UKAT recognise that personal tutoring/academic advising personalises learning, promotes student persistence, enhances success, and helps address differential attainment, supporting a student’s academic progress and personal development throughout their University career. It is important for tutors/advisors to feel valued and recognised for this role, and the UKAT Professional Recognition Scheme does this. It gives institutions a measurable way to evidence the valuable and effective work of tutors and advisors’ in supporting student success and personalising learning.
The UKAT Professional Recognition scheme has been developed collaboratively with UKAT member institutions and piloted across 11 institutions including Teesside University. Referenced against the UKAT Professional Framework for Advising and Tutoring, the scheme evidences the competencies and skills that tutors/advisors need to deliver effective, quality-enhanced approaches to student success. It encourages staff to develop a reflective approach to the continual enhancement of their advising and tutoring practice informed by scholarship within the field.
The aim of the UKAT Professional Recognition Scheme is to give greater recognition to tutors and advisors, and the contribution that personal tutoring/academic advising make to student persistence and success. The scheme is akin to the Advance HE HEA Fellowship scheme but focused exclusively on personal tutoring and academic advising. It awards formal recognition to applicants at one of three levels based on the submission of a reflective portfolio of evidence of their practice:
Recognised Practitioner in Advising
Recognised Senior Advisor
Recognised Leader in Advising
As noted above Teesside University is part of the pilot (in operation since January 2020) and ten of our colleagues volunteered to apply for recognition. There are two submission opportunities for the pilot cohorts and following the first submission opportunity Teesside University has the following successes:
Joanne Irving-Walton awarded Recognised Senior Advisor
Dr Helen Tidy awarded Recognised Senior Advisor
Nicola Poppitt awarded Recognised Leader in Advising
Further details about the UKAT Professional Recognition Scheme can be found here: https://www.ukat.uk/professional-development/professional-recognition/.
It is anticipated that recognition awarded through the scheme will provide a useful way to demonstrate student support and the personalisation of learning to evidence claims made in TEF submissions and Access and Participation Plans.
Teesside University intends to support colleagues in seeking recognition through this Professional Recognition Scheme and more details will follow.