Departmental Custom and Practice
Many departments ask
their personal tutors to undertake specific tasks that help them to get
to know their tutees. Some, for example, have an arrangement whereby
all marked coursework is returned to students via personal tutors, a
system that both informs tutors of their tutees’ academic progress and
provides a structure for maintaining regular contact. Some tutors are
asked to advise their tutees on the specific requirements of
coursework, and perhaps to mark and comment on an initial piece of
written work. Others assist their tutees to produce a CV,
self-reference or record of progress and achievement. Such exercises
are not only valuable for students but provide tutors with much useful
information on their tutees.
There are also
strategies for groupwork. These may be one-off briefing sessions (such
as an introduction to the library or induction in university study
methods), or regular group tutorials. A core programme is usually drawn
up for these group sessions, but with space also for personal tutors to
pursue their own agenda. See the appropriate page in this section for some suggestions.
In some departments, tutors meet their tutees socially as a group at the beginning of the course with a small entertainment allowance available to assist this process.
All these activities help to emphasise the proactive nature of the personal tutor’s role and the responsibility tutors have for all their tutees, not just those who come to them for help. Students succeed best in a supportive environment in which they are helped to realise their full potential, not merely left to sink or swim. We all thrive on recognition and encouragement and an important part of the personal tutor’s role is to be aware of and to acknowledge students’ efforts and achievements, to help them build on success and to aspire to higher goals.
The purposes of personal tutoring can be fulfilled with variations on the main theme. Departments and individual tutors have developed modes of implementation and documentary guidance over years of practice, some of which can be viewed via the link below:
It is intended that this set of exemplars be a growing resource, owned and developed by the community of personal tutors across the institution, so that we might develop practice in a collegial process. Additions to this resource set are sought from faculties and departments not represented here. Please use the 'Contact Us' link in the right hand column of this page to discuss a possible contribution and/or related matters.
Page last modified on 03 jan 13 13:46
