What about me? supporting staff, supporting students

This presentation describes a student-led project where student interns worked as partners with academic development staff to co-design and produce a staff development programme to support academic staff in supporting students in their first year transition into university. The aims of the project were to,

• explore the effectiveness of student partnership working in a staff development context; and
• produce sustainable training that encourages staff-student communication and creates sustainable social integration in first year classes

The training was developed for both face-to-face and online delivery, and a story-telling approach was successfully used to enhance staff engagement. A toolkit of resources (including a video-based case study that threads throughout the course) was produced, allowing the programme to be replicated across the sector. This presentation will be of interest to academic staff interested in exploring student partnership working as well as staff seeking training provision to support staff in supporting the first year student transition into university. Key elements of the toolkit will be demonstrated and discussion will include successes, challenges and lessons learned.