Teaching Beyond the Curriculum

Abstract

This research project explored support available, via the Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) system, to a cohort of applied, work-based undergraduate students within a United Kingdom (UK) Post 92 university. Post 92 universities, within the UK, were existing educational institutions given university status through the Further and Higher Education Act (1992). Students studying on the work-based courses are predominantly female fitting the UCAS (2023) definition of a mature student. They regularly achieve higher outcomes compared to younger students (OFS, 2021) and have few retention or continuation issues, but struggle to achieve a sense of belonging within the wider university. The students embark on their Higher Education learning journey with anxieties related to past educational experiences and undiagnosed learning difficulties and needs.   One hundred and fifty-two students completed an online questionnaire distributed to seek their understanding of the PAT system and available support. Seven student researchers were recruited to conduct student focus groups within the cohort. Thirty-nine students took part in nine focus groups. Five semi-structured interviews took place with members of staff who had PAT responsibility with the students. Findings revealed, staff felt they were ‘firefighting’ and as such took a pragmatic approach to the role, resulting in “those students with the highest levels of need and the loudest voices” receiving support. This pragmatic approach became a barrier to students accessing support as there was no relationship building between the member of staff and the student. Students considered relationship building as fundamental for accessing support and approaching the PAT.