The LEARN Network, a community of bereaved families of student suicide, want to establish a statutory duty of care for the wellbeing of students during their time at university as part of the #ForThe100 campaign. With their petition reaching 128,292 signatures it was set to be debated on the 5th June 2023 and the Westminster Hall debate saw cross-party support for introducing a statutory duty of care for university students, although unfortunately, the outcome was that they would not bring in a statutory duty of care at this current point in time.
Confusion around care
While there is a continuing effort towards getting all universities signed up to the University Mental Health Charter, the resounding message raised by several MPs at the debate was that there remains confusion around a statutory duty of care over students’ wellbeing and what exists in legislation.
Duty of Care refers to the legal obligation that universities in the United Kingdom have towards their students. It encompasses the responsibility of universities to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety, well-being, and welfare of their students while they are under the care and control of the institution. Currently, duty of care is not mandatory, and universities are not expected to guarantee the safety of their students in all circumstances. Rather, they are required to take reasonable measures to protect their students from foreseeable harm.
Why is student support so important?
The Cibyl Mental Health Research Study found that as many as 4 in 5 students are impacted by mental health difficulties. According to the OfS, factors that may increase student mental distress include difficulties with academic studies, financial concerns, key transition periods, as well as broader social and cultural pressures.
The long-lasting impact of the pandemic has made it increasingly difficult for universities to know how every individual student is doing at any given time. Today’s hybrid learning and teaching approach, presents fewer opportunities to meet with students in person and initiate conversations that are so important for raising concerns and offering personalised support, advice and guidance at a time when students need it most.
Robert Halfron MP, Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships & Higher Education’s letter in response to the Duty of Care and Mental Health Support in Higher Education petition highlights several ways universities can improve their support to students including the creation of a new Student Mental Health task force. Chaired by the government appointed Student Support Champion Professor Edward Peck, Vice Chancellor at Nottingham Trent University and working with the LEARN network 3 key areas for improvement have been identified, including; a plan for better identification of students who need support, including through use of student engagement data analytics.
Engagement Analytics as a tool to support student mental health and wellbeing initiatives
‘Impact on wellbeing can draw a student’s attention away from their academic studies or reduce their ability to engage’ – Advance HE, Education for Mental Health Toolkit – Re-engaging the disengaged.
Picking up on when students start to disengage provides an opportunity for early intervention that could be critical to a student dealing with a mental health or wellbeing crisis. Engagement analytics provide a unique way to visualise student engagement and alert to changes in behaviour that could be related to a struggling student.
This richer picture of the individual student is allowing universities to better understand and redesign student support to address critical points in the student learning journey. Perhaps the most effective use of data in this way is spotting signs of disengagement much earlier, meaning staff can be more proactive, start conversations to better understand what’s causing the impact to engagement and get upstream of crises.
Spotting early warning signs
Research from our clients show students who are disengaging with their studies can be identified early – sometimes after as little as two weeks after starting university, based on their level of interaction with core digital learning systems. Maximising the ‘window of opportunity’ within which a need can be identified, and supportive action initiated is critical to addressing and mitigating against factors that might otherwise cause a student to disengage.
We believe early intervention is key, it shows to the student that their engagement is noticed, that their individual situation is a concern to the university and ultimately that they are cared for. This level of support is also directly impacting student retention initiatives, students who have a positive sense of mental health and wellbeing will be less likely to drop out of university and will typically be more engaged in their studies.
By using our Student Engagement Analytics platform, StREAM, the University of Essex was able to support students with very low engagement at week six of the Autumn term to reach their full potential. The outcome was that in 2018-19, 88% of students with very low engagement had withdrawn by the academic year. In 2021-22 this had reduced to approximately 20%.
Supporting staff and students
At Nottingham Trent University (NTU) they use StREAM to identify students ‘at risk’ via automated alerts within STREAM as a trigger to inform staff that a student would benefit from some form of action. These processes mean that students who are increasingly at risk are identified early, meaning staff can focus their limited resources and time to reach out to these students to deliver proactive support.
Alerts about individual students who display a change in engagement behaviour is a powerful early warning. In the first instance, the alert may consist of a simple message to the tutor or student to make some form of initial awareness of a change in engagement and to offer of support or signposting. If the trend continues, more one-to-one intervention strategies, conversations and referrals to specialist services can be put in place.
At NTU, automated alerts were sent out to students after 10 days of no activity (first years) or 14 days of no activity (other years). Students were offered a coaching call to support their re-engagement. If a second alert is generated, the calling team will once again seek to contact the student, but once a third alert is raised, it was agreed that this required intervention from more senior colleagues on the course. During the academic year 2020/21, 4000 support calls were generated.
An NTU student said in response to this outreach: “Despite everything happening in the world, I wasn’t forgotten about or abandoned by uni.’ The call… motivated me to start getting back into my studies.”
A commitment to change
We recognise that technology is only part of the complex and sensitive strategy needed when it comes to providing a duty of care to students, but it is without doubt that engagement analytics provide universities with some very powerful insights into student behaviours that can enable supportive action to be taken long before a problem escalates into a crisis. By spotting warning signs early, educators and support systems can intervene to promote positive mental health, foster a supportive environment, and enable students to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
The recent debate in Government is recognition that the level of care a university provides to students requires further discussion, innovation and focus. We’re committed to further exploring how engagement insights can help identify and focus support initiatives to students with mental health and wellbeing concerns and will continue to champion better use of data to provide more personalised and proactive support to ensure every individual student reaches their full potential.
