1
Towards a Blue-Print for
Pastoral Care
Donard de Cogan CEng, FIEE
School of Information Systems
University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ
Introduction
This booklet is concerned with aspects of
student welfare in UK universities with particular reference to the difficulties encountered by engineering and computing students.
It is argued that present state of pastoral care
is a response to a post-1969 evolution which
has been driven by economies on the one
hand and Government policy on the other.
The author has worked in universities in
Ireland and the Netherlands as well as three
universities in Britain. During his career he
has been a resident tutor, a deputy senior
resident tutor, a deputy hall warden and an
acting hall warden. This breadth of experience has provided the basis to compare models of pastoral care, which are discussed in
detail before elaborating on how a blue-print
for pastoral care could evolve which would
help to improve retention and progression
figures.
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The need for Pastoral Care
The “fresher” needs support
Many of the student halls at UK Universities
have resident tutors.This is generally in contrast to the equivalent accommodation in
European universities, where students are
very much left to their own devices. So, we
must start with a question: do we need pastoral care at the current level in British
Universities? There are other questions
which are asked by different groups with different axes to grind. Should the level of support of this type be removed, should it be
increased or should the status-quo be maintained?
The present situation in any institution can
probably be thought of as the outcome
resulting from adversarial arguments between
traditionalists and reformers, always influenced by cost and by government financial
and policy constraints.
We have come from a tradition of institutional responsibility associated with the age of
majority at twenty-one. There was a time
when a university acted in loco-parentis.
Many of the older universities had halls of
residence with resident tutors who had both
responsibilities and powers to exercise their
duties. The reduction of the age of majority
to eighteen in 1969 and the consequent
reduction of legal responsibilities heralded
changes which different universities interpreted in different ways. Most were loath to
adopt the European laissez-faire approach
which might have created a significant financial
saving. Undoubtedly it was a good thing that
large elements of the old system were main-
tained. One view of the increase in university
access in the 1960s and the consequent
growth of new universities is that those who
attended opted to follow a tradition which
previously had been the preserve of one
group; the children of the upper classes, having finished boarding school moved to universities which were far away from home. In the
actual achievement of these objectives they
were assisted by the generous level of student grant that prevailed at that time. But
students who had grown up in an environment of independence engendered by the traditional boarding school were more prepared
for the change than a fresher who had
attended school as a day-pupil and was now
faced with the wrenching experience of moving away from home. It is small wonder that
many students, having been forced to create a
new life for themselves are unwilling to face
another disruption and make every attempt
to find employment and settle down in their
university town.
There may be other reasons why the situation for most continental university students
is quite different. When for instance a student in the Netherlands starts at university
he/she may move away from home, but it is
most likely that they attend a university quite
close to home, so that family ties are not curtailed in the same way.
It was predicted that the introduction of
tuition fees would cause UK students to
attend their nearest university, but the evidence for such a change is still limited, while
the evidence for the damaging effects of student debt is quite clear. So, now we have stu-
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dents moving from home into an alien environment where debt looms large, something
that for many can only be alleviated by taking
on casual employment. The question of juggling studies and income generation becomes
a nightmare and in many cases results in a
lower final degree classification than an able
student might otherwise achieve. Perhaps it
is not surprising that as student debt mounted, so did the weekly takings in student bars
of many universities. Some universities have
taken a firm stand on this. Oxford actively
discourages students from taking casual
employment during term-time and the letter
to new students in one college states
"In view of the demands of academic work
and examinations, undergraduates should
consult their Tutors before agreeing to a
heavy commitment such as taking part in a
stage production, becoming an officer of the
J.C.R. or a University Club, or undertaking
paid employment both in term time and vacations"
ated a situation that puts considerable stress
upon students. It exhorts institutions to do
everything to ensure successful progression,
while maintaining standards, but does not
provide the resources that would foster a
stress-free progression
It may be gathered that this author believes in
the importance of the family as a support,
particularly for the 'green fresher'. But this is
not reasonable in every case as the UK has a
high level of family break-up. We are now
required to gear up for wider participation
with no recognition that many who might
choose to come to university have families
with no prior experience of university, who
have alternative expectations and who may be
quite antagonistic and unsupportive of a family member who chooses to take the academic option. The fresher needs support.
So, Britain appears to have created a Catch22 situation. Our courses are of three years
duration. Until recently most European countries were fairly relaxed about how long a
student took to complete. Five to seven
years was the norm and there were few
questions asked about drop-out rates. Many
students in the United States faced with
'working their way through college' enrol a
semester at a time and complete credits as
their finances allow, taking as long as necessary to reach the required credit quota. The
UK government in its attempts to ensure that
tax-payers' money is properly spent has cre-
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but engineers are different...
Engineers and computer scientists constitute
clearly definable groups within most universities. A cartoon in a Trinity College Dublin
student magazine of thirty years ago lampooned the engineers, viewing them as a
group apart. One screening of the TV series
A Very Peculiar Practice was concerned with a
certain type of infection whose start coincided with the arrival of a new lectrice in interdisciplinary studies. "It seemed to affect all
staff and students alike, except of course the
engineers". (!)
The case for the engineering student is quite
clear. The workload in terms of attendance at
lectures and laboratories in engineering subjects is significantly greater than in many
other university subjects. The 'free' time for
participation in other university activities is
much reduced. A question that many engineering course planners attempt to side-step
is "is all the material that you cover absolutely necessary?" It probably isn't, but there is a
conflict between education and training. Much
of what is taught is a form of training. On
the other hand, education involves the development of a deep understanding of the
underlying principles and the docere ut se discerent philosophy means that students could
learn for themselves much of what we deliver
them in endless lectures and seminars.
Perhaps it is the basis that distinguishes a
term that is much misused in the TV series
University Challenge " . . . I am reading
physics" as opposed to ". . . . I am studying
physics". However, in the present climate, it
would be a brave course planner who
attempted to sell this approach to government or to the engineering accrediting bod-
ies. So, we must recognise that first year
engineering students have the same problems
as other university students (as outlined in
the previous section), but they have the additional burden of a heavy work-load and the
shift in emphasis from single-shot, pass or fail
examinations to units with a high element of
assessed coursework means that the time
available outside working hours which could
be used for leisure or study is significantly
reduced.
...and so are computer scientists...
This author has now taught in both engineering and computing science departments and
he is of the opinion that the work-load levels
are similar. Computer scientists are often
labelled 'nerds' and there is the humourous
question "How do you recognise an extroverted nerd? The nerd looks at his shoes if
you talk to him, but the extroverted nerd
looks at your shoes". These stereotypes persist and indeed, the author is aware from personal experience that computer science students put a disproportionate pressure on the
student support services at his institution.
There are those who say that the discipline
attracts that type of student. It also attracts
some very able people who will progress
with no difficulties, but the pastoral care system is never aware of these cases.
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Drop-out is not just a first-year
problem
The Republic of Ireland is in an enviable situation in that there are more students than
there are university places available. Only the
best get in. The pressure for places in UK
universities is somewhat different and individual departments are under threat from their
vice-chancellors that if they don't get the
appropriate number of bums on seats then
they will be closed and this has already happened extensively. There was a time when
admissions officers made judgements based
on wider issues than simple academic performance. There was an occasion in the distant past when this author rejected an Oxbridge calibre candidate "because there was
nothing that the Department could do for
him and there was nothing that he could do
for the Department". In the present, targetdriven environment, the individual's long-term
benefit is submerged by the requirement to
fill the quota of places and doubtful candidates are let through on a wing and a 'we
hope that it will be OK' prayer.
So, do we give students the best advice during their sixth form visits to universities? In
spite of the changes in the age of majority, it
is still a time of immense emotional change
and students frequently decide at some point
that perhaps they have not made the right
choice. This decision may be arrived at after
mature consideration or it may be the culmination of an emotional crisis. Can their family
help them and if not, then who? This author
tells students on arrival that a university is a
place where you learn to work hard and play
hard. Some students put too much of an
effort on the latter and insufficient on the
former. Others are 'bone idle' and have
cruised through school/college on an ability
which is not quite sufficient to see them
through university. A timely intervention
might be all that is needed, but who should
do it, the Head of Department at the point
when they are being thrown off the course?
There are those who are easily distracted and
for many students of electrical/electronic
engineering the University radio service or
Union Ents. can be a passport to future
employment or a reef upon which their studies founder and this frequently happens in the
second or third year of study.
The welfare of the individual must come
first
So, how are we to handle the student who is
forced to take employment to survive when
the hours of work are clearly interfering with
academic progress? It may be a dilemma for
the student whose teachers may be very
understanding, but when translated into the
sort of statistics that is the fodder of government league tables, then the institution will be
deemed to have failed.
We must do something positive and perhaps
we should start by recognising that behind
every drop-out is an individual conflict. The
event may be viewed as a personal failure, or
a disappointment to family, or both. The disappointment to family can be ameliorated
with careful intervention. A positive decision,
no matter how late can only be to the benefit
of the student and if handled correctly, a
potential failure can be turned into a
Dunkirk-like tactical withdrawal. There are
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simple steps that can be taken at various
stages. An admissions system that involves a
constructive interview which is driven by the
benefits for the candidate rather than financial
issues could help to reduce the number of
erroneous first steps. It is believed that a university which has a good system of pastoral
care based on the premise that the welfare of
the individual comes first, will have a smaller
drop-out rate, will provide a positive educational experience and should be able to do so
at reduced cost when reckoned on a global
budget.
We will now move to an assessment of some
models for pastoral care.
A perspective on models for pastoral
care
In an academic career that has spanned five
universities in three countries this author has
witnessed a broad spectrum of care provision. The comments that are outlined below
are a personal view based on experience. It
is his contention that attendance at university
in Britain was at one time the privilege
accorded to an elite class. There were
changes in the 19th century when it was necessary to educate large numbers of civil servants for colonial service, when 'Milner's Men'
administered the Empire. This is mentioned
by way of implying that the evolution in UK
education followed an existing model rather
than the revolutionary changes that brought
about the French university system. So, it is
not unreasonable to infer that the public
school/Ox-bridge model is the first one that
we should consider. Even here there are links
to the regimental structure in the army. The
regiment is the band of brothers, the home
for life which comes before wife, family or
anything outside. The individual plays their
part and the regiment looks after them. The
'House' system in many English public schools
has much in common with the ideals of the
regiment. Inter-house rivalry is intended to
foster competition as well as academic and
sporting excellence, but it does something
else. While classes in a school are horizontal,
age-based structures, the house is a vertical
structure, so that most houses will be represented in any class and all classes will be represented in any house. In Harry Potter fashion new arrivals are allocated to houses and
the members of the house take a large element of responsibility for their pastoral care.
As they progress through the school, they
uphold the honour of the house and in turn
take responsibility for the younger members.
It is an almost uniquely British tradition,
appearing only in other countries where an
individual school is based on the British
model.
We can begin to understand that the transition to an Ox-bridge college would not be
strange for a student who had been through
the public school 'house' system. However, as
different colleges have different traditions and
aspirations, the system of interview would
ensure that the chances of mismatch were
minimised. The dons in a college would have
been the permanent residents and the fact
that they provided tutoring in return for
board and keep would have appeared reasonable. They would have maintained good order
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and provided advice, if needed. The contention is that suitable students making the
transition between two similar environments
would have less need for pastoral care than is
currently the situation in most UK universities.
Well before the expansion in university education and the pressure for wider participation the middle classes were sending their
children to Universities. Not all had the benefit of a privileged schooling of the type
described above and not all went to Oxford
or Cambridge. The newer institutions such as
the red-brick universities did not have the
financial endowments needed, but they nevertheless attempted to create halls of residence
on the Ox-bridge model. Many academic staff
lived in the halls as resident tutors, but their
function had changed. They were not expected to engage in teaching within the hall.
Instead, they were expected to provide pastoral care and ensure good order. They were
also the front-line in the execution of the
institution's 'in-loco parentis' responsibilities
when the age of majority stood at twenty
one. When that changed, tutors were then
seen as a financial burden. This author was a
tutor in Mason Hall (Birmingham) between
1975 and 1977 and remembers the port-cullis
between the male and female wings of the
building which was no longer used. There
were still long-term members of the Senior
Common Room, but they were a dwindling
group. Tutor positions were still occupied by
members of staff, but these were either
short-term contract research fellows (as was
this author) or by post-graduates who were
employed as short-term contract research
assistants. The hall provided reasonable
accommodation and most important of all,
the tutor groups were small, i.e. less than
forty students. With a group of this size it
was possible to know one's tutees well and
identify with them. It was also possible to
become aware of issues at an early stage and
take steps before a minor problem blew up
into a major issue with possible long-term
consequences. Nevertheless, the University
viewed its halls of residence as a financial
drain and as early as 1976 it was constructing
what it saw as the much more economical
arrangement of self-catering flats.
In 1978 the author was appointed as a lecturer in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Department at Nottingham University. He
coincidentally took up the post of Deputy
Warden in one of the halls of residence. This
college-like building housed approximately
220 students and in addition to domestic
staff, it had a complement of Warden, Deputy
Warden and four resident tutors. This represented a dilution from the previous hall in
many senses. The tutor groups were larger
and tutors were traditionally postgraduates
who received free accommodation in return
for hall duties, but during term-time only. The
Senior Common Room did not have the
maturity that had prevailed at Mason Hall in
Birmingham, so that the depth of experience
which is essential for dealing with difficult
pastoral care problems was largely missing.
Additionally, the Junior Common Room was a
particularly powerful element in the Hall and
a situation had developed whereby executive
members of the JCR were allowed to dispense pastoral care. This proved to be a
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highly dangerous situation. One or two
instances of amateur psychiatry had devastating consequences and during my two terms
as Acting Warden I sought to inhibit this practice. Whilst in this Hall (1978 - 81) the
appointment by the University of its first
Student Counsellor was noted.
In 1989 this author was appointed to a senior
lectureship in the School of Information
Systems at the University of East Anglia in
Norwich. At that time it was still one of the
'new' universities. A key feature of the '60s
expansion of university provision was that
government investment was for the educational infrastructure only. If a university such
as UEA wanted to have residences, then it
would have to find the funding from other
sources and that was the case with Sir Denys
Lasdun's famous ziggurats. It is believed that
this divorcing of the residential element of a
university from its educational function has
had serious long-term consequences. At the
front level one was aware of a difference in
the administration of residences. It may have
been UEA's response to a difficult situation,
but it developed a highly centralised and
seemingly unfriendly residence administration
backed up by a strict set of rules. The residences were run as a non loss-making operation, where one was left with the impression
that business took precedence over student
welfare. There appears to have been only a
very limited level of funding for tutorial support, so that resident tutors are drawn mainly
from amongst the second and third year
undergraduate as well as postgraduate population. They paid a reduced rent for their
accommodation, but the average parish size
was approximately one hundred and forty
students. Against this backdrop one might
ask how the University manages with its pastoral care provision and the answer is, stunningly well. Student welfare is recognised as
an integral part of the educational experience
and the structure has a Dean of Students
who has equivalent standing to any academic
dean. The Dean is responsible for all aspects
of student welfare, which in addition to residences covers, the Health Centre, the
Nursery, the Careers Service, the Counselling
Service and the sports provisions. Under the
care of Dr C.C. (Kiff) Matheson, the
University has an excellent system, which
provides the maximum benefit for the maximum number of students. Figure 1 shows his
areas of responsibility. The structure and
lines of command within the Dean of
Students (DOS) Office (the first point of help
with a problem when help cannot be
obtained elsewhere) is shown in figure 2.
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Academic
Tutors
Chaplaincy
Mosque
Health
Service
Counselling
Service
Students' Union
Sports Centre
Dean
of
Students
Careers Centre
D ean ofStudents'O ffice
Accommodation problems
Disabled students
Financial problems
Overseas students
Learning Support
Hardship funds
Nursery
Resident tutors
BIG problems
Figure 1: Structure of the Dean of Students role at UEA Norwich
PROGRESS Project Strategy Guide: A Blue-Print for Pastoral Care
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Welfare in the residences is managed by the
Deputy Dean of Students, who manages a
pyramidal tutor structure. At the top is the
Senior Resident Tutor* and the next layer
down comprises several Assistant Senior
Resident Tutors, who in turn lead teams of
tutors. The keys to success are experience,
training and communication. Although a new
cohort of tutors might be quite green, their
two-day training course is, in this author's
experience, first-class. This includes several
team-building exercises. The tutors operate
within a team which is led by an Assistant
Senior Resident Tutor. ASRTs as they are
called, may be post-graduate students or
members of staff. Quite often a resident
tutor, having graduated will remain on to do a
PhD and become an ASRT. The ASRT is
expected to meet with their team at regular
intervals, where problems are discussed in
outline. Tutors can exchange experience and
receive advice from the ASRT, who will help
to identify significant problems, whose details
can then be fed upwards when the ASRTs
meet as a group with the Senior Resident
Tutor and the Deputy Dean of Students. The
ASRTs are also expected to pass information
downwards to their tutor teams. Thus, in
spite of the very limited resources that are
available UEA currently has a very effective
pastoral care system where the relatively
inexperienced tutors have benefit of being
part of a larger pyramid-like entity, where the
ASRTs are effectively their pastoral carers. In
turn, the ASRTs have a direct line of support
from the Senior Resident Tutor, a person of
enormous experience.
* For seven years this author was the Deputy
Senior Resident Tutor at UEA and led a large
team of tutors, covering approximately 1000
students spread throughout three separate
residences. He is currently the University
Disciplinary Officer who deals with minor
infringements of University Regulations.
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Dean of
Students
Directors of Student
Service Sectors:
Health
Counselling
Sport
Disciplinary Officer
D eputy D ean of
Students
Disability
Co-ordinator
Senior Resident
tutor
Disciplinary Officer
Senior
Assistant
Assistant Senior
Resident Tutors
Learning
Support
Financial Aid
Team
Resident Tutors
International
Student
Figure 2: Lines of operational command within the
Office of the Dean of Students at UEA
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The author has devoted considerable space
to describing the UEA model, which is still
only one institution's response to pastoral
care on a tight budget. But it should not be
forgotten this has only covers students who
are in residence. UEA guarantees residence
accommodation for first-years only, so second
and third years must live outside.
Additionally, the system does not cater for
those students who live locally. Many are
mature students with or without families and
this group has special problems. Young undergraduates who do not qualify for university
accommodation by virtue of proximity face
significant difficulties because rural transport
means that they may not be able to participate fully in university activities. And all of
this must be seen against the back-drop of
student debt. The author was somewhat surprised to note on arrival that UEA had a
comparatively large Student Counselling
Service, which seemed to be heavily utilised
and it appears to have grown since 1989.
So, what is missing and is it a problem at
other universities? On arrival at UEA a student is allocated to an Academic Adviser, who
is a member of the teaching staff within the
School of Study (Department). The function
of the Adviser (tutor) is somewhat nebulous.
It is quite definitely not the tutor responsibility of an Ox-bridge college don, but more an
interface between the University and the individual, someone who intercedes, if needed,
and is always good for a reference in the
careers hereafter. In so far as the Adviser is
concerned with the pastoral care of his/her
advisees he/she is answerable to the Dean of
Students.
In 2002 the University of East Anglia produced a document which reported on a
review which was undertaken to assess the
effectiveness of its advisory or personal tutor
system. As part of the exercise a report was
commissioned from Dr John Barkham, a QAA
Review Chairman. His document A national
perspective on student support and guidance
concludes with a comment which highlights
the problem
"Overall external quality assurance indicates that
student support is of high standard across the
HE sector and with increasing participation rates
it will need to remain so. Student progression
statistics show worryingly high rates of withdrawal
in some subjects and some institutions. It is
notable that least is known about the experience
of students who withdraw and the quality of guidance they receive. The pressure to admit increasing numbers students and to maintain intake levels may lead to unwise offers and student acceptances with on-cost (implications) for support services. Counselling needs consistent and wholehearted institutional support and in turn needs to
be fully accountable. The central problem of
tutoring at subject is inconsistency of practice
amongst personal tutors. Some do not serve the
students well and are bailed out by a long-suffering colleagues. A model in which the personal
tutor function is focused in one or a few individuals might well commend itself to institutions
where academic staff and are particularly intense
pressure to be research productive".
This author is pleased to see that Dr
Barkham identified many of the difficulties
that have been highlighted here in this consideration of pastoral care and its influence on
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13
student retention. However, he does not
necessarily agree with the final suggestion to
focus the personal tutor role on a few staff (a
model that has long been used in Trinity
College Dublin, where those staff who perform this role, receive a financial reward for
doing so). If an inverse link could be demonstrated between the quality of tutorial support provided by an academic and their
research output level, then there might be a
case (provided it had government backing) for
requiring non-research active academics to
take a disproportionate tutorial load. The evidence is not there, nor is the will.
Of course, any overt attempt to conduct such
a survey might distort the statistics; the hardpressed academic might see an escape route
through the thought "if I am seen to be a bad
personal tutor, then the task will be taken
away from me". In addition, there is much
circumstantial evidence which seems to suggest that the best support is frequently provided by the busiest academics, the "long suffering colleagues", referred to by Dr Barkham.
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Towards a blue-print
for pastoral care
In aiming at the development of a blue-print
for pastoral care we must start by asking fundamental questions. Some typical examples
are given below. Each is followed by the
views of this author. Many who read this
document may agree with these opinions.
Some will disagree, but it should be possible
to arrive at a consensus response on each
point.
o
Is pastoral care important in UK
universities? Would it not be
cheaper to adopt the European
model?
For some students it would be a 'tougheningup' experience. For others it would be a disaster and we might be forced to significantly
increase the counselling provision in every
university to reduce the number of attempted
and actual suicides. We have argued in earlier
sections that the way in which the expansion
in university attendance evolved in this country makes pastoral care an essential component in the provision of an academic institution. This is likely to grow if we are to react
responsibly to the Government's requirement
for wider participation.
o
So, what should we do?
The first thing is to recognise that proper
pastoral care will pay for itself on the broader
budget sheet. It should recognise that
accommodation is an integral part of the educational experience where front-line care can
be provided, if correctly and adequately funded. Penny-pinching and the financial savings
since 1969 has meant that much has been
lost. The UEA success is a miracle of good
house-keeping, but a friendly and helpful
accommodation office which is driven by welfare rather than business concerns would be
a welcome change. It should be recognised
that isolated self-catering accommodation is
not suited for most freshers, although it may
work very well for second and third year students. One tutor per 140 students is quite
ridiculous. One tutor per 50 students would
be acceptable. UEA has shown that it is possible to use undergraduates as tutors, but it
would be preferable to encourage postgraduates to take such positions. (I realise that it
would be attempting to reverse a trend of
many years, but it would be worth it). There
should be financial incentives for P/Gs and
young members of staff to take on the task.
o
So how should we do it?
The key factor is training. The UEA tutor
training programme has been held up as a
model. If one is to be a resident tutor, then
one must be properly trained in the necessary skills. At one level this ensures that the
institutional philosophy on pastoral care is
implemented. At another it ensures that
tutors do not dispense faulty advice. Training
must be an annual event, new to some and an
update for the rest. Tutors must know what
is where and who can help and this information must be at their fingertips. They must be
aware that they are part of a community.
They must know each other because mutual
support is essential. They must also know
that the institution cares for them and appreciates what they do. In the author's experi-
PROGRESS Project Strategy Guide: A Blue-Print for Pastoral Care
15
ence some of the greatest difficulties for
tutors have been associated with the lack of
dissemination of supporting information.
Examples include " . . if in the exercise of my
duties I dispense advice which results in litigation, will the University support me?", "what
are my responsibilities/liabilities under Health
& Safety legislation?", "what happens in the
event of a fire alarm if I am not here? Should
I stay on-site at all times?". Amongst married
tutors there may be concern over the
legal/insurance position of the spouse. An
appointment in a mixed gender parish may
have been made precisely because a tutor is
married, but frequently a university may not
have a clear idea of its own policy on this and
related issues.
witnessed an explosion in the size of their
student-services departments. If teaching
loads were reduced, if the unreasonable
demands on academics that have been created by RAE in a climate of reducing resources
were reversed and if staff obtained proper
welfare training then such departments and
their associated costs could be eliminated
and counselling services would then be available for those who are most in need. Some
universities (such as Nottingham in the days
of George Brown) run excellent training
courses for new staff. These could be
extended to include a mirror of the resident
tutor training days such as those at UEA and
refresher courses for existing staff would be a
requirement.
o
The set of consensus views on the questions
that have been raised above, and the many
which have not been raised here, would then
form the basis for designing a pastoral care
structure that would deliver results in terms
of student retention and progression.
However, in order to progress beyond the
drawing board, we need a Government commitment to the philosophy that pastoral care
is a key factor in student retention. We need
a commitment at the highest level of every
HEI, so that it becomes embedded in the psyche of the institution "if the bosses believe in
it, then the staff may believe in it. If the bosses don't believe in it, then the staff certainly
won't". We need a reversal of the financial
paring that has eroded the quality of the
existing provisions that were identified as
good practice throughout this document.
Finally, it should be recognised that I am not
advocating a complete dismantlement of
What about pastoral care outside
residence?
This is a difficult question with its roots in
financial stringencies. There was a time when
members of teaching staff felt able to look to
the welfare of their advisees/tutees. Cuts in
funding and Government pressure for academics to become entrepreneurs have
altered the situation. When a member of
staff is expected to be a world-class teacher, a
world-class researcher, an effective administrator and bring in sizeable research contracts, then something has got to give. There
is a somewhat similar situation in the new
universities and HE colleges. When teaching
loads have been increased so that staff spend
between 22 and 28 hours per week at the
chalk-face, there is little or no time to care
for the individual student. In this environment many new universities and colleges have
PROGRESS Project Strategy Guide: A Blue-Print for Pastoral Care
16
existing structures. Certainly, many could be
slimmed down, but like the Dean of Students
Office at UEA, they would remain for the
really big problems and as back-up support
for tutors in the performance of their role.
With these things in place, with teaching,
research, administration and pastoral care put
in proper perspective, then I would foresee a
personal tutor system which involved all staff.
A key feature would be the initial training
that new academics receive. The Nottingham
course provided by George Brown was highlighted as an excellent example of initial staff
development. The UEA induction course for
new resident tutors confirms that it is possible to train relatively inexperienced people to
be effective resident tutors. If these models
could be integrated, then we would have an
excellent basis for providing HEIs with a large
cohort of staff who are committed to pastoral care as a core part of their work, and
we would have institutional-wide tutorial systems that do not draw the level of criticism
that is aimed at many today.
PROGRESS Project Strategy Guide: A Blue-Print for Pastoral Care
17
Conclusion
In summary, student services departments as
well as student counselling services have
mushroomed as institutional finances have
forced the emphasis on pastoral care to shift
from its traditional centres of tutor's office
and hall of residence. This author does not
believe that there has been a real financial
benefit to Government or to the individual
university. Both have had to react to counter
the deleterious effects of earlier economies;
no university welcomes press publicity about
suicides. Student retention and progression
have become hot issues and Government has
acted to finance initiatives to redress the situation.
So, do we really want to tackle the root
cause? Retention and progression must be
recognised as a sub-set of wider welfare
issues and, if addressed as such, then the situation can be improved. It is recommended
that there should be a commission to look
into welfare and pastoral care, where the
global budget should be examined. The
objective should be to achieve the greatest
benefit for the largest number of students at
the minimum reasonable cost.
Perhaps such a commission would conclude
that a university which uses a European
model, with teaching staff who have no pastoral role, supported by an enormous student
services department, is the most economic
option - but I somehow don't think so.
PROGRESS Project Strategy Guide: A Blue-Print for Pastoral Care
18
About the Author
Donard de Cogan has a
first degree in physical
chemistry and a PhD in
solid state physics. He
held post-doctoral positions at the University of
Nijmegen (Netherlands)
and the University of
Birmingham (where he
was a resident tutor) before joining Philips as
a senior development engineer. In 1978 he
was appointed as Lecturer in Electrical and
Electronic Engineering at Nottingham
University, where he was was also deputy
warden and later acting warden of one of the
campus residences. He transferred to the
School of Information Systems at UEA in
1989 and held the post of Deputy Senior
Resident Tutor during seven years. His publications includes five books, five edited works
and 125 papers. He is a Fellow of the IEE and
a member of their Qualifications Assessment
Committee. He currently holds a visiting
professorship in the Electrical Engineering
Department at the US Naval Academy at
Annapolis, Maryland.
PROGRESS Project Strategy Guide: A Blue-Print for Pastoral Care