Contextual Background:
We have a very diverse cohort of students (Year 1 undergraduates) and therefore a wide range of different student needs; neurodiverse students, students with physical disability, students with mental health concerns, students who need to work to financially support themselves, and students with differing language levels. Often students cover several of these categories so there is a need to tailor the support we offer to each individual student.
Evaluation:
As all these needs can intersect, the role of tutor can become one of ‘triaging’ the students who have joined the course:
- On my course, all students are assigned a Personal Tutor – this is one of the core tutors they see each week so that a level of familiarity and trust can build up. ‘Personal Tutoring is broadly defined as activities where staff work in partnership with students to provide support, advice and guidance.’ (Barton, 2023)
- There is a mandatory, in person, tutorial within the first six weeks of the course. These are used to get to know the students and flag any needs/signpost students to support.
- All staff follow the same set of questions so that we know all bases are covered (Appendix 1). These questions include the chance for students to disclose any extra information regarding disabilities/learning differences, as well as for staff to signpost students towards things like Academic Support, registering for a GP and council tax exemption letters. The session ends by asking what they think their strengths are – this is useful in developing a level of trust that means you get to see a bit of the individual student’s personality.
Moving forwards:
triage
noun:
- the preliminary assessment of patients or casualties in order to determine the urgency of their need for treatment and the nature of treatment required.
In the context of higher education, the patients become ‘students’ and treatment becomes ‘support’, therefore I offer this new definition:
The preliminary assessment of students in order to determine the urgency of their need for support and the nature of the support required.
I have been using this definition casually for several years, but when researching the idea of ‘triaging’ students, I came across the term used officially at another higher education institution. At UCL there is a tool called ‘STaRT’ (Student Triage and Referral Tool) this is described as a ‘one-stop shop for getting information on various issues that students may face and listing the right support for them.’ (UCL, 2026)
The key point here is the ‘various issues’ students face and the fact that this tool is designed so that a ‘staff member can select [the] most appropriate options and make their way through the tool without needing any prior knowledge about various support services UCL provides.’ (UCL, 2026)
This contrasts dramatically with how student support is offered in my role as a Personal Tutor. At UAL, it seems as though the system relies heavily on staff members knowledge of the different support services. As a team we have tried to mitigate this through developing the list of questions from the initial tutorials I mentioned earlier. However, this only helps with the second part my definition – the nature of the support.
The big gap I am finding is in the ‘urgency of their need for support’. Additions we did this year that have improved things:
- Direct referral to Disability Advisor – meant ISA turn around was much quicker. Also broke down barrier for neurodiverse students who find forms difficult and don’t respond to emails in a timely manner.
Things to do for next year:
- Meeting with Academic Support to set up direct referrals in a similar way to working with Disability.
- Direct referrals to Student Health – this is something we did for one student and would be good to make staff aware this is an option.
- Language mentors – we have weekly language sessions, however following the same idea of targeted referrals for Disability and Academic Support, we are working on the possibility of 1:1 language mentors.
Referneces:
BARTON, D (2023). An Investigation Into Personal Tutoring: Staff Perceptions, Open University (United Kingdom).
UCL (2026). Student Triage and Referral Tool (Staff Access Only). Available at: https://report-support.ucl.ac.uk/support/student-triage-and-referral-tool-staff-access-only. (Accessed 9th March 2026).
Appendix 1 – BA FDT WW Yr1 Pastoral Tutorial Questions 25-26.
[Further reading that informed my thought process but was not directly quoted in Case Study 1.]
Lochtie, D, McIntosh, E, Stork, A and Walker, B (2018). Effective Personal Tutoring in higher education. St Albans: Critical Publishing.
WOLBRING, G and NASIR, L (2024). Intersectionality of Disabled People through a Disability Studies, Ability-Based Studies, and Intersectional Pedagogy. Lens: A Survey and a Scoping Review. Societies, 14(9), pp. 176.
CRENSHAW, K (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersctionality, Identiy Politics, and Violence against Women of Colour. Stanford Law Review Vol. 43, No. 6. Journal Article (pp1241-1299).
GILL, V.S (2021). Intersectional Pedagogy: Doing Space and Soul Work in the Community, Classroom, and Curriculum, University of Pennsylvania.
UAL (2026). Item 04.1_a_Education Strategy – draft.pdf. Available at: https://artslondon.sharepoint.com/sites/CanvasContent/Documents/Committees/Academic%20Board/2025-26/02_12%20March%202026/Item%2004.1_a_Education%20Strategy%20-%20draft.pdf. (Accessed 11th March 2026).
UAL (2026). Student Support Canvas Page. Available at: https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/sites/explore/sitepage/238201/student-support#Wellbeingforstudents. (Accessed 8th March 2026).
POPO-WILLIAMS, S (2025). UAL Introduction to Student Services – Working together to support students. Available at:https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/documents/sppreview/8e4858bd-8115-4fe2-9762-b3cea1c739ee. (Accessed 8th March 2026).