Student Staff Partnership Forum - Case Studies

SSPF numbers and membership: In order to ensure that staff did not outnumber students at SSPF, more Course Reps were recruited. The membership of SSPF was also expanded to include additional engaged students who have been through a selection process – e.g. PCI Society Committee, Peer Mentors, Interns.

Rep Training: A School-specific training session for all student members/course reps was held immediately before the first Student Staff Partnership Forum. LUU agreed to train local staff in the delivery of its Course Rep training. The Assistant School Education Service Manager (ASESM) then adapted this to present it locally. This was a key component to the success of these initiatives. A local guide to SSPFs was produced and shared at training.

'Town Hall’ meetings run parallel to academic activity: ‘Town Hall’ meetings are opportunities for a group of people with a shared interest - in this case, a year group - to meet and discuss shared concerns. In this instance, they were used to establish an Action Plan:

• • • These meetings took place within level 1-3 year groups and for PGTs. The first meeting was held in Week 3.

    • They were run by the ASESM (making use of their background in student voice and facilitating student discussion), alongside School Reps and Course Reps. Importantly, while academic staff helped to shape the agenda, they did not attend these meetings. This encouraged students to think of the Town Hall as a space distinct from their learning and teaching, and in which they could express their voice both individually and collectively. The resultant environment was student-led and SES-facilitated, and offered an informal and comfortable platform to share feedback, information and initiatives.

    • At the first Town Hall students were able to express their perceived priorities. They were invited to write down challenges/ concerns anonymously (Online, this could be done via an anonymous platform like Mentimeter). These were grouped under headings, and students were invited to vote on which of these they would like SSPF to tackle. Five key areas of concern were identified across UG and PG. These effectively became the School’s Action Plan.

Action Plan Working Groups: Following this, SSPF working groups were established to tackle the five core concerns raised in the first Town Hall. These groups consisted of students and staff. A second Town Hall was run in Semester 2 to share Course Rep-led progress, take questions, and gather feedback.

Pre-meetings: In addition to Town Halls, staff created a pre-meeting for student members to discuss the issues and agenda of SSPF, and School Reps met with the School Education Service Manager or Assistant School Education Service Manager on a monthly basis.

Room layout: They set out the room like a café with flowers, refreshments, serviettes and tablecloths to create a different atmosphere when people entered the room. The tablecloths were paper and participants were encouraged to write and draw on them during their discussions. (Online, this could be done via the breakout rooms and whiteboard function on Blackboard Collaborate Ultra).

Themed tables and facilitation: Each table had a different theme for discussion and a facilitator to give a very brief introduction, use prompts if necessary and try and make sure everyone could contribute. Facilitators included our School rep, a member of LUU and some of our teaching staff. The themes were the new student education priorities: community; curriculum; student experience; student success. After 15 minutes people moved to a different table and could build on the comments made by the previous group by adding to the tablecloths. After 3 rounds the facilitators led a short summary discussion for their theme. (Online this could be achieved by having facilitators move between breakout rooms on Blackboard Collaborate Ultra).