Advance HE recently published the outcomes of their 2022 UK Engagement Survey. One of their key findings was that ‘less than 50% of students – across all subjects – reported frequently interacting with staff members’ and they conclude that ‘further opportunities for students and staff to interaction with one another could be explored’ (p.13).
Here at Kortext, we are strong believers in the power of conversation. In fact, our whole approach to the use of student engagement data to help support student learning and successful outcomes is predicated on staff-student conversations. As David Grey, CEO of UK Advising and Tutoring (UKAT) said in his foreword to our recently published guide to using data for personal tutoring and pastoral support:
The indicators from HE learning analytics systems may suggest that something is not going well for a student, and even suggest behavioural changes that might enhance academic outcomes for them. But what these indicators cannot tell us is why something is going wrong for that student. That requires a PAT or other concerned individual to have a conversation with the student to skilfully tease out any underlying issues … before offering guidance and connecting the student to specialised sources of support.
Generating impact starts with individual students
UK HE is shaped by the need for universities to respond to requirements such as the Office for Students regulatory framework Condition B3 to ‘deliver successful outcomes for all of its students’. Within this framework, knowing which students might be struggling and in need of support become key to delivering those successful outcomes, particularly in a time of flat fees and stretched resources. Impacting key institutional metrics around attainment, progression and continuation occurs one student at a time.
The StREAM platform takes near real-time data collated by universities from systems that reflect student learning in educationally purposeful activities. This data is fed into StREAM and then used to determine how well a student is engaging with their studies. At this point, academic personal tutors and other pastoral support staff have a clearer indication of which individual students might need support ‘today’.
And so, we’re back to the power of a conversation. Ultimately the ‘success’ of a university is conditional upon the success of each of its composite parts – in this case, the individual students enrolled at that institution. We’ve already identified the importance of knowing where to target finite resources in terms of which students need support. However, the engagement insights within StREAM can also support budget allocations to ensure that those support teams that are most in demand are adequately resourced to meet demand.
The ecosystem of student support
Both those initial conversations with students in need of support, and the provision of any subsequent support to those students require universities to proactively build relationships with their students, to genuinely care and to work with students to help them access the right support at the right time and in a manner that works for them. Ultimately, all these activities are part and parcel of an ecosystem of student support designed to help students feel like they belong at university and therefore better able to engage in their studies and succeed.
Anyone who has worked within HE for any length of time will know that this ecosystem of student support is in a constant state of flux. The overarching need for human interaction, for opportunities to build interpersonal relationships and to access relevant information, advice and guidance remains constant. The specifics of those relationships and the consequent information, advice and guidance however, change as society and those within it adapt and evolve over time. For new things to grow and flourish, other things must give way and decline.
During 2022, WonkHE and Pearson published the findings of a year-long look at student belonging at university. One of the barriers to belonging identified by the study was that structural and cultural issues prevent good practice. Despite little evidence that staff were not willing to engage in behaviours to support student belonging, there was a sense of confusion in terms of responsibilities and remit.
How building interpersonal relationships can help remove barriers to support
When working with clients to deploy StREAM, we are keen to emphasise the critical nature of the associated business processes, policy and practice for a deep and sustained embedding of StREAM across all areas of student support to occur. Working together with those staff directly involved in student learning and support activity, we configure StREAM to ensure that pastoral responsibility for students is clearly defined through determining which staff have visibility of which students and that they are easily able to signpost or refer students to the right support from within StREAM in line with the university student support ecosystem. By removing some of these structural barriers that can inhibit easy access to support, staff are better able to concentrate on building relationships with their students and tutees, to hold deeper and richer conversations and support the students they have been given institutional responsibility for, to succeed.
