Introduction

Inquire about your student’s study and wider experiences of being a student. Get to know their specific interests and needs. This will help to support their development and provide references. For example, ask: 

• How have your studies been going lately?
• What extracurricular activities have you got involved in, outside of your studies
• Have you come across any challenges that it would useful for us to talk about? 

Keep brief notes of each meeting with a student, and review past notes before each new meeting.

Personal tutors are often assigned a large number of tutees, whom you may only meet a few times a year. Refreshing your memory through your notes can improve conversations with your tutee and may come in handy if you are asked to write letters of recommendation.

Carefully and actively listen, notice potential support needs, and ask follow up questions.

• I noticed that you mentioned difficulty with this several times. How could I, or we, help you with that? 

Ask questions to promote students' self awareness, independence and progression towards their goals.

• What are you enjoying about being a student at Imperial? Why?
• What are you finding challenging?
• What new strategies for learning and studying have you developed?
• How could you approach things differently? 

Reassure your student that support is available and signpost resources and specialist advice, where appropriate. This may involve personally introducing the student to support staff, rather than assuming all students will seek help themselves. Advice and further details are available in the Wellbeing section of this Guide.

Establish and maintain connection to facilitate two-way communication and responsibility, with boundaries. Know your limits as a personal tutor and clearly communicate them.

Students should feel that you are approachable, available, interested and sufficiently informed to discuss their experiences and concerns. They should get the sense that you, and others at Imperial, care about their academic development and wellbeing. They should not expect you to be available immediately or out of work hours, nor that you can solve all of their problems. Rather you should ask questions to enable them to understand and address challenges themselves. 

You should feel that you can seek guidance from your Senior Tutor, Student Wellbeing Advisor and others with different expertise at Imperial, whilst ensuring confidentiality.

You should encourage students to take up specialist support. Follow up with them afterwards, if appropriate. 

Connect students with each other and encourage peer networks by facilitating group meetings and asking tutees whether they have sought guidance on studying and navigating academic transitions from peers. 

Your role as a personal tutor can be time consuming and emotionally demanding. Talk over your experiences with staff who also provide pastoral support (bearing in mind confidentiality) and get support after particularly difficult conversations from your Senior Tutor and other support networks at Imperial.