Sabbatical Interns for the Faculty of Humanities

Rebecca Allen and Emma Dixon

Sabbatical Interns for the Faculty of Humanities

End of Year Report 2013/14

Sabbatical Internship for the Faculty of Humanities End of Year Report 2013/14

Context

The post of Sabbatical Intern for the Faculty of Humanities was piloted in September 2004. At the end of 2006, the work of the Sabbatical Intern for the Faculty of Humanities was devolved to Faculty level. Following the rapid expansion of Peer Support within the Faculty of Humanities over the intervening years, two new posts were created in 2008, one to concentrate on Peer Mentoring and the other on Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS). After a revision of the way in which the roles are split, in 2010 each Sabbatical Intern for the Faculty of Humanities was assigned to three or four Schools, each overseeing both PASS and Peer Mentoring. The Sabbatical Interns are based centrally, within the Teaching and Learning Support Office (TLSO) under the supervision of Marcia Ody, Teaching and Learning Manager, and Justin Kennedy, Teaching and Learning Advisor (Peer Support). The Sabbatical Interns for the Faculty of Humanities also report regularly to Lisa McAleese, Teaching and Learning Manager for the Faculty of Humanities, to ensure that their work aligns with key Faculty objectives. Currently, the Sabbatical Interns for the Faculty of Humanities work alongside four other Sabbatical Interns in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences.

The role of the Sabbatical Intern for the Faculty of Humanities entails:

• The support, development and promotion of PASS and Peer Mentoring schemes and other student-led activity across the Faculty of Humanities. This involves working closely with Student and Staff Coordinators to ensure the smooth running of their schemes by motivating the PASS Leaders and Peer Mentors, assisting in recruitment andpromotion of the scheme and dissemination of good practise both between PASS Leaders/Peer Mentors and between schemes.
• Ensuring the quality of PASS through the observation of PASS sessions. This allows the Sabbatical Interns for the Faculty of Humanities to give feedback, make suggestions and ensure sessions are run appropriately.
• Attending PASS Leader debriefs to give feedback and encourage reflection and development.
• Identification (with guidance from the Faculty of Humanities ) of areas where Peer Support could be considered or introduced in future years, as well as supporting the implementation of new schemes as these areas are identified.
• Supporting the work of the Students as Partners (SaP) programme. This has included developing PASS Leader and Peer Mentor training, promoting and running the annual SaP Celebration Evening and many other activities.

This report details the activity and duties undertaken by the Sabbatical Interns for the Faculty of Humanities during the academic year 2013/14.

Peer Support: Overview

The University of Manchester has two distinct but complementary forms of Peer Support:PASS and Peer Mentoring. PASS, derived from Supplemental Instruction (SI), has a largely academic focus where two trained higher year students (PASS Leaders) facilitate weekly, timetabled discussion-based study sessions for lower year students. It is promoted as being a relaxed environment to voice academic difficulties and collectively approach problems. Peer Mentoring focuses on a number of areas throughout the academic year and is intended to aid orientation and the transition into and through Higher Education. Higher year students provide support to lower year students through a range of activities and events, which are predominantly pastoral or social in approach. Support is provided from pre-arrival through to the end of the academic year.

For a comprehensive snapshot of all Peer Support activity across the Faculty, please see Appendix A(1).

Peer Support: PASS Schemes

In 2013/14 the Faculty of Humanities housed 5 Schools[1], of which two; School of Arts, Languages and Cultures and School of Social Sciences, had at least one PASS scheme. In developing PASS, the role of the Sabbatical Intern for the Faculty of Humanities is to:

• Promote PASS schemes within the Faculty of Humanities and Schools within the Faculty of Humanities, as well as to the student attendees.
• Observe weekly PASS sessions and assist with the organisation and facilitation of PASS Leader debriefs.
• Assist with recruitment and selection of PASS Leaders. Motivate, encourage and support these PASS Leaders.
• Assist with the design and delivery of the ongoing training and support of volunteer PASS Leaders.
• Assist with the evaluation of PASS.
• Meet with Staff and Student Coordinators regularly to discuss the development of schemes and feedback to SaP/the Faculty of Humanities.
• Facilitate the sharing of good practice between schemes and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Work with staff, students and the Faculty Teaching and Learning Office in the identification of disciplines where it may futuristically be appropriate to implement PASS.

Peer Support: Peer Mentoring Schemes

All Schools within the Faculty of Humanities had at least one Peer Mentoring scheme operating in 2013/14, with 28 active schemes in total[2]. In developing Peer Mentoring, the role of the Sabbatical Intern for the Faculty of Humanities is to:

• Promote Peer Mentoring schemes within the Faculty of Humanities and Schools within the Faculty of Humanities, as well as to first year students.
• Help schemes to develop and deliver new ideas.
• Assist with the recruitment of Peer Mentors and deliver Peer Mentor training sessions.
• Assist with the evaluation of Peer Mentoring.
• Meet with Staff and Student Coordinators to discuss the progress of schemes, suggesting areas for maintenance and development.
• Facilitate the sharing of good practice between schemes and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Work with staff, students and the Faculty Teaching and Learning Office in the identification of disciplines where it may futuristically be appropriate to implement Peer Mentoring.

Peer Support

The following is a summary of the activity and development of the PASS and Peer Mentoring Schemes in the Faculty of Humanities over 2013/14. Strong schemes often benefit from having enthusiastic Staff and Student Coordinators and schemes noticeably suffer if these are not present. The strongest schemes benefit from staff support in academic as well as administrative areas and although these roles can be taken on by one Staff Coordinator, it has been found that a Staff Coordinator for each area is the most beneficial.For PASS attendance figures and a full list of Staff and Student Coordinators please see Appendix A(2).

Manchester Business School (MBS)

Peer Mentoring

Manchester Business School

The Manchester Business School Peer Mentoring scheme is well established and works independently without a large amount of support from or contact with Students as Partners. The scheme operates as a school with central coordination by Student Coordinators and an Administrative Staff Coordinator. There has been little coordination of activities in 2013/14 and the scheme would benefit from segmenting into discipline areas with a Student Coordinator and team of Mentors attached to each discipline. The scheme are going to pilot this in 2014/15.

In Welcome Week, the Coordination Team organised a Breakfast meeting for the Peer Mentors where they were briefed on the scheme’s plans for the week. The Mentors then met their Mentees in a structured session which was organised centrally. The Sabbatical Intern had very little communication from the Coordination Team after Welcome Week and is not aware of any further scheme activity. The newly recruited Administrative Staff Coordinator, however, is very enthusiastic about Peer Mentoring and has already proved herself an asset to the scheme throughout the recruitment process. The Sabbatical Intern is keen to see the Coordination Team take more ownership of the improvement of the scheme in 2014/15 and to communicate better with Students as Partners so that more advice and support can be offered. It would be advantageous to introduce an element of competition across the pathways whereby good practice is rewarded and shared locally so as to raise the profile of the scheme and build it into a more sustainable model for the school.

Unfortunately, no progress has been made with recruiting an Academic Staff Coordinator but the Sabbatical Intern is keen that this remains a priority as the scheme would benefit greatly from academic buy in.

School of Arts, Languages and Cultures (SALC)

Dr James Garrat provides the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures lead on activity and is supported by Sara Latham, who provides administrative oversight.

All language schemes have been overseen by one Sabbatical Intern for the Faculty of Humanities in 2013/14 to ensure consistency, with exception of Russian Studies PASS and the newly introduced Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies (SLPAS) Peer Mentoring.

Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS)

Arabic Studies Year 1

Arabic Studies Year 1 PASS got off to a difficult start this year but the Sabbatical Intern and Justin Kennedy (Teaching and Learning Adviser for Peer Support) worked closely with the Academic Staff Coordinator to overcome this. Unfortunately, the Student Coordinator dropped out of her role at the beginning of Semester 1 and it was not until the end of the Semester that her replacementwas recruited and trained. Despite never having been a PASS Leader before she was an asset to the scheme and helped move it in a more student led direction. A successful Eid Party was organised by the Student Coordinator and her team at the end of Semester 1.

This scheme operated 3 PASS groups in Semester 1 and 2 groups in Semester 2 due to some PASS Leaders dropping out. It was suggested that the significantly lower attendance at this group was due to poor timetabling, but logistical issues such as this should be much less problematic in 2014/15 withan Administrative Staff Coordinator in role. Average attendance in Semester 1 was 29% and 1% in Semester 2. Sessions tend to involve general discussion, mainly around grammar and vocabulary, and practicing spoken Arabic.

Debriefs should be a priority next year. The Sabbatical Intern will work with the new Administrative Staff Coordinator to ensure that appropriate rooms are booked at a suitable time each week to encourage Leader attendance. This should help to improve support for Leaders as well as cohesion and communication within the scheme. Further to this, there needs to be a more active approach taken by the Student Coordinators in order to ensure that the scheme remains student led.

An opt out rather than opt in system may work better for this scheme and this would also allow the collection of accurate attendance data to take place in 2014/15. There is a need to ensure that sessions are timetabled quickly so that PASS can launch earlier than week 3 and become embedded in the first year students’ academic lives straight away. Leaders will be encouraged to lead an orientation event during Welcome Week for this purpose too. This scheme needs to have better planning, promotion and communication in 2014/15.

Arabic Studies Year 2

This scheme is primarily focussed on preparing the current 2nd year Arabic Studies students for their year abroad and is supported by an Academic Staff Coordinator and an Administrative Staff Coordinator.

In 2013/14 there were no PASS Leaders recruited for the Arabic Studies Year 2 PASS scheme so it was unable to run in either Semester. 2 PASS Leaders have been recruited for 2014/15 but the scheme is again faced with the challenge of waiting until these students return from their year abroad before progressing further with training. Justin Kennedy (Teaching and Learning Adviser for Peer Support) will discuss how the scheme should be taken forward with the Staff Coordinators and the Sabbatical Intern.

Archaeology

This year PASS sessions have occurred every week, followed by a debrief led by the Student Coordinators with support from the Sabbatical Intern. The Leaders have been very creative and ran some brilliant sessions. The Academic Coordinator in Semester 1had little involvement with the scheme. A new Staff Coordinator took over as Academic Staff Coordinator in Semester 2 and has been very supportive of the scheme, the Coordinators and the Leaders. She has made a large effort to attend as many debriefs as possible.

Attendance at sessions was consistent throughout the year. All PASS Leaders have been engaged and enthusiastic about the scheme and have designed some fantastic resources throughout the year, such as an Archaeology themed music quiz as an icebreaker.

Hebrew Studies

Hebrew Studies PASS is a very small scheme which has 2 PASS Leaders, supported by an Academic Staff Coordinator. The scheme’s attendance has been excellent throughout with an average of 98% in Semester 1 and 89% in Semester 2. The PASS Leaders have worked very closely with the Academic Staff Coordinator to ensure their content links to what the students are covering in class. This has been well received by the first year students.

The Sabbatical Interns’ communication with the PASS Leaders has been challenging, particularly in Semester 2 when debriefs were only happening once a fortnight. The Sabbatical Intern would like to see weekly debriefs take place in 2014/15, possibly alongside Arabic Studies PASS which also operates from within Middle Eastern Studies. The scheme demonstrates strong discipline ownership but the Sabbatical Intern would like to see the students take more of a lead with the scheme in 2014/15. The recruitment of a Student Coordinator should help with this.

Linguistics and English Language

Linguistics and English Language PASS will be new for 2014/15 following consultation with students in the discipline. A Student Coordinator has been recruited along with a further 11 PASS Leaders. An Academic Staff Coordinator has been identified but an Administrative Staff Coordinator is yet to be found.

Music

For 2013/14 weekly sessions were held, supplemented by a weekly debrief in Semester 1 and a fortnightly debrief in Semester 2. Sessions were not structured around particular topics, as had been the case in previous years, which proved beneficial to the students as they were able to discuss all aspects of the course. The Leaders were also able to run sessions around module choices and mock recitals, giving students time to practice. This positive change in structure is reflected in attendance figures, which were consistently high.

The scheme has had 12 excellent PASS Leaders and 2 extremely hard-working, creative Student Coordinators, who were awarded an Outstanding Contribution Award this year. The Staff Coordinatorhas been slightly less involved in the scheme this year as he was unable to attend any Leader Debriefs. However, he continued to provide very strong support and direction for the scheme via email and meetings with the Coordinators, along with being well liked and respected by all students. Roddy will be replaced by a new Staff Coordinator, Kevin Malone for 2014/15 and so it will be key that the Sabbatical supports the scheme as Kevin gets used to his role.

Recruitment has been very strong this year and most PASS Leaders for next year have already completed generic training. This is testament to the hard work of all involved in Music PASS as a whole and a credit to how far the scheme has progressed this year.

Religions and Theology

The PASS scheme has carried on its success this year with a range of creative sessions. PASS is attached to the one core module on the course in first semester which equates to high attendance in PASS sessions. However, attendance dropped in semester two when there was no obvious module to attach PASS too. This is an area to work on for 2014/15 to try and ensure consistent attendance.

Nevertheless, PASS sessions were creative and the Leaders showed an exceptional level of enthusiasm. The debriefs were run by the Student Coordinators and were always exciting, useful and incredibly creative. The Student Coordinators were awarded an Outstanding Contribution Award in recognition of the dedication and creative approach to their scheme this year.The Academic Staff Coordinator, has given consistent excellent support to all Leaders throughout the year by his regular attendance at debriefs and in gaining regular feedback from Leaders about the First Year Teaching.

Russian Studies

In 2013/14 sessions were attached to a new module “Language, Culture and Society.” However, this was not a Russian-specific module and so sessions have varied on their content. Attendance has averaged at 33% with a small group of regular attendees. Nevertheless, there is a need to focus on attendance boosting strategies for 2014/15.Although there have been 8 very committed Leaders covering 3 groups, it has been hard to anticipate course material in order to plan meaningful sessions. This has been improved by the reallocation of groups in Semester 2 to reflect differing language abilities. This has helped Leaders to plan meaningful sessions and this arrangement should be continued next year where possible.