Hartpury Personal Tutoring

Hartpury Personal Tutoring is an inductive longitudinal case study project exploring how the role of the personal tutor can be further enhanced to support the student experience and contribute to the development of the institutional employability initiative ‘Hartpury Advantage’. The project aimed to create an informal and supportive communication network for tutors, mentors and students utilizing a community of practice approach & engaging students as partners in the process. Hartpury is a niche institution heading towards Taught Degree Awarding Powers, with a personal approach at the heart of its culture and strategy. Supporting academic tutors to signpost and facilitate student personal development and learning in collaboration with our wider employability and academic support services is seen as a vital part of the institutional vision and key to building its reputation for teaching excellence and its successful transfer to the university sector (Douglas et al, 2015; El-Hilai, Al-Jaber and Husseini, 2015). Findings from an initial student focus group suggested a desire for available & approachable tutors with whom an effective professional working relationship is established, lasting the duration of the programme of study similar to the work of McFarlane (2016) and Thomas (2012). HE sector best practice was consulted through literature review and conference proceedings, which subsequently fed academic staff consultation and further student focus groups. A personal tutoring policy and support package has since been developed for tutors, including a structured framework, peer mentor group and interactive online platform for sharing good practice. This conference workshop seeks to share up to date findings and progress with this ongoing case study narrative and to gather further feedback with a view to launching the new Hartpury Personal Tutor package across its Higher Education provision in September 2017.