Advice on Consensual Relations between Staff and Students

NATFHE Policy

Annual Conference 1995 passed the following motion:

Conference asserts that consensual sexual relations between academic staff and students who they currently teach or assess make it difficult to maintain an objective, even-handed learning environment and may call into question the disinterestedness of marking and assessment procedures.

Further, conference notes there is much evidence that staff who engage in such relationships may later find themselves the subject of complaints by students. Conference therefore considers that such relationships are ill-advised, unprofessional and to be discouraged and instructs the NEC to advise members accordingly, and develop more detailed policy and advice around this issue.

NATFHE’s priorities in producing the following guidelines are:

  • to ensure NATFHE members maintain a professional standard of conduct, and
  • to safeguard the interests of both students and staff.

Background to the policy

The professional relationship between staff and students should be based on mutual trust and respect and the requisite boundaries to this relationship recognised. This is particularly important where staff are involved in assessment procedures which may decide the student’s future. It is unacceptable for any member of staff to abuse their power for sexual gratification.

The term “consensual relationships” describes a situation where a member of staff and a student willingly embark on a sexual relationship. One view of such romantic/sexual liaisons is that they are equal adult-to-adult relationships and interference would infringe on personal freedom.

However, staff are in a position of authority over students and their relationship is not an equal one. It is therefore important for both staff and students to question whether such sexual/romantic relationships are appropriate since they involve a great difference in power. Such power imbalance rests on the fact that members of staff award grades, set examination papers, write references, grant or deny extensions for pieces of work, sit on examination boards, etc.

The power gap is increased by the lecturer’s greater academic knowledge, experience of the institution and status within it. This reduces the student’s freedom of choice in the relationship. NATFHE takes the view that it is professionally inappropriate for staff to regard their students as potential sexual partners.

Investigations into consensual relationships indicate that, in the main, they involve male staff and younger female students. The fact that sexual exploitation of students is a gender issue needs to be accepted and confronted. The evidence demonstrates that the predatory behaviour of some individual male lecturers who engage in multiple concurrent or consecutive affairs with students causes particular problems.

However, there are variations to the pattern. Women returners as well as young female students are often at risk. There may occasionally be relationships between male students and female lecturers – and not all relationships between staff and students are heterosexual. It is also accepted that, on occasion, relationships of genuine mutuality, love and significance can develop between staff and students. These are, however, outweighed by the number of staff/student liaisons which are essentially exploitative.

The consequences of engaging in consensual relationships may be considerable, and not only for the staff member and student concerned. The ramifications affect other staff and students.

Engaging in a relationship with a member of staff can have damaging effects on the student. A student may suffer extreme distress upon discovering that the lecturer has no intention of sustaining the relationship for long, or is having a series of affairs with students. Their physical and mental health may be affected. The student can become isolated from peers and labelled by other students and staff.

Many students feel they have no choice but to leave their course if the relationship ends, or if they seek to terminate the relationship. If they end the relationship, they may suffer harassment and be afraid to complain. They may be subjected to over-severe marking as the member of staff tries to avoid any suggestion of preferential treatment.

Should a member of staff become involved with a student, they in turn may face several problems. Management may consider such relationships a disciplinary offence – recent experience of new style management suggests that they are prepared to treat as disciplinary offences a whole range of behaviour towards students which is not explicitly forbidden.

Complaints of sexual harassment may be made if a relationship breaks down or if the student decides it is not truly consensual.

The lecturer’s capacity to teach a group of students in a fair and even-handed manner may be compromised by involvement with one group member, and their emotional equilibrium while working may be seriously disturbed by a hidden relationship. The lecturer may also lose the respect of other members of staff if it becomes known that they engage in relationships with students.

Since such relationships inevitably become known to other students, the entire group may experience adverse effects. Students may be drawn into keeping secrets or tension may be created among the whole group if an emotionally charged relationship exists between a staff member and a student. Every student has the right to be taught and assessed with as much objectivity and fairness as is achievable. The existence of a consensual relationship is bound to make other students feel that one member of the group is getting preferential treatment.

In addition, such relationships will have a divisive effect on staff. Conflicts can be caused if staff become aware of staff/student liaisons – particularly if a student complains to another member of staff, who then faces the difficulty of deciding whether to bring the issue into the open.

Checklist for action by branches

Branch officers are asked to discuss the issue with members. The aim is to draw up a policy which at least covers branch members, as well as one to agree with the institution.

The policy should include what is to be done if a relationship has developed between a member of staff and a student. This will depend on a number of factors within the institution. In HE institutions and the larger FE colleges it may be possible to have a policy of declaring the relationship to the line manager, with the aim of transferring teaching and assessment of the student to another member of staff. However, in small FE colleges this is not likely to be practicable as there will be no alternative member of staff available.

It is, however, still in the interests of both parties that the staff member does not directly access the student’s work. Arrangements should be made to ensure impartial assessment, thus preventing allegations of favouritism and protecting students from any danger of having their work marked more severely to avoid showing partiality.

The branch will need to discuss how such arrangements can be implemented within the context of management/staff relationships within the institution. Some branches may feel happy with a policy of declaring the relationship to the line manager, others may feel that it is better to agree with management a particular named person to whom all such problems are referred. If relationships between staff and management are universally bad, it may be best to seek colleagues’ support and help in resolving the issues arising from the staff/student relationship.

There should be discussion with the NUS to establish agreement on protecting students’ interests. The NUS should be informed that NATFHE recognises relationships between staff and students do occur, and that they have done so in the past. Although NATFHE does not wish to dictate to students whom they should have relationships with, the NUS should know why such relationships are regarded with concern.

Once the issue has been widely discussed and there is a consensus to move forward, the branch may wish to negotiate a policy with the institution.

Once policy is agreed, branches should identify an officer who takes responsibility for giving advice on this issue. Whoever is nominated should remember that confidentiality must be maintained at all times.

The policy should be widely publicised among staff and students. Such publicity should present the issue as one of professional conduct and safeguarding of students’ interests – not as an invasion of privacy.

Model Policy Statement

The Institution believes the professional relationship between a student and a member of staff is a central part of the student’s educational development. It is vital that trust and confidence exist between staff and students to ensure students maximise their learning experience.

Staff have a professional duty to develop their students’ abilities and a responsibility to safeguard students’ welfare. Given the imbalance of power between staff and students, any abuse by staff of this relationship will be viewed with concern.

Staff are strongly advised not to enter into a sexual/romantic relationship with any student they are responsible for teaching, supervising or assessing. Such relationships could compromise the professional relationship between staff and students, and damage the teaching and learning environment for other students and staff.

Although the institution discourages such relationships in general and regards it as unprofessional for a lecturer to actively seek to initiate such a relationship or to pursue such a relationship without regard to the problems which may ensue, it also recognises that human beings do become attracted to and involved with one another without deliberate intent and that such relationships may be genuinely affectionate, desired by both parties and impossible to stifle.

[In the light of what has been said above about different circumstances in different institutions, it is not possible to draw up a policy that will suit all circumstances. The branch will need to draw up a more detailed clause about assessment arrangements should staff/student relationships occur to suit its own particular circumstances. This should make clear that declaring the relationship is not mandatory, and failure to do so will not lead to disciplinary action.]

The Institution requires that, if such relationships arise, they must be conducted with the utmost discretion and entirely outside the professional environment.