What next? Building the runway for 2021/22
The 2021/22 academic year will continue to challenge students. We will, very likely, be continuing to operate in uncertain and different times. Students will, most likely, be adjusting to a more blended approach to their HE experiences. This year’s 1st Years will have had a very disrupted second level/1st Year experience, 2nd Years will have had a vastly different 2nd Year experience and we have a more honed version of Reach in place in readiness for student induction and reorientation in a much changed HE landscape.
We have started work on building a runway for Reach 2021/22, to be in place for June 2021:
- A refined Reach Programme descriptor based on current pilot experience
- A more developed role descriptor for Academic Mentors
- A Reach Academic Mentor Induction Programme
- A menu of additional training inputs (synchronous and asynchronous)
- Establish an Advisory Group for Reach Academic Mentoring Initiative to assist with embedding academic mentoring into our way of doing Higher Education in a volatile, unpredictable, changing world.
- The challenge is about people first, not technology. Differentiated approaches are needed to engage students better in different and uncertain times. along with continuous reassessment of actions taken. Balance is key – balancing the needs of students with the needs and responsibilities of the institution and the needs of staff is crucial when we are all missing human contact and the relationships that are important in any Teaching and Learning Environment.
September 2021
- Reach is off to a flying start with a new programme working closely with training from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.
