to Gunn and Fisk
(2013), is a consequence of the external
pressures institutions are under to become a
certain type of institution (e.g. research intensive
comprehensive, research-intensive specialist,
teaching oriented with pockets of research
excellence, teaching oriented), as well as the
presence of different disciplines and the
increasing complexity and diversification of
academic roles with different orientations to
learning. The roles