The final professional dialogue
Guidance for mentors & assessors (D1 – D3).
The final meeting for those undertaking the dialogic route to Fellowship takes the form of a professional dialogue. This is designed to explore how claimants meet the criteria against the relevant descriptor of the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF), through a formal conversation and the evidence they have provided in their Mahara e-Portfolio.
A note about ‘dialogue’
Assessors should remember that the dialogue should be exactly that, a dialogue. It should not be a long presentation or monologue and nor should it be a series of interview style questions. Claimants should be put at ease and reminded that they are amongst peers to have a conversation about their practice in a supportive and developmental way.
Attendance at the dialogue is as follows:
· AFHEA: claimant and two independent assessors, who have achieved AFHEA, FHEA, SFHEA, or PFHEA
· FHEA: claimant and two independent assessors, who have achieved FHEA, SFHEA, or PFHEA
· SFHEA: claimant and three independent assessors, at least two of whom will have achieved SFHEA or PFHEA
Timings
The process is likely to vary in terms of duration for the different levels of Fellowship. You will have to make a judgement whilst in the dialogue but if you feel that the claimant has been given the opportunity to discuss their evidence against the descriptor and the conversation has ‘dried up’, there is no need to prolong the dialogue. The important thing is to give the claimant the opportunity to explore their evidence fully and to ask questions where you feel they may need to explore in a little more detail. The table below outlines the typical times against descriptors 1-3.
Descriptor / Typical TimeD1 – Associate Fellow / 30-40 minutes
D2 - Fellow / 40-50 minutes
D3 – Senior Fellow / 50-60 minutes
All dialogues should be audio recorded for moderation purposes to ensure the quality of the process. As assessors, you can arrange access the digital recorder by emailing . You are welcome to use your own equipment but will be expected to provide a digital file of the recording to the Academic Development Co-ordinator after the dialogue.
Claimants are required to share their Mahara e-Portfolio with assessors one week before their dialogue. They are also asked to provide references for assessors to read prior to the dialogue. These should be emailed to and may also, if the claimant chooses, be emailed directly to the assessors and / or added to their Mahara e-Portfolio.
Good practice guidelines
Before the dialogue
Assessors should:
1. Read the claimant’s Mahara e-Portfolio. Claimants are asked to give assessors access to their e-Portfolios one week before their dialogue. If they fail to do so, assessors should contact the claimant directly to request access; if no response is received, they should inform Mark Dransfield:
2. Read the claimant’s two references. These will be emailed to you before the dialogue (either by the ADD, the claimant, or both).
3. Have a brief discussion with co-assessor(s) about the application, about how they will conduct the dialogue and about who will lead the dialogue.[1]
4. On the day of the dialogue, if required, collect the audio recording equipment from ADD (HG 217). If you have not used the equipment before, colleagues in ADD can provide a demonstration.
Mentors should:
· Remind themselves of the content of the claimant’s Mahara e-Portfolio.
During the dialogue
Assessors should:
1. Try to put the claimant at ease by:
a. Introducing everyone in the room
b. Explaining what is about to happen and the purpose of the recording equipment
c. Asking an initial question that enables the claimant to talk about themselves. Something along the lines of: “I wonder if you could start by telling us a little bit about yourself and how you have ended up in your current role? Feel free to make reference to anything relevant in your e-Portfolio in your answer.”
2. Audio record the session.
3. Explore, through a formal conversation which makes frequent reference to the claimant’s Mahara e-Portfolio, how the claimant meets the criteria of the UKPSF appropriate to the relevant Descriptor. It is important to encourage the claimant to make explicit reference to the UKPSF during the dialogue.
4. Bear in mind that an hour is allocated to each dialogue, but you may use reasonable judgement to decide whether, for dialogues for AFHEA and FHEA, the dialogue may be concluded sooner (dialogues for SFHEA are expected to last the full hour). It may be that 30 minutes is sufficient for an AFHEA dialogue, and 50 minutes for an FHEA dialogue. These are guidelines, however, and you have the full hour at your disposal and should use as much of it as is required to fully explore the candidate’s evidence. Candidates will be informed in training that their dialogues may last up to one hour.
Concluding the dialogue
The conclusion of the dialogue should take the form of a question asking whether the candidate feels that they have had the opportunity to explore their evidence in full. Something along the lines of,
“We’re coming towards the end of the formal dialogue now, is there anything else you would like share with us before we formally conclude?”
When the panel is satisfied that the claimant has had the opportunity to explore their e-Portfolio of evidence in detail and has answered any questions, thank them for their engagement with the process and tell them that they will be notified of the outcome within a week via an email containing the panel’s written feedback.
After the dialogue
The following information provides some guidance about what should be done by assessors and mentors after the final dialogue.
Assessors should:
Immediately
1. Discuss the effectiveness of the dialogue in supporting the e-Portfolio of evidence. Refer to the relevant descriptor in making a group decision about whether or not to support or refer the claim.
2. Agree on whose responsibility it will be to collate and type up the panel’s feedback using the Dialogue and Feedback proforma, which will be sent to you in advance of the dialogue. Note, the panel only needs to complete one Dialogue and Feedback proforma, not one for each assessor.
3. Return the audio recording equipment to colleagues in ADD.
Within one week
4. The person responsible for completing the dialogue proforma should circulate a draft copy of the feedback for the approval of the other panel members. It is good practice within your feedback to encourage the claimant to think about their future development, and for some this might mean considering a future application for SFHEA.
Making a decision and notifying the claimant
5. Notify the relevant people using the logic below:
a. If the panel’s decision was to recommend fellowship, email a copy of the completed feedback proforma to the claimant and CC to .
OR
b. If the panel’s decision was to refer, send a copy of the completed feedback proforma to the scheme lead, Mark Dransfield (), which will invoke the engagement of the external examiner to ratify the decision. Do not notify the claimant at this stage. Communication between the assessors and the external will happen before a final decision is made and the claimant informed.
Mentors should:
If the claim was successful, congratulate the candidate via email or perhaps face-to-face. Identify any areas of work that may be worth encouraging the claimant to pursue in terms of contributing to research or the annual Talking About Teaching conference.
If the claim was referred, arrange a follow-up meeting with the claimant. At this meeting, you should reflect on the assessors’ feedback and help the claimant to put in place plans to address the issues; agree a point in the future when the claimant will be ready to be re-assessed. Once a re-dialogue date has been identified, please communicate this to Academic Development Directorate () as soon as possible, and the necessary arrangements will be made. You should continue to meet with the claimant at regular points up until the date of the dialogue.
Questions or concerns
Occasionally colleagues may experience scenarios where they would like more guidance and support. Whether these be during the mentoring process or post-dialogue, please be assured that the ADD team is here to help. Mark Dransfield (CPD lead) is your first point of contact for these types of queries and he can be reached via email on If your query is of a more sensitive nature and you would rather discuss things face-to-face, then Mark is always happy to meet up for a drink and a chat. Whatever the issue or concern, be assured that we will be able to find a resolution.
Thank you!
Finally, a huge thank you to all colleagues who are involved in the process as mentors and/or assessors. Your contribution to this scheme is invaluable. We hope that as well as supporting colleagues in their claims for Fellowship status, that you have also been able to enjoy your role and that you find it rewarding and developmental.
For those of you who are assessing and mentoring as Fellows of the HEA, your engagement in this scheme contributes towards evidencing Descriptor statement 3.7 of the UKPSF, which states that Senior Fellows will demonstrate evidence of:
Successful co-ordination, support, supervision, management and/or mentoring of others (whether individuals and/or teams) in relation to teaching and learning.
1
[1] It is crucial to maintain the ethos of dialogue which is at the heart of the Professional Dialogic route when conducting dialogues with multiple assessors. In Professional Dialogic dialogues with two assessors (AFHEA and FHEA), we suggest that one assessor leads the dialogue whilst the other moderates and is part of the overall decision. In Professional Dialogic dialogues with three or more assessors (SFHEA and PFHEA), we suggest that one assessor leads the dialogue, and the others play a role which is supportive of that assessor, one which is akin to moderation, asking follow-up questions and developing the discussion.