Before becoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience, I had several different roles here at Bath, at a course/department level (Director of Studies, Director of Teaching, Senior Tutor) and Faculty level (Associate Dean L&T). All these roles had a large emphasis on coordinating the educational experience for students but also on how our academic departments support students and create a strong community. Often the latter can be challenging, not only in defining what ‘support’ should look like but also in determining whether we have created a supportive community. In addition, colleagues and students are very busy so it is easy to deprioritise something if we don’t see a tangible outcome, but also because a department can have a myriad of different courses organised in different ways with various demands on students and staff.
There are however some support mechanisms all departments offer every new first-year undergraduate to help them with the transition to Bath. One of these approaches is offering a Peer Mentor. I was keen to hear from the SU Peer Support Manager, Gemma Rigby, about our offer here at Bath, the successes and benefits for students and staff, and some of the challenges and opportunities for the future. Before we sat down for a chat, Gemma had reached out to some colleagues from academic departments, as well as current Peer Mentors/Lead Peer Mentors, to gather their insights.
The SU webpage about peer mentoring says: “Peer Mentors are there to help you settle in and support you throughout your first year at Bath. They can give you useful tips about your course, how to get involved in university life, or what it is like to live in Bath.” I think this plays down the significant role a Peer Mentor can have on a student’s journey at Bath, and this is certainly backed up by some of the comments from students that Gemma gathered. A second-year Management student observed that there is less shame attached to asking fellow students about university life, perhaps in comparison to going to a lecturer. They added, “There are some circumstances where it is easier to ask someone older but from the same course and background as you.” I found this statement impactful in highlighting that a student is more likely to seek support from someone they can relate to, and this is probably going to be found among their peers. I am obviously a big advocate of our Academic Advising (formerly personal tutoring) system, but this student’s observation shows how the two department-based support mechanisms can complement each other so that students have more options to raise a concern. An academic colleague in Psychology similarly observed this, saying, “It also provides another source of support and connection for first year students (to complement other things the department & university provide)”.
Gemma also shared an observation from a Peer Mentor in Engineering & Design who highlighted that they took on the volunteer role because they did not feel like they had a good experience in their first year and so wanted to remedy that for future students. The student said, “I think it would've been so useful to have someone (i.e. a Peer Mentor) who just went through what I did to answer questions, as I had so many!” It is a testament to the student that they have turned their own negative experience into a positive one for others. Hopefully, it also had some positives for them - being a Mentor gives students lots of opportunities to develop key skills and experiences for their future careers and lives. As another Peer Mentor from E&D observed, “My confidence in talking to new people has increased, along with listening skills, communication abilities and critical thinking when trying to help mentees.” If that is not a good advert for students to take on the role then I’m not sure what is!
The discussion with Gemma also highlighted the significant collaborative work required between the SU and academic departments to make peer mentoring happen. As I mentioned earlier, the myriad of courses at Bath means this is not simple, particularly as departments have different leadership roles and professional support staff in place. While there is a “baseline” requirement for how Peer Mentoring works, and all PMs are required to undertake the same training, there is also the flexibility for departments to tweak how it functions for their courses and students. This can be a challenge, especially when we think of all the other tasks required to welcome new students each year. An academic colleague in Humanities & Social Sciences highlighted that Peer Mentoring is, “particularly useful during welcome week and I suspect that it might help retention for some students in the early days of the first year.” Gemma also highlighted that the most effective Peer Mentoring systems in departments tend to be the ones where colleagues have listened to students’ suggestions and where possible try to co-create solutions for it to work better in future years. A colleague from the School of Management observed, "It's very rewarding to see students helping other students and supporting the Lead Peer Mentors to bring their ideas to fruition. I often rely on my mentors to help with other sessions I am running and they are always incredibly helpful.”
Finally, I asked Gemma if there was a key message for students and colleagues at this time about peer mentoring:
“Yes: please get involved! If you are a student and want to volunteer as a peer mentor next year then you can sign up online. For colleagues, please come and have a conversation with me and the team about peer mentoring on your course – whether you feel it's working well or not, we want to work collaboratively to keep making improvements.”
Thanks to Gemma for her time and a fascinating conversation, and to all the student volunteers, SU colleagues, and staff in the departments who make peer mentoring happen every year. I hope more students and colleagues will be inspired to get involved.
You can find out more online and contact the Peer Support team here. You can also find out about the Doctoral Peer Mentoring scheme here.
Contact me directly at pro-vc-se@bath.ac.uk to ask questions or suggest future topics you'd like to hear about on my blog.
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