Structuring Academic Personal Tutoring in Economics: A two-pronged approach

Introduction

The United Kingdom Advising and Tutoring Association (UKAT) defines the ‘job’ of an academic personal tutor (APT) as a complex interrelated role encompassing a broad range of skill sets and specialised knowledge (UKAT, 2023). The UKAT professional framework adds to this complexity by stating that APTs should adopt a consistent approach that is “empathetic, inclusive, collaborative, student-centred, developmental, authentic, evidence-informed, and committed” (UKAT, 2023). Many studies in the UK have drawn parallels between poor student satisfaction scores in the National Student Survey (NSS) – an annual survey of final year students’ opinions on course quality and satisfaction – and the quality and consistency of personal tutor support available (Calabrese et al., 2022; Partington, 2020; Wakelin, 2023).

The role of the APT is increasingly complex and there are wide variations in approach across, and within departments. It is in this context, that we introduced a two-pronged personal tutoring framework, aimed at standardising the tutoring practices within the Department of Economics at the University of Exeter.

Personal Tutoring Practice in Economics

Early in the academic year, the senior tutor in Economics and the Head of Department allocate students (tutees) to colleagues (APTs) based on various underlying criteria, such as degree programme and/or year of study. Given student numbers, this equates to approximately 30-35 tutees per staff member. These tutees are allocated to the same APT for the entire length of their academic degree unless those academics leave or go on sabbatical.

In the Economics department, we reframed the APT practice from the 2021-22 academic year with a view to standardise and provide consistent pastoral care for students. In Figure 1 below, we illustrate this two-pronged approach to demonstrate how the different pastoral support systems work within the context of our department. For the staff members, we brought in a departmental APT handbook to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ resource on various questions, scenarios and signposting needs for tutees. For tutees (students), we started a SharePoint page collating multiple sources of additional academic and wellbeing information. These two resources, developed and monitored by the Senior APT in Economics, help to strengthen the relationships between tutors and tutees and streamline the process of personal tutoring within the department.

Figure 1: Re-framing academic personal tutoring – a two-pronged approach

A new approach to standardise practice for staff

At Exeter, most staff members appreciate that the role of the APT is part of their job. However, the high student-to-staff ratio in the department, along with significant workload pressures, severely affects the amount of time that many staff members can allocate to their APT roles.

In addition, while formal personal tutor training is offered by the university (through online training and in-person workshops), it is not compulsory and is thus often overlooked by staff who face scheduling constraints. This leads to variability in the quality of support provided to tutees. Some APTs may also be uncertain about their exact role and whether they should – or are allowed to – handle wellbeing and mental health concerns. This often leads to APTs not providing adequate support as they do not wish to ‘overstep’ in their role, and/or providing support that they are not qualified to offer.

It was clear that we needed to provide our department with more tailored support to help reduce staff workload in this area and to guide colleagues on the best way to handle standard tutee queries within the confines of their APT role.

To this end, we developed an APT handbook for staff within the Economics department. In the initial phase, we spoke with colleagues in many other universities to understand the remits of any instructions/handbooks they were provided with. After consultations, the handbook we created included a clear APT role descriptor and detailed guidelines on the responsibilities of an APT within the department. Additionally, in those conversations with external colleagues, we noticed a lack of standard answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) by tutees. As a result, in the handbook, we included an FAQs section.

Our goal in developing this resource was to provide our colleagues with a point of reference for all queries related to the APT role – we set out to ensure consistency of the tutoring approach and increase the overall quality of our academic and pastoral care for our students. Each year, the APT handbook is updated with any institutional policy changes, if needed, and the FAQ section is revised based on student queries from the previous year.

A new approach to standardise practice for students

Economics students at the University of Exeter come from many different countries and thus exhibit diverse multicultural characteristics. This could imply students have differing expectations about their university experience and other challenges and needs (Boulton, 2022; Yale, 2019).

We actively promote a sense of belonging for all our students and design and offer support that is inclusive and responsive to varied socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. While each APT can follow the handbook provided to offer bespoke support to their tutees, it is important that our students also have a forum or initial ‘port of call’ that will provide them with quick and efficient information without requiring them to search extensively for relevant webpages.

To this end, we developed an ‘Economics Department Tutee Support’ SharePoint page. All economics students are automatically signed up to this page when they start their degree. The content is updated regularly to include any information that a student might need, with clear signposting through one link that then allows them to navigate to other more detailed pages on the university website. Our students can use this page to find out more about the process of mitigation, for example, or how to write an essay in economics.

Additionally, this page lists any interesting talks hosted in the department or research assistant opportunities available. Finally, this Tutee Support SharePoint page provides a home for the departments’ optional module videos that economics students can watch to help them with their module selection in March of each year. In all correspondence, APTs first signpost this Economics Tutee Support page to their tutees to make sure that students receive the support that they need.

Impact and evaluation of the two-pronged approach

The APT handbook

To assess the impact of our staff-support initiative, we asked our fellow APTs in the department to provide us with feedback on their use of the handbook. One colleague stated:

“The handbook is an extremely valuable resource. It provides comprehensive information for assisting tutees on [a] wide range of issues. The various … templates for important communication with the tutees are so beneficial.”

Another stated:

“It was extremely informative. I felt that it guided me in the right direction for knowing what key information will be relevant for my tutees, and where I could learn further details on those issues so that I can better communicate them to the students.”.

One colleague referred to the handbook saving them valuable time by stating:

“It is great to have a resource to refer to quickly rather than having to search for ages online in [lots of] different places”.

There were also some suggestions that we have taken on board, including:

“Maybe have some more subcategories for typical questions and update it each year.”

The tutee SharePoint page

Initially, information on the tutee SharePoint page was not fully disseminated to economics students through their APTs, delaying efficient and widespread adoption. However, over time, by adding the page link to all email templates from the APTs to tutees, this page garnered significant engagement from students, with cumulatively over 2,000 views (non-unique) and multiple requests (over 40) for access from students from other disciplines. These students were interested in taking economics modules as optional courses and found the introductory videos useful for the module selection process.

This resource has evolved into a central information hub for students and offers streamlined information for all students, reducing student queries and improving communication. The positive reception of this resource at the departmental level has led to its adoption across the Business School, especially for the online module selection process, highlighting its scalability and effectiveness as a student support resource.

Conclusion

The role of the APT is becoming increasingly important in universities as the frequency of student mental health issues continues to rise, while available support resources can be limited. At Exeter’s Department of Economics, the introduction of the two-pronged APT framework has proven to be impactful. The handbook has enhanced consistency and reduced staff workload while the SharePoint information page has streamlined student access to vital resources improving engagement and communication.

Given the diverse student communities within UK universities and the call to enhance the quality and consistency of academic and pastoral support, similar structured approaches could be applied in other departments and institutions to improve the overall student experience.

References

Boulton, C. (2022). Perspectives and Practices of Personal Tutoring in Higher Education. Newcastle University https://www.ncl.ac.uk/mediav8/ltds/images/app-images-amp-files/Literature%20Review%20Perspectives%20and%20Practices%20of%20Personal%20Tutoring%20in%20Higher%20Education.pdf

Calabrese, G., Leadbitter, D.-L. M., Trindade, N. D. S. M. Da, Jeyabalan, A., Dolton, D., & ElShaer, A. (2022). Personal Tutoring Scheme: Expectations, Perceptions and Factors Affecting Students’ Engagement. Frontiers in Education, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.727410

Partington, A. (2020). Personalised Learning for the Student-Consumer. Frontiers in Education, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.529628

UKAT. (2023). The UKAT Professional Framework For Academic Advising & Personal Tutoring. https://www.ukat.ac.uk/standards/professional-framework-for-advising-and-tutoring

Wakelin, E. (2023). Personal Tutoring in Higher Education: an action research project on how to improve personal tutoring for both staff and students. Educational Action Research, 31 (5), 998–1013. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2021.2013912

Yale, A. T. (2019). The personal tutor–student relationship: student expectations and experiences of personal tutoring in higher education. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 43 (4), 533–544. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2017.1377164