Sabbatical Internships for HumanitiesEnd of year report 2011/12

Context

The post of Sabbatical Intern in the Faculty of Humanities was piloted in September 2004. At the end of 2006 the work of the Sabbatical Intern was devolved to Faculty level, however, following the rapid expansion of Peer Support within the Faculty over the intervening years, two new Sabbatical posts were created in 2008, one to concentrate on Peer Mentoring and the other on PASS within the Faculty. After a revision of the way in which the roles are split, in 2010 each Sabbatical was assigned to 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 William Carey, Teaching and Learning Advisor (Students as Partners). The Sabbatical Interns for Humanities also report regularly to Dr. Chris Davies, Associate Dean for Teaching & Learning (Humanities) and Lisa McAleese, Senior Taught Programmes Administrator (Humanities) to ensure that their work aligns with key Faculty objectives. Currently the Humanities Sabbatical Interns work alongside four other Interns in EPS, FLS and MHS respectively.

The role of the Sabbatical Intern for 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 through motivating the students Leaders and Mentors, helping with recruitment and promotion of the scheme and dissemination of good practise both between Leaders and between schemes.

Ensuring the quality of PASS through the observation of sessions. This allows the Sabbaticals 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 Faculty level) 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.

Working with Faculty staff on projects related to Teaching and Learning, student engagement and retention.

Facilitating the process of, and running, Student Consultations to explore the student experience of, and input to, key developments in programme, school, faculty or Institutional initiatives.

Supporting the work of the Students as Partners (SaP) programme; this has included developing PASS Leader and Peer Mentor training and promoting and running the annual SaP Awards Evening among many other things.

This report details the activity and duties undertaken by the Sabbatical Interns for Humanities during the academic year 2011/12.

Peer Support: Overview

The University of Manchester has two distinct but complementary forms of Peer Support; Peer Assisted Study Sessions (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 amongst 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 can be either social or academically focussed. Support is provided from pre-arrival through to the end of the academic year.

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PASS Schemes 2011/12

In 2011/12 the Faculty of Humanities houses 6 Schools1, of which four (SAHC, LLC, SoSS and SED) had at least one PASS scheme in 2011/12. This year PASS was also piloted within MBS through Peer Facilitated Discussion Groups. In developing PASS the role of the Sabbatical Intern is to:

Promote PASS schemes within the Faculty and Schools as well as to first year students. Observe weekly PASS sessions and assist with the organisation and facilitation of Leader debriefs. Assist with recruitment and selection of PASS Leaders. Motivate, encourage and support these Leaders. Assist with design and delivery of 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/Faculty. Facilitate the sharing of good practice between schemes and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. Publicise and promote student initiative project funding within the Faculty. Work with staff and students and the Faculty Teaching and Learning Office in the identification of

areas/programmes/disciplines where development in the future may be appropriate to introduce and implement PASS.

The following is a summary of the activity and development over 2011/12 in the PASS Schemes within the Faculty of Humanities.

School of Arts, Histories and Cultures (SAHC)

Music PASSThe Music PASS scheme was established in September 2005 and is an intrinsic part of the analysis units with which it is associated. Sessions occurred twice in the first semester and three times in the second semester in a slot normally reserved for tutorials, therefore attendance was high. Discussion in three of the five sessions focused on practice assignment papers designed in the same style as the assessed exercises the students must complete. Sessions gave students a chance to discuss the questions without being at risk of collusion and therefore to develop a deeper understanding of music analysis and how to perform it correctly. The remaining sessions focused on Music in Manchester the City and at the University of Manchester and allowed the students to discuss whatever else students wanted to cover. In 2011/12 the scheme had 13 trained Leaders who ran 6 sessions in two hours on Monday afternoons. Students as Partners ran a condensed training session to reflect the bespoke nature of the scheme but still had to involve non-trained students to assist with Leaders that had been trained. Formal Leader debriefs occurred after 4 of the sessions and during the debriefs future sessions were planned, good practise was shared and ‘PASS Leader characteristics’ were discussed to help with future careers. Roddy Hawkins was the Staff Coordinator in the first semester and coordinated the scheme well with the Student Coordinator and Sabbatical. Students were always informed of changes to PASS session structure and room changes.

In semester two the Sabbatical has been in meeting with James Garratt, Fiona Fraser, Laura Tunbridge (2 nd

semester Staff Coordinator), Sebastian Huckle (Student Coordinator) and Will Carey to discuss the progression of Music PASS. Based on the feedback from Leaders, Students as Partners came to the conclusion that PASS could be further developed by increasing the number of sessions throughout the year. PASS Leaders began to feel more confident as the year went on, however this was nearing the last session. An increase in sessions, and moving it out of the tutorial time, would set clearer expectations for first year students and the PASS Leaders would get more out of their role. These are being timetabled, for biweekly sessions, over summer to start in September 2012. Debriefs should therefore be scheduled biweekly to match the sessions, so PASS Leaders receive the support and guidance they need.

1 School of Arts, Histories and Cultures (SAHC), School of Education (SOE), School of Environment and Development (SED), School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures (LLC), School of Law, Manchester Business School (MBS), School of Social Sciences (SoSS).

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Religions and Theology (R&T) PASSThe R&T PASS scheme was piloted in 2010 and has been growing from strength to strength each year. The PASS scheme has carried on its success this year with weekly debriefs with 53% of first year students attending 5 or more sessions in Semester 1. In semester two it was decided to ‘theme’ the sessions by modules i.e. ‘Religion in Modern South Asia’ and ‘New Testament Greek’. This was to cover the wealth of material for first years in semester two and to make the PASS sessions relevant to the first years attending. PASS sessions were creative and the Leaders showed an exceptional level of enthusiasm which was reflected as the scheme won PASS scheme of the year at the Presentation Awards in May. The Student Coordinators for PASS won International SI Leaders of the Year Award and presented at the SI Conference in San Diego in May. Examples of some of their resources can be found in Appendix A(1). An R&T PASS was evaluated towards the end of semester 1 and results can be found in Appendix A(2).

School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures (LLC)

Arabic PASS The Arabic scheme was established nine to ten years ago for both 1 st and 2nd Year students studying the language. In 2011-12 there were eight 1st Year Leaders and four 2nd Year Leaders. First year sessions primarily involve general discussion, mainly of grammar and vocabulary and practise of spoken Arabic. In the second semester a scheme of work was developed to provide a content framework to help Leaders plan sessions relevant to the first year students. This was very well received by the Leaders and should be repeated next year. 2nd Year students focused mainly on preparation for the year abroad all students undertake, as the Leaders had just returned from placements themselves. These sessions included discussion of dialects, culture as well as grammar and vocabulary.

Debriefs this year were held on a weekly basis with the Staff Coordinator. Attendance was low due to the variations in Leaders’ timetables. As a result of discussions with the scheme Coordinators debriefs have been identified as an area for greater focus next year. This should help to improve support for Leaders as well as cohesion and communication within the scheme. Scheduling weekly debriefs and encouraging Leader attendance should be a priority for next year. Once again the scheme has benefitted greatly from having a strong input from a Staff Coordinator who has been very supportive in increasing attendance and providing Leaders with resources and it is hoped this will continue in the future.

Attendance has ranged from 0 – 50% although some groups had considerably higher attendance than others. At the start of the year attendance was initially low but a concerted effort by some of the Leaders saw an improvement. Again this year attendance dropped off in semester 2.

Contemporary Middle East PASS scheme This scheme was introduced in 2009 to support compulsory first year module for all Middle Eastern Studies students. This year the scheme had six Leaders and one Student Coordinator. Timetabling was problematic for both sessions and debriefs. Due to this one of the sessions had low attendance although the other did comparatively much better. Average attendance across both sessions was in the region of 15%, peaking during assessment and the run up to exams. The Leader’s timetables made it impossible to schedule debriefs at a time when a meaningful turnout would be possible.

During the course of the year some difficulties were experienced within the scheme see Appendix A(12). This led to a decision by Faculty to cancel the scheme and not recruit Leaders for next year. SaP and representatives from the School are currently working to reintroduce the scheme for 2013/14.

Hebrew PASSThe Hebrew PASS scheme was initiated in 2010/11. This year the cohort was small (9 students) and there has only been one session and two Leaders. Attendance has remained consistently in the region of 56%. This year the Leaders have worked closely with the Academic Coordinator Malka Hodgson to ensure their content links to what the students are covering in class. This has been well received by the students and should continue next year.

Russian PASS

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In 2009/10, following discussions within the discipline, Students as Partners were approached by Rachel Platonov, Undergraduate Programme Director, to look at implementing a scheme in the discipline after students had raised the idea. It was decided that PASS would be attached to the first year core course ‘’Beyond the Iron Curtain’: Critical Perspectives on Russia, Past and Present’. In its second year of existence the scheme has developed into one of the outstanding Peer Support schemes of the University. There were 11 Leaders in 3 groups with a mixture of 2nd year and 4th year Leaders. Attendance averaged for the whole year was 51% although; this was impacted by timetable clashes in the second semester which meant some groups had much lower attendance than in Semester 1.

The Leaders were consistently creative and enthusiastic and sessions were of a high standard, debrief attendance was correspondingly very high. The Academic Coordinator is very supportive and is greatly appreciated by the Leaders. There are likely to be some changes to how this scheme functions next year due to changes in the size of the student cohort. This may result in a greater focus on Language elements and also greater involvement from 4th Year Leaders. Despite this, it should continue to develop and function strongly.

School of Social Sciences (SoSS)

Econometrics (BEconSci)Debriefs occurred weekly all year and were normally attended by at least one Leader from each group. A brief evaluation, composing of written feedback was undertaken towards the end of Semester 2 in one of the final debriefs (see Appendix A3). The scheme has had a great year with positive results such as consistent attendance to both sessions and debriefs. The scheme has benefitted from strong support from the Academic Staff Coordinator and the other lecturer on the course but has no administrative support. Debriefs have occurred every week this year and the Sabbatical has planned each debrief which was tailored to the Econometrics students i.e. interview practice for graduate schemes.

Introductory Maths (BAEcon)This scheme entered its fifth year of running and had 41 trained Leaders including two Student Coordinators. The scheme is attached to a first year unit that occurs only in Semester 1. Sessions focus on discussion of problems within the unit and practice questions set from the unit workbook. Sessions this year were opt-in; students selected their groups through Blackboard. Sessions were timetabled directly after the lecture on Tuesday and Friday morning. Attendance averaged around 35%. An Evaluation was carried out in December 2011 and from this it was suggested that the main reasons why students did not attend session were that ‘the PASS sessions were at bad times’ (32%) and ‘I prefer working on my own’ (20%). Overall, Intro Maths PASS needs to be promoted as a social environment involving discussions to deepen understanding, not just a place to get ‘answers’. Mbclick was used to evaluate the scheme in December 2011, the report can be found in the Appendix A(4).Debriefs were difficult to arrange; as students had complex and overlapping timetables. A number of times were identified and 2 debriefs did occur. A plan to hold regularly debriefs in 2012/13 will be made between Adam Ozanne, the Sabbatical and Student Coordinators over the summer.

School of Environment and Development (SED)

Geography PASSEnvironment and Development was identified as a School which would be in the first wave of PASS expansion in the Faculty. 2011/12 was the scheme’s second year. PASS ran in the first Semester and was attached to ‘The Place of Manchester’ module. This is a team taught, compulsory core module for all first year students in Geography.

There were some problems with Leader recruitment and allocation at the start of the year which had a negative impact on attendance and Leader moral; steps have been taken to ensure that this does not happen again next year. A large number of Leaders have been recruited for 2012/13 and they have all been encouraged to complete as much of the training as possible before the summer. The average session attendance this year was 24% although; some groups had considerably higher attendance than others. Attendance peaked when the first years had team projects to complete and near to assessment times, this should be capitalised upon next year.

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During the course of the year the Geography department expressed some concerns about how PASS was functioning within the discipline. As a result SaP met with the department at key points within the year to review how the scheme was functioning. A plan was produced that will hopefully enable PASS to be developed and improved within the discipline, see Appendix A(13).

Whilst key discipline staff involved with the scheme are very supportive of PASS, there needs to be a focus on explaining the purpose and benefits of PASS to other staff within Geography.

Manchester Business School (MBS)

MBS Peer Facilitated Discussion GroupsIn Semester 2 Peer Facilitated Discussion Groups were set up in MBS. For a summary of this process please see Appendix A (14). This scheme used a lot of the principles of PASS but with a significant degree of staff engagement and involvement in what is covered in the sessions. One reason for running these groups was to gather information on whether there is scope to introduce a full PASS scheme within MBS. These discussion groups were attached to the first year module Fundamentals of Management Accounting. Bespoke training was provided to second year Leaders who ran a series of 5 sessions across the semester. The discussion groups worked well and Leaders were all very positive about their involvement. An evaluation involving first years and Leaders was conducted at the end of the project which will feed into any decision about how this work will be developed. The key member of staff who coordinated the scheme is on sabbatical in 2012-13 and no decisions have yet been made as to whether, or how it will continue.

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Peer Mentoring Schemes 11/12

The Faculty of Humanities houses 6 Schools, all of which has at least one Mentor scheme in 2011/12. There were 29 active schemes in total2. In developing Peer Mentoring the role of the Sabbatical Intern is to:

Promote Peer Mentor schemes within the Faculty and Schools as well as to first year students. Help schemes to develop and deliver new ideas within their scheme. Assist with recruitment of Peer Mentors and deliver 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 practise between schemes and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. Publicise and promote student initiative project funding within the Faculty. Work with staff and students and the Faculty Teaching and Learning Office in the identification of

areas/programmes/disciplines where Peer Mentor development in the future may be appropriate or to introduce and implement new Mentor schemes.

The following is a summary of the activity and development over 2011/12 of the Peer Mentoring Schemes in the Faculty of Humanities. 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.

School of Education During the 2009/10 year the Sabbatical Intern was approached by a student in Language, Literacy and Communication to develop a Peer Mentor scheme. This scheme was implemented in September 2010, as was a scheme in Applied Community & Youth Work following a meeting between an interested member of staff and the Teaching and Learning Advisor (Students as Partners). This year, 2 new schemes were proposed and introduced in the School of Education: Management and Leisure and Learning Disability Studies. Bespoke training for both schemes took place in January 2011 by the Sabbatical. These schemes have had slow starts but this may be due to their late start. All School of Education Peer Mentors have been trained for 2012/13, have had Planning Ahead Sessions and are making pre-arrival guides. This sets them up for a strong start for September intake.

School of LawThe Law Peer Mentoring scheme benefits from being well embedded within the discipline. A ‘Meet and Greet’ was held in Welcome Week where 1st year students mingled with their assigned Peer Mentors and Academic Advisors. This was well attended and received positive feedback from students.A networking event was planned for January 2012, however this did not occur due to lack of Mentor support. Due to the large number of Law Peer Mentors, the 2012/13 Student Coordinator has been advised to group these into smaller teams to be assigned specific events to organise throughout the year. Two parallel Planning Ahead sessions ran in March which the majority of the 80 Peer Mentors attended. Although challenging to deliver; it was a great way for all the students to meet each other and start to plan for the next year. The scheme is sponsored by law firm Olswang and greater consideration should be given to how their funding could be maximised. The Law Peer Mentoring Scheme was evaluated in December 2011. This report can be found in Appendix A(5).

School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures (LLC)The schemes in LLC generally suffer from lack of continuation due to the study abroad element. This makes the role of Staff Coordinator more important within the schemes. Sophie Garside has continued in her role to coordinate and support the schemes at School level although, this will not be the case in 2012-13 due to the changes in structures arising as a result of the merger. The Peer Support forum has met twice this year and was

2 Law Mentoring (all programmes), MBS Mentoring (all programmes), SAHC (8 schemes), SED (2 scheme), SoSS (7 schemes), LLC (8 schemes), Education (4 schemes)

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widened to include representatives from PASS schemes. The forum led to some cross scheme activity however, the purpose of meetings and attendance continue to be issues in need of address. For meeting agendas see Appendices A (15) and A (16).

French The French Peer Mentors met their Mentees at the discipline welcome meeting in Welcome Week and held a welcome party for the first year students in Jabez Clegg. Activity declined after the start of term, in part due to the Student Coordinator being ill. However, a supportive Academic Coordinator and reengagement from the Student Coordinator meant things picked up towards the end of the year. The scheme has recruited very well for next year. The Student Coordinator is continuing next year and this, alongside strong staff support, should mean the scheme is in a very strong position for 2012/13.

GermanThe German scheme was effectively dormant this year with little to no activity. However, a new Staff Coordinator, working with one of the Mentors, who will be Student Coordinator next year, has rejuvenated the scheme. A good group of Mentors have been recruited and activity for Welcome Week has been planned. This scheme will continue to need additional support from SaP however it will be in a much stronger position for 2012/13.

Italian StudiesThe Italian Studies Mentoring scheme benefits from having very strong staff support from the Academic Coordinator. There was less activity than in previous years however, this was in part due to lack of engagement from the first year students. Two newsletters were produced which helped bring a sense of community to the Discipline, particularly by involving students who were studying abroad and members of staff. These can be found in Appendices A(17.1&2). A small group of Mentors and two Student Coordinators have been recruited for next year however the scheme will still be in a strong position for next year. They have been producing a plan of activities that will be updated during the course of the year. This can be found in Appendix A (17.3).

Japanese StudiesThe scheme has benefitted this year from having a dedicated Academic Coordinator and Student Coordinators. A programme of activity has taken place including Welcome Week events, study sessions and socials. The scheme has recruited well for next year. The current Academic Coordinator will not be continuing next year but has put substantial effort into ensuring a formal handover takes place and that the new Academic Coordinator and the Mentors have a schedule of activity and are well prepared for next year. See appendix A (18)

Linguistics and English Language (LEL)The LEL scheme had no formal Staff Support this year however, this has been offset by the dedication and hard work of the Student Coordinators and Mentors. Ensuring there is some formal staff support is a key ongoing concern for the scheme. The Student Coordinators and Mentors were very active this year and ensured a range of activities took place. The scheme has recruited well for next year and a new Student Coordinator has come forward and taken charge of preparations for Welcome Week.

Middle Eastern Studies (MES)This was the second year of the MES scheme. At the start of the year the scheme was largely driven by a very active Student Coordinator however, this meant it suffered when that student was no longer able to continue in the role. Difficulties in the scheme including a change to the Academic Coordinator, and the loss of the Student Coordinator led to the initial decision not to recruit for 2012/13. Following discussions between SaP and the department this decision was revised. Mentors will be recruited but they will work as part of a wider network of Peer Support within MES rather than as a separate scheme. The intention is that Peer Mentors recruited from all disciplines within MES will work with Arabic, CME and Hebrew PASS Leaders in order to support first year students across the department. Rather than be linked to particular groups of first years the focus of the Peer Mentors will be on organising events and activities.

Modern Language and Business Management (MLBM)This is a new scheme set up for September 2012/13. Students as Partners were approached by a student and member of staff from MLBM with the view to setting up Peer Support within the discipline. A group of Mentors

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have been trained and preparations are being made for Welcome Week. The Mentors are very enthusiastic and this scheme should start well in 2012/13.

Manchester Business School (MBS)

MBS Peer MentoringThe Mentors that are trained within MBS are split between a number of disciplines but are coordinated centrally by three Student Coordinators and a Staff Coordinator. The scheme runs very independently with limited involvement from Students as Partners .

The scheme currently operates as a School and recruits Mentors from a number of disciplines. The scheme would benefit from segmenting the scheme more into the discipline areas and recruiting Student Coordinators to support each area specifically. The School already tries to link Mentors and Mentees by discipline and further segmentation has been discussed. This is a possible area for development in 2012/13.

MBS PGR Peer MentorsThis is a higher year scheme in which senior PGR students support lower year students through the transition to PGR. All of the students are mature students and a large number are returning to study. Due to the particular nature of this scheme bespoke training is provided by SaP in partnership with staff from MBS. This scheme functions very independently with minimal involvement from SaP. The scheme worked well at the start of the year although activity dropped off in semester 2. To counter this, a networking event was held to bring Mentors and Mentees together; this was very successful and should be repeated next year. The current Staff Coordinator has now left the role and the School has taken the decision not to continue the scheme in 2012-13.

School of Arts, Histories and Cultures (SAHC)

The Humanities Sabbatical has maintained a strong relationship with the Student Support Office and Student Support Administrator in SAHC to help further embed Peer Support within the School for the 2012/2013 academic year. The administrators are working to identify times in Welcome Week for the schemes to hold introductory ‘Meet and Greet’ sessions and secure funding as necessary.

ArchaeologyThis year, the Archaeology Mentors held a ‘Meet and Greet’ in the Samuel Alexander Building during Welcome Week, collaborated with the society to run a pub quiz and developed a handout for information about accommodation. There are two Student Coordinators next year for the Peer Mentoring scheme. A pre-arrival guide is currently being produced for 2012/13.

Throughout the Welcome Week the Student Coordinators are planning for a few Peer Mentors to attend all student lectures/meetings, where the Peer Mentors can act as a signpost at these times.On the Wednesday afternoon they are planning to hold a pub quiz in Jabez Clegg or Varsity. Teams would consist of Peer Mentors, their allocated group and a member of staff, if possible.

Art History and Visual StudiesAt the start of the year, the Sabbatical was given the incorrect name of the 2011/12 Student Coordinator. As this was not resolved until the end of semester 1, progress and development of Art History and Visual Studies was slow. In semester 2 a meeting with Staff and current Mentors took place. It was decided that Peer Mentors should take a greater role in the first years’ seminars to add greater structure to the scheme. Much like the English Literature and American Studies model, Peer Mentors will be going into the last 20 minutes of 3 seminars in semester 1. These will be themed e.g. getting to know Manchester and the course, and the new Student Coordinators will be making basic forms to record what is said in these sessions. Future Sabbaticals should be monitoring this progress and support any links the Peer Mentors wish to set up with the Manchester Art Group.

Classics and Ancient History (CLAH)

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The Staff and Student Coordinator have been very active this year and the new Student Coordinators are currently working on a pre-arrival guide. There have been several meetings organised by the Coordinators this year to discuss ideas with the Mentors (Appendix A(6)). This has lead to stronger communication between Peer Mentors and Coordinators. This should be supported and developed next year. This year the CLAH Peer Mentoring scheme ran an accommodation talk and helped the academics with their course selection lecture. At end of year meetings Peer Mentors requested that they should be assigned mentees (as far as possible) who were studying for the same degree as them. This should be supported as it would help the 1st year students settle into University with greater ease.

DramaThis year the Drama Peer Mentoring has gone from strength to strength with a strong Student Coordinator leading change to the scheme. They have held regular meetings throughout the year and encouraged Mentors to organise events around theatre trips and other art activities in Manchester. The Peer Mentor scheme organised an accommodation talk this year, as well as an essay clinic in semester 1. Peer Mentors played a role in the module course day run by the department in semester 2 which was successful. The Student Coordinators for 2012/13 should be encouraged to build on the successes of 2011/12.The Peer Mentoring scheme is currently making a pre-arrival guide and is planning the Welcome Week activity, which should be scheduled into the first year induction timetable.

English and American Studies (EAS)The Student Coordinators from 2010/11 carried on this year but communication was frustratingly lacking throughout semester 1. It would be a good idea to have regular meetings with the Student Coordinators to make sure that regular activity takes place throughout the year and that all Peer Mentors are assigned mentees.

EAS held a great Planning Ahead Session and Kaye Mitchell (the deputy Staff Coordinator) attended this session. This worked really well, as she fed in her ideas and answered students’ questions. Kaye and the new Student Coordinator met with the Sabbatical at the end of the year to reprise the Peer Mentoring link with Academic Development (AD). In 2012, Peer Mentors will be timetabled to go into 3 AD tutorials, answering questions surrounding a certain topic (e.g. revision) and then will fill out ‘reporting forms’ to be taken to future Peer Mentoring meetings.

HistoryThe scheme made a slow start due to lack of communication from Student Coordinators. However after the Sabbatical met with the Staff Coordinator and other SAHC administrative staff in December, activity got underway.

A new cohort of 42 Peer Mentors has been trained and two Student Coordinators identified. A successful ‘Planning Ahead’ session (see Students as Partners Activity below) ran in May. This scheme would benefit from working closely with the Staff Coordinator and making sure the Student Coordinators involve her in their plans. Any events need to be planned well in advance to enable time to secure funding. The History department write a monthly programme magazine. The Peer Mentoring team should collaborate with the magazine to advertise events and promote the Peer Mentoring scheme. The new Staff Coordinator, for the History scheme in 2012/13 will be Sasha Handley and the Junior/Senior model of Student Coordinator will be continuing with Sam Comer and Sophie Gold.

Music This scheme runs alongside the PASS scheme and the Music society. Music students have a very full timetable and spend a lot of time together so are generally one of the more sociable disciplines. The Student Coordinators are currently working on a pre-arrival guide which is distributed during Welcome Week. Mentors have been trained for 2011/12 and 2 new Student Coordinators identified.

Religions and TheologyThis scheme benefitted from having extremely enthusiastic and engaged Staff and Student Coordinators. The discipline newsletter, R‘nTease, continued and has become a platform for Staff and Students to promote events and pass on important information.

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The Staff Coordinator was also the driving force behind the implementation and success of the PASS scheme. Two new Student Coordinators have been identified for each scheme and regular meetings will be needed to ensure there is no overlap.

The scheme ran a successful Welcome Week which included a ‘Meet and Greet’, a pub crawl, a scavenger hunt into Manchester, and a coffee morning catering for mature students with Mentors, Leaders and Lecturers. Further into the semester, they ran a Christmas social and a recruitment night. They also had a number of events designed around ‘re-fresher’s’ after Christmas. Throughout the year the Peer Support schemes publish a regular R’n’Tease Newsletter, an example of this can be found in Appendix A(7).

School of Environment and Development (SED)

Geography Dissertation Mentoring SchemeThe Geography Dissertation Mentoring Scheme was piloted in 2007/08 as a variation on the traditional Mentoring model. In this scheme 3rd year students, who have just completed their compulsory dissertation, become the Mentors for the 2nd year students who have just started theirs. This happens in February, and the Mentors are linked to tutorial groups and have three formal meetings to pass on advice and guidance from their experience.

This year the 3rd year dissertation submission deadline was moved from February to June. This led to the decision to cancel the scheme this year as it was felt that a Mentoring role would place undue pressure on students whilst they were completing their dissertation. The discipline has decided that there are no current plans to restart the scheme for 2012/13.

School of Social SciencesThe school’s Peer Support schemes would benefit from more administrative and academic support and this would give greater support to Student Coordinators.

BAEconThe Sabbatical met with the two new Student Coordinators at the start of the year. Due to the size of the cohort, Mentees were allocated on the day of their ‘Meet and Greet’. Extra measures have been taken in the planning of Welcome Week 2012 to make sure this event runs smoothly. The size of the cohort makes running whole scheme events logistically difficult and expensive so there was little whole-group activity this year. There is currently no academic Staff Coordinator. It would be interesting to explore, as with MBS, how BA Econ could divide into smaller groups which would become individual schemes. BAEcon ran a strong Planning Ahead Session in April. They are planning biweekly drop in sessions, a library tour in Week 3, a BA Econ Peer Mentor facebook group and a meeting and social in Welcome Week.

BEconSciIn Welcome Week the Student Coordinators organised a curry night in collaboration with the society which was a success.Unfortunately one of the Student Coordinators dropped out in Semester 2 which resulted in the cancellation of a Team Building event. The scheme is ok but would benefit from an academic Staff Coordinator. The variety and success of the events should be evaluated by the 2012/13 Sabbatical.

PhilosophyThe 2011/12 Student Coordinator took on the role at the very last minute after the original coordinator left the programme in the first week of term. From that very first week, however, the Student Coordinator invested an enormous amount of time and effort in the scheme to make it work. At the start of the year the Student Coordinator wrote an ‘Impact Assessment’ which can be found in Appendix A(8). The Student Coordinator has also arranged new and innovative sessions to the peer Mentoring e.g. essay writing workshop, employability workshops and exam preparation.

Politics and International Relations (PiR)

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This year the two Student Coordinators were key to the successful coordination of the PiR Peer Mentoring scheme. The 1st years met their Peer Mentors 3 times during Welcome Week and in Week 2 a social was held in Jabez Clegg. Essay advice sessions were held throughout the year and an accommodation talk was organised for the end of semester 1. Communication has been strong this year between the Sabbatical and the Student Coordinators. Staff have been keen to get involved with the Student Coordinators and this should be encouraged further next year, especially when the Peer Mentors organise academic activities.

Politics, Philosophy & Economics (PPE)PPE students have no core topic that all the students from the discipline attend so Mentoring was introduced to create a more inclusive feel and unity amongst the students. Their Welcome Week included a ‘Meet and Greet’ (Mentees meeting Mentors) and a Welcome Party at Jabez Clegg. Communication and activity has been minimal this year and regular email contact would be strongly advised with the two Student Coordinators, one of which is returning. A Planning Ahead Session did not take place, however the Student Coordinators are picking up with the Mentors post-exams.

Social AnthropologyThis scheme ran a Welcome Party in Welcome Week and a successful Mentoring and Anthropology Society Meeting. Overall this scheme has been quiet this year but organised a book sale in Semester 1 and held a revision session. However after a successful Planning Ahead Session, the two Student Coordinators (one returning) are developing a calendar of ideas for 2012/13.

SociologyThis scheme had a slow start this year as it did not run in 2010/11. The Sabbatical met the Student Coordinators in September. Meetings were held between Peer Mentors and Mentees but no events were organised. A Planning Ahead Session took place and 3 new enthusiastic Student Coordinators have been appointed and are currently organising the year ahead for a strong start in September 2012.

New Scheme Development

Linguistics and English Language (LEL) PASSIn 2011/12 the School decided LEL is an area that could benefit from having a PASS scheme in place. Some preparatory work for the scheme was undertaken in this year. There have been no further developments on the implementation of this scheme as no staff support has been identified for the potential scheme.

Archaeology PASSArchaeology was identified as an area for expansion of PASS in SAHC in 2011/12. This year PASS sessions have occurred every week on a Friday followed by the debrief ran by the Sabbatical for the 19 PASS Leaders. Attendance to sessions in semester 1 was 34% and debrief attendance has been 75%. All PASS Leaders have been engaged and enthusiastic about the scheme and have designed some fantastic resources throughout the year, such as the Archaeology PASS Glossary (see Appendix A 10). An evaluation of the Archaeology PASS scheme was carried out in November 2011 via paper feedback forms. This report can be found in Appendix A(10).

European Studies and Modern Language Peer Mentoring (ES&ML)SaP were approached by Stuart Oglethorpe from ES&ML about setting up a Peer Mentoring scheme within the discipline. Following discussions it was decided to devise a student engagement plan similar to that used in the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies (SPLAS) project. This has been produced and sent to the department, it can be found in Appendix A(11).

Town and Country Planning Peer MentoringThe Town and Country Planning Peer Mentoring scheme was set up after SaP was approached by a member of staff and some students from the discipline. The scheme has recruited well for 2012/13, a schedule of activity is being planned and has the potential to begin very strongly in 2012/13.

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The paragraphs below outline the additional projects undertaken by the Humanities Sabbaticals. Projects were collaborative unless stated.

Faculty Level activity

In addition to maintaining and developing the Peer Support schemes, the Sabbatical Interns have also undertaken Faculty level projects, summarised below. The Sabbatical Interns met monthly with the Humanities Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning and Senior Taught Programmes Administrator to assess progress and discuss the Sabbatical Intern’s portfolio of work. The Faculty Teaching and Learning Committee were kept informed of the work being done throughout the year by way of an introductory presentation in November and an update at the end of the academic year.

Study Abroad/Away Students The Sabbaticals were asked to carry out consultations with students who had spent time away from the university on placement or on Study Abroad to assess the support they received during this period. In 2010/11 consultations were developed, however due to some difficulties these were postponed. An outline of activity can be found in the Appendix B(1).In 2011/12 the Sabbaticals ran the Study Abroad Consultation in February. 12 students attended the consultation and some excellent feedback was recorded. The full report can be found in Appendix B(2). The UGT Placement Consultation did not take place due to low sign-up and it was agreed with Faculty that the PGT Placement Consultation would be cancelled due to the difficulty of contacting PGT graduates.

PGT projectThe Sabbaticals were asked to meet with representatives from all of the Schools in Humanities to discuss the development of support and induction activities for PGT students. In December 2011 the Sabbaticals met with key contacts in SAHC, SED, LLC, Law and MBS to discuss Peer Support for PGT students to discuss possible activity. A summary of this and outcomes is included in Appendix B(3). Throughout the summer the Humanities Sabbaticals worked in collaboration with History PGT staff to aid the development a PGT History Welcome Event. Appendix B(3.5)

Student Staff Liaison Committees (SSLC)The Sabbatical Interns attended 3 SSLCs this academic year. This enabled the Sabbatical Interns to hear the students’ opinions on aspects of their studies and the wider university experience.

Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC)The Sabbaticals attended two TLC meetings, one to give an introductory presentation in November and one where they gave a summary update at the end of the year to be tabled which can be found in Appendix B(4).

School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Peer Support ShowcaseThe Sabbaticals have been asked to produce a proposal for an event to launch and showcase Peer Support within the new school. A consultation was held with Student Coordinators, and an event proposal was produced and submitted to the School, see Appendix B(5).

Humanities Teaching and Learning ShowcaseThe Sabbatical Interns attended two Humanities Teaching and Learning Showcases in January and July. The purpose of this was to promote the activity of the SaP programme to staff within the Faculty and to showcase relevant activity within Peer Support schemes.

Students as Partners Activity

Several projects took place over the year within the Students as Partners programme. Many of these were collaborative efforts between some or all of the Sabbatical Interns and some were individual initiatives.

Discipline Specific PASS Expectations WorkshopsPASS Expectations Workshops were designed and delivered by the Sabbaticals for potential PASS Leaders for the Introductory Mathematics, Religions and Theology, Econometrics, Archaeology, Hebrew Russian and Arabic and

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Geography schemes. These were designed to give potential Leaders a better idea of the requirement of the role before they commit to it. The Sabbaticals were also in the planning and delivery of generic PASS expectations sessions (Appendix C1).

PASS trainingThe Sabbatical Interns for Humanities worked with the other Interns and Staff from TLSO in organising and running the logistics for PASS training. This took place in September 2011, April/May/June and September 2012. The Sabbaticals were also responsible for designing and delivering the scheme specific the scheme specific ‘Session D’ final training sessions in September 2011. Nine D sessions (the forth and final, subject-specific PASS training session) were delivered totalling approximately 14 hours of training. During these periods over 1200 students received training.

Linked to these activities, the Sabbaticals were part of a substantial redesign of PASS training materials. This entailed collating and developing new training, technique and resource books as well as the filming of a PASS training DVD.

Peer Mentor TrainingIn Semester 2 Humanities Sabbatical B undertook a substantial redevelopment of Peer Mentor training. This took into account feedback from students and trainers as well as the evolving role of Peer Mentoring at the University. This work received very positive feedback.

The Humanities Sabbatical B also designed and ran the logistics for Peer Mentor training. This included recruiting and assigning trainers and managing student trainees. Between them the Humanities Sabbaticals delivered 27 training sessions of approximately 54 hours in length. Copies of the training materials can be found in appendix C(2).

Discipline Specific ‘Planning Ahead’ sessionsIn April 2012, the Humanities Sabbaticals designed and ran 18 Planning Ahead Sessions (covering 22 schemes). The intentions of these sessions were to allow new Mentors to meet with current Mentors, Coordinators and the Sabbaticals and to allow them to begin planning activity for next year. All sessions had a very positive impact on the students and the schemes in regards to brainstorming, delegating and team work. The majority of schemes finalised a Calendar of Events that can be used by the Coordinators and Sabbaticals to keep the scheme on track in 2012/13. Not all trained Peer Mentors attended the Planning Ahead Sessions and it would be recommended to make sure that the expectation to attend is stressed in training by all Sabbaticals. For an example of a Planning Ahead Sessions see Appendix C (3).

Pre-Arrival GuidesEach year, Students as Partners support disciplines in producing Pre-Arrival guides. Both Sabbaticals have been involved in the coordination of production of pre-arrival material this year. 26 guides have been produced for 2012/13: Law; Art History and Visual Studies; Archaeology; Classics and Ancient History; Drama; English and American Studies; History; Music; Religions & Theology; Applied Community and Youth Work; Learning Disability Studies; Language, Literacy and Communication; Management and Leisure; BAEcon; BAEconSci; Politics and International Relations; Social Anthropology; Philosophy; Sociology (pre-arrival leaflet); Japanese; French; German; Italian and Linguistics; English Language.

Coordinator Network MeetingsThe Sabbatical Interns attended all of the Coordinator Network Meetings involving Student or Staff Coordinators of PASS and Peer Mentoring schemes. These meetings serve to bring coordinators from across the University together to share experiences and good practice as well as allowing SaP to disseminate information and prepare Coordinators for key stages in the year. This year the Humanities Sabbaticals organised and ran the Student Coordinator Meetings in regards to ‘Motivation’, ‘Pre-arrival guides’ and ‘Student Coordinator Briefing’ at the end of the year. Appendix C(4)

Peer Support Newsletter

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Six newsletters have been produced this year to help share good practice between different Peer Support schemes across the university and to present and promote activities the Sabbatical Interns have undertaken throughout the year. There have been contributions from 7 of the Humanities Schemes. See appendix C (5.1-6)

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Personal Development and Effectiveness (PDE) CourseThe Personal Development and Effectiveness Course is offered only to students engaged in Peer Support and focuses on the development of key transferable skills not necessarily gained through a degree experience but essential for a graduate job. This year two cohorts of 60 students undertook the 7 week course. The course alternated between PwC led and SaP led sessions and totalled 21 hours of training per cohort. The Sabbaticals were required to prepare the logistics for sessions, recruit course attendees and, in partnership with Staff from the TLSO, develop material for the SaP led sessions. A report was produced compiling the evaluation data and making recommendations for future development activities see appendix C(6)

14th Annual SaP Presentation Evening and Student Team Working AwardsAll Sabbatical Interns were involved with the organisation and running of the annual SaP Presentation Evening and Team Working Awards. This involved promoting the evening to all students and staff involved in Peer Support, encouraging Outstanding Contribution award nominations, designing posters showcasing the activity of the SaP program, promoting the STWAs to all eligible applicants, distributing tickets for the evening as well as setting up and running the event.

123 students from Humanities were present, representing the 750 PASS Leaders and Peer Mentors within the Faculty. 73 Humanities students collected certificates for completing the PwC Personal Development and Effectiveness Course. 10 Humanities students also collected Student Consultant certificates.

Eight students from Humanities received awards recognising the outstanding contribution they have made to the development of Peer Support in their disciplines. They had all been nominated for these awards by students and staff they had worked with during the course of the year. These students have all worked consistently to promote Peer Support to staff and students, have engaged their PASS Leaders and Peer Mentors in activities and shown outstanding dedication to their schemes. The deserving Awards Winners were: Jessica Bishop (Drama Student Coordinator); Leah Clegg (LEL Student Coordinator); Amy Ling (Philosophy Student Coordinator); Emma Cole & Olivia Flatley (Intro Maths Student Coordinators); Patrick Holzhäuser (Arabic Student Coordinator and CME PASS Leader); Meaghan Couture (LEL Peer Mentor) and Marion Le Visage (Russian Student Coordinator).

First Annual University of Manchester PASS Leader ConferenceThe Sabbaticals for Life Sciences and Engineering and Physical Sciences wanted to create an event for Leaders in Manchester modelled on the National PASS Leader conference that was held in Brighton this year. On the first day of the Easter holidays, all PASS Leaders were invited to attend a day conference that involved 3 different workshops and a poster competition that was introduced and prepared for in debriefs. The Humanities Sabbaticals ran a very successful workshop on presentation skills and how they can be used in both PASS sessions and in a wider University context. The conference was successful; a review of it has taken place and there are plans for it to run again next year, hopefully becoming an annual event.

INTO ManchesterINTO Manchester is an external organisation that prepares international students for study at UK universities. The Sabbaticals work with INTO staff to encourage INTO Manchester students to apply to the University. The Sabbaticals ran two networking and Q&A session during the course of the year. These brought together INTO and University of Manchester students. The goal of these was to allow INTO students to find out about life at Manchester and to encourage them to apply to the University. These events were very successful and discussions are being undertaken as to how this can develop next year.

Welcome FairThe Start of Year Fair (12th-16th September 2011) took place during Welcome Week. The Fair was developed and promoted as a way for students to explore the services and facilities available at university so they could access support during their course. The Sabbaticals distributed and explained posters and handouts for the Students as

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Partners stall, and were present throughout the week to offer advice and guidance to new students about how they could access Peer Support. The fair was also used to promote the askme campaign.

Additional Ongoing Training2011/12 is the first year that has seen a programme of additional training sessions for PASS Leaders and Peer Mentors. Humanities Sabbatical took a lead on developing this and both Sabbatical Interns for Humanities ran a workshop, encouraging PASS Leaders to create board games for sessions as part of a revision and study skills workshop, an example from this can be found in Appendix C [22]. Other sessions included ‘group work and facilitation’, a tailored careers session for Peer Mentors and PASS Leaders, Presentation Karaoke, Peer Mentor networking and a workshop looking at reciprocal teaching. The feedback was very positive and the programme will continue to develop next year.

askme campaignIn addition to contributing to the staffing of the askme desk, operationally there were 3 areas the SaP programme contributed to. These three areas of activity were: distribution of badges and Hoodies to over 300 students, organisation of the lollipops and the evaluation of the above and of askme Welcome Week activity. Over 60 Student Coordinators, 200 Peer Mentors and PASS Leaders and 1500 first years have provided us with feedback on the askme campaign. An askme evaluation event was conducted and a report analysing over 7000 questions was written see appendix C(7).

University College Consultations Sabbatical Humanities A helped to organise, design and deliver 2 student consultations for University College. The first consultation focused on introducing the College, ranking of criteria for choosing courses and covered any initial reservations the students held. The second consultation focused primarily on student input on best practices for communicating College opportunities, discussion of some possible courses, and opinions on some key messages. The consultation also touched on other initiatives such as The Star Lecture Series. Sabbatical Humanities A helped to collate student comments at these consultations and wrote up some of the primary data.

Employability Awareness Ambassadors ProjectIn 2011/12, in collaboration with Students as Partners, the University of Manchester Careers Service launched a new project with the aim; “To investigate how greater connections could be made to support students to use Peer Support as a vehicle to engage in Employability Awareness.” Student Ambassadors were drawn from people involved in Peer Support, and in a collaborative exercise between SaP and Careers were instructed to investigate the aim however they interpreted it. The project was to be led entirely by students with only logistical and advisory support from staff. The end result of the project was a very successful careers and employability event run by the students at the end of semester 2. This enabled those involved in the project to realise the ideas they had come up with during the project.

Student Engagement in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies (SPLAS)Only one student volunteered to act as a Mentor in SPLAS for the 2011/12 academic year, making it very difficult to run a traditional Peer Support scheme. It was therefore been recommended by Faculty that a review of student engagement within SPLAS should take place. This review could then inform what Peer Support would be most effective in the department, if any. A student engagement plan was produced and proposed to the discipline. The discipline took the decision not to take this any further. To date there has been no further progress on this project. See appendix C (8).

External activity

National PASS/PAL Leader ConferenceThe UK National PASS/PAL Leader Conference 2011, was hosted by the University of Brighton, working in partnership with the UK National Centre for PASS in November. Over 60 Leaders from 15 different universities attended the conference in Brighton including 6 representatives PASS Leaders from The University of Manchester. Delegates attended sessions and networking events, which included a series of parallel sessions relating to ‘How to increase attendance’, ‘Voice Confidence’ and ‘Incorporating Study Skills into your sessions’. These developed Leaders’ skills in new areas as well as enhancing skills covered in Leader training and Leaders

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left excited to take ideas back to their institutions. Humanities Sabbatical A and EPS Sabbatical 1, helped to run and organise the event. They also ran a mock PASS session and debrief in the SI training that was bring delivered while down in Brighton. A review on the conference can be found in the Appendix D(1).

AstonSabbatical Humanities B and an EPS Sabbatical attended the ‘What works? Dissemination Event Seminar at Aston University on 03.11.11. The purpose of this seminar was to launch the empirical research findings of a three year study into the role played by Peer Mentoring in promoting a smooth transition to university and combating student attrition during the first year of Higher Education.

Researching, Advancing and Inspiring Student Engagement (RAISE)In September Humanities Sabbatical A and 2 Student Coordinators attended the RAISE conference at Nottingham University. RAISE is a network of academics, practitioners, advisors and student representatives in the Higher Education Sector who are working and are interested in researching and promoting Student Engagement. The Sabbatical and the Student Coordinator delivered a presentation in a Student Coordinator meeting in Semester 1. The Sabbatical also wrote a report on the conference that can be found in the Appendix D (2).

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Appendices

Appendix A – Peer Support SchemesA (1) Religions and Theology SI ResourcesA (2) Religions and Theology EvaluationA (3) Econometrics ‘Thoughts and Comments’A (4) Intro Maths PASS EvaluationA (5) Law EvaluationA (6) Classics and Ancient History Meeting MinutesA (7) R’n’Tease Newsletter March 2012.A (8) Philosophy Impact AssessmentA (9) Archaeology PASS GlossaryA (10) Archaeology EvaluationA (11) ES&ML Student Engagement PlanA (12) Contemporary Middle East PASS 2011-12 Summary of activities and issues arising.A (13) PASS in Geography Semester 1 2012-13.A (14) Meeting to discuss potential Peer Support Pilot in MBS for Semester 2 2012.A (15) LLC Peer Mentoring Forum Agenda November.A (16) LLC Peer Mentoring Forum Agenda February.A (17.1&2) Italian Peer Mentoring NewslettersA (17.3) Italian Peer Mentoring PlanA (18) Japanese Studies Peer Mentoring Plan Appendix B - Faculty ProjectsB (1) StudyAbraodOngoingActivit.pdfB (2) StudyAbroadReport.pdfB (3) PGTOngoingActivity.pdfB (3.5) PGTHistoryWelcomeWeekB (4) TLC 21.06.12B (5) SALC Peer Support Showcase.pdf

Appendix C – Students as Partners Activity. C (1) PASS Expectations.pdfC (2) Peer Mentor Training Slides C (3) Planning Ahead Session MaterialsC (4) SCM Schedule 1112C (5.1) Autumn 2011-12 Peer Support NewsletterC (5.2) Winter 2011-12 Peer Support Newsletter.pdfC (5.3) Christmas 2011-12 Peer Support NewsletterC (5.4) Spring 2011-12 Peer Support NewsletterC (5.5) Presentation Evening 2011-12 Peer Support NewsletterC (5.6) Summer 2011-12 Peer Support NewsletterC (6) PwC Report 2011 12C (7) askme Report FinalC (8) SPLAS Student Engagement Communication Plan Final

Appendix D – External ActivityD (1) Mini-report Brighton.pdf D (2) RAISE 2011.pdf

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