A massive thank you to everyone who came along to our latest Reading Club on Wednesday 12th March. It was fantastic to spend the evening discussing the important ideas and approaches discussed in the paper, Bridging the gap: a new approach to student academic support at the University of Exeter. It was also great to be joined by Jess Johnson, Hannah Jordan and Hannah Lyons from the author team, who were kind enough to join in our discussions and field our questions!
One of our first discussion points was around the challenges of creating a joined-up approach between the new Pastoral Mentors and existing teams within the university. Jess, Hannah and Hannah shared their experiences of the need to take a really positive approach to overcome any hesitancy or resistance from other teams. They also highlighted the importance of open and regular communications with other teams to ensure information and signposting could be shared with students quickly and effectively to ensure they get the support needed efficiently.
As always when those interested in learning development get together, we quickly asked about the extent to which the Pastoral Mentors engaged in direct teaching and what format that teaching took! It was interesting to hear that such direct teaching support is considered case-by-case, but that generally the Pastoral Mentors don’t deliver specific content (which is left to existing support services and colleagues). Where ‘teaching’ to individual students does take place, it was outlined that this was done in a one-to-one basis, but the focus for Pastoral Mentors always remains on wellbeing.
We also discussed evaluation of the new approach taken at Exeter. Jess, Hannah and Hannah explained that they had explored the impact of their pilot through a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches. This included interviews with staff, and revealed a reduction in withdrawal rates and an increased in NSS scores in the themes of Communication and Wellbeing Services. Going forward, it was exciting to hear that the team had secured TASO funding for an independent IPSOS evaluation that will also explore the project qualitatively and quantitatively.
Looking forward, we collectively wondered if the example of Exeter’s Pastoral Mentors, alongside other examples, might herald the emergence of a new family of job roles in HE.
The next Reading Club will take place on Wednesday 14th May (17:30-18:30)
Please book a free ticket via the ALDinHE website. You will be notified in advance of the meeting with a selection of JLDHE articles for you to choose from. We will then confirm the piece with the most votes. The Zoom link, to access the meeting, is provided via your ticket.