Having co-authored Effective Personal Tutoring in Higher Education which detailed what we thought was happening in the sector at that point, what I personally found exciting about co-editing (with Andy Stork and Ben Walker, two of my previous co-authors) The Personal Tutor’s and Advisor’s Companion was that it details what is happening in the sector right now – at a very interesting time for higher education. As a previous Critical Blog has explored, COVID-19 has had a profound impact on our institutions so the exposition and examination of advising and tutoring these 25 case studies offer is needed now more than ever.  The opportunity to gather these examples of excellence and innovation from across the sector, at this particular point in history, was a genuine privilege to be involved with.

Our team of 50 authors come from a wide range of academic and professional service roles, even including some recent graduates, drawing upon their own student voice and experience.  The institutions they write about are similarly varied coming from across the UK and featuring red brick universities, post-1992 institutions and lots in between. The case studies are presented in a variety of forms from scholarly enquiry and action research to personal stories of practice.

My favourite part of editing this book involved conducting a thematic analysis of the case studies we received.  You could be forgiven for feeling that advising and tutoring is perennially ‘under-review’ as reflected by the fact that nine of our case studies detail accounts of institutional review and implementation. The exact nature and outcomes of those reviews offer a detailed snapshot of contemporary student support in the sector. 

Four of our case studies show differentiation by individual student needs – including via coaching and methods such as Social Identity Mapping. Six feature differentiation by subject area asserting that no ‘one size fits all’ and identifying the specific needs of, say, STEM students and then later, Arts and Humanities students. 

Six of our case studies consider differentiation by student population for varying categories of students who may be considered as ‘at risk’ (whilst discussing the challenges and limitations of such a term). Nine case studies provide a range of views on an expert versus generalist debate… showing examples of how both specialist advisors and personal tutors, as part of a balanced teaching and research workload, can improve the student experience. Nine case studies discuss student involvement and co-creation so detail the voice and needs of contemporary students, which is surely more important now than ever?

With such diversity across our case studies and the wider sector, can we truly learn from examples of good practice elsewhere? I believe so. I believe our institutions have more in common than they do in contrast.  Alongside the smorgasbord of various student support solutions featured in the book I recommend seeking common principles.

The need to develop a sense of wellbeing among students features in ten case studies, with notions of student engagement, pastoral support, well-being and transition featured in 22 case studies combined. Through all of our differences what we have in common is having students at our core.

There is no ‘one student experience’ at any of these institutions but our case studies show how we are all working towards consistency in structure where it is possible and beneficial.

It is our ambition for advising and tutoring to build towards a body of literature (and associated development) on a par with the wealth of such which exists for teaching and in full coordination with developments in wider student development theory. We feel this book is a significant step towards that and very much hope that you get as much from reading these examples of good practice from across the sector as we did in editing them.

Dave Lochtie, Andy Stork and Ben Walker