New students will be allocated a Personal Academic Tutor at the start of their course, and your School Guidelines will describe the expected arrangements for initial meetings (for instance, a timetabled group or individual tutorial as part of the induction process).  You should also receive information in advance about any students who may have special communication needs (eg hearing difficulties or vision impairment, or English as a second language) so you can anticipate alternative approaches..

This first meeting is primarily intended for you and the students to introduce yourselves and to set the scene for future meetings. Take a look at the Success for All page for some suggestions about building a welcoming environment .You may also find some of these QAA resources useful  Supporting Successful Student Transitions to University 

Names

One crucially important but often overlooked aspect is taking the time to learn and remember the preferred pronunciation of everybody’s name.  Your own background and culture may make you more familiar with some names than others, but don’t assume or imply that only some names are problematic. Instead, we should encourage all staff and students to use tools such as www.name-coach.com to quickly create a digital NameBadge with a voice recording of their name (plus preferred pronouns and other details if they wish) which can be shared in online profiles and email signatures. If done as part of the course induction process, you can start to familiarise yourself with your tutees in advance of your first meeting. If not, you could take a few minutes to do this with them when you first get together, or email them beforehand with a link to this Guide: How to Make an Audio Name Badge  (having added your own name badge to your email signature). This draws on findings from the Say My Name research project funded by the British Academy, as does the companion Top 10 Tips on Saying Students’ Names Right: Here is what to do (and what not do do!).

Student Experiences

Students arrive at university with widely different attitudes and expectations. They may have succeeded easily at school or college, and then find it hard to adapt to the more independent atmosphere of university. Alternatively, they may have experienced academic failures in the past and struggle with low self-confidence.

A surprising number, especially in the early months, will assume that everyone else is coping well and that any difficulties they experience must mean they are on the wrong course or even unsuited to higher education as a whole. As a tutor, you have the opportunity to put these anxieties into perspective and guide your students through any initial difficulties.  You can help to establish realistic expectations, encourage effective study patterns, and generally contribute to a more fulfilled student experience.

An initial group tutorial is a useful way to help new students to explore and share any questions and anxieties.  Here are some ideas:

• You could ask the students to talk in pairs for a few minutes about their expectations of the course, and list any questions about the course or starting university. Pairs can join up into small groups to compare their lists, followed by the group as a whole sharing ideas on how to resolve any common issues. This reassures them that they aren’t alone in their concerns, and that their fellow students will be a source of support.
• Encourage them to recall previous experiences of transitions (such as starting secondary school or a new job) and the kinds of strategies that were most successful in helping them to settle in.
• Answer any direct questions about the course, but remember they may already be feeling overwhelmed with information at this stage, so don’t overdo it.

If for any reason an initial group tutorial is not timetabled, then send a welcome message to each one of your tutees, introducing yourself and inviting them to come and see you individually. Let them know where and when they can find you, whether you offer regular ‘drop-in’ sessions and how they should sign up for an appointment.

The first scheduled individual tutorial meeting will usually take place later in the first semester (refer to your School guidance for more details). This is important to help establish a comfortable working relationship, and clarify the overall purposes of the tutorial system. Students should be aware that you are not just here to help with problems, but to offer support for their overall academic and personal development.

It is useful for you and the student to discuss and agree any points for future action, and to note these down. (You can find a sample form for this in the section on Written records and confidentiality ) A variation suitable for first meetings includes some additional prompts that may be useful. Tutorial-Record-Form First Meeting

Location of tutorials

If students need to talk freely about confidential matters, they need to know whether they have five minutes or half an hour, and that they won’t be overheard.  If you share an office with colleagues, you may need to find somewhere else to hold tutorials. In your own room, you could use a sign on the door to deter interruptions. Online tutorials became the norm during the Covid pandemic and can work very well, but be aware that students living with other people may not have sufficient privacy to feel comfortable discussing some issues. There are some suggestions for managing this on the Online Tutoring page

If you have any concerns or queries about arrangements for tutorials, discuss them with the School Student Engagement Lead or other colleagues to help you identify practical solutions.

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