Written records and confidentiality

It is helpful to take a few minutes at the end of any tutorial to review what has been discussed and confirm any actions that have been agreed. For example, a student might have decided to focus on improving essay-writing skills, or to keep a diary for a week to help with time-management.  Encourage students to keep their own written notes of the summary and agreed action points. This helps them to take ownership of any decisions and to act on them, rather than perpetuating a more passive ‘parent/child’ relationship in which you are expected to sort out any problems for them.  Here is  a Sample Tutorial-Record-Form  designed to help students prepare for tutorials and record agreed action points.  A variation suitable for first meetings includes some additional prompts that may be useful. Tutorial-Record-Form First Meeting

In addition, the PAT Policy also requires tutors to keep “short, succinct, factual records [which] should be disclosed when requested by the student or for other purposes deemed relevant by the University which form the wider record of student support.” From October 2023 this process is now supported by a new PAT Interaction Tool . This provides a course database for recording PAT interactions to aid with tracking of student engagement, promote continuation and progression and provide early identification of students who need additional support. It is very easy to use, and guidance on how to do this can be found at the Policies & Guides page of this site.

Keeping records raises the question of confidentiality – how confidential are personal tutorials expected to be? Students need to be reassured that the details of their tutorials remain confidential, and information will only be disclosed with consent or where disclosure can be justified (e.g. prevention of serious harm), as per the University of Brighton Cause for Concern Procedures.

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