Student Support – Pastoral

Returning to study can be a stressful time for most people especially if you are trying to balance the demands of your course and responsibilities in personal life. If you have not studied recently, remember to take into account the fact that almost every part of your life may undergo change, and this may lead to problems. If this happens to you, don’t imagine that you are on your own. If problems do arise (no matter how minor they may appear to you) try to discuss them with the Student Services Manager/Officer responsible for your course, Course Director, clinic supervisor or one of your tutors as soon as possible, as delays can make them harder to resolve.

You are welcome to approach anyone at the College who you feel you can talk to. This might be a lecturer, tutor, clinic supervisor, or a member of the admin and management team. You will also find that a great deal of peer support is available from your fellow students.

Counselling/coaching

If you have a problem that you cannot discuss with your lecturers, module leaders or the Course Lead, the College will fund you for up to six sessions of counselling over the duration of your studies. If more help is required, your counsellor will help you identify the best next steps for you. Contact our Student Services Team for a referral.

Circumstances affecting students

The College is committed to working with you to help you to succeed. There are sometimes circumstances affecting students where additional support is necessary to achieve this. Examples include disabilities, specific learning difficulties (including dyslexia and dyspraxia), chronic illnesses, pregnancy and factors impacting on your emotional and mental health. Students may also require some additional support with study skills.

To request additional support, please complete a Student Support Request form (link on your Course homepage of the Student Hub on SharePoint). Any of these circumstances may affect your ability to study and/or to complete assessments.

If this may apply to you, you should complete a Student Support Request form (see your Course page on the Student Hub on SharePoint) to request the support you require. Your submitted form will be sent automatically to your Course Director and to the Student Services Manager/Officer responsible for your course. Unless you have already discussed your situation with your Course Director, you may also use the form to request a discussion with your Course Director. Depending on your request, you may be required to provide documentary evidence of your circumstances.

If you wish to request an extension to the submission date for an assessment, please see the section on how to request an extension.

Our provision for student support or extensions does not normally include:

• proximity or number of examinations or other assessments
• pressure of work (except for exceptional employment commitments¹)
• misreading of examination timetables
• poor time management
• scheduling of holidays or time abroad
• problems caused by your IT equipment

For further detail on how we can support students in relation to assessments, see the section on Extra Support for Students in the Academic Policy and Regulations section of this College Handbook.

If your situation changes you can contact your Course Director again to request a further discussion and possible updating of your student support plan.

In some situations, the best solution may be to suspend your studies for a period of time.

If something happens unexpectedly that may have affected your performance in an exam or assessment, such as an acute illness, a change in a chronic illness at the time of an assessment, or a close bereavement, you can apply for extenuating circumstances to be considered by the Assessment Boards. However, you cannot ask for extenuating circumstances to be considered in relation to circumstances where student support has already been provided for you, unless the effects of the circumstances have changed significantly and there is a good reason why you have not sought additional appropriate support.

If your student support plan includes additional time to complete an assessment or assessments, these must be completed at the very latest two weeks prior to the Late Submissions and Resits Progression and Finalists Board². If you are unable to achieve this, your assessment(s) will be awarded a zero mark. If your circumstances have changed significantly you will need to use the extenuating circumstances procedures to request that the Board allows you to resit an exam or resubmit an assessment without the mark being capped, and you may have to suspend your studies for a year while you complete your resit or resubmission.

Pastoral Support from Staff

Students come into contact with several members of staff when attending College. In the teaching clinics students are in small groups of three to six students with the Clinic Supervisor. They also get to know members of the admin and management team, from the interview and admissions process onwards.

We believe that our approachable and supportive ethos is one of the College’s key strengths. Students usually find it easy to talk to any of our staff members about any concerns or difficulties they are experiencing. This is one of the advantages of being a small College.

Key ways in which staff can provide support for students include:

• Utilising the skills which many of our staff have as practitioners, e.g. their active listening skills.
• Suggesting other appropriate people for the student to talk to, such as their personal tutor, the College’s confidential counselling service, the Course Director, one of the study skills support tutors, or the persons named in the personal harassment policy. Note that referrals to the counselling service or study skills support tutors should be arranged via Student Services.
• Reminding the student of relevant policies and procedures contained in the College Handbook or Course Handbook. Examples include the procedures for dealing with personal harassment, the student grievance procedures, the verification and appeals procedures, and the student complaints procedure.

Any issue raised by a student with a member of staff must be communicated back to the Course Director. A bare minimum must be reported (e.g. “Fred Smith feels one of the tutors is prejudiced against him”). A more detailed disclosure is more useful but must be consented to by the student. In most cases when a student raises an issue related to pastoral care it will be necessary for the Course Director to make an entry into our Concerns about Students tracking spreadsheet. This ensures that information is shared among staff who may be involved in supporting the student, and that we are able to keep track of the support provided.

Peer Support

The College attaches great importance to the peer support available from fellow students. Active measures are employed to encourage good bonding within cohorts and strong supportive relationships usually result. Cohorts also operate online discussion groups and telephone contact is common.

Students are encouraged to set up regional support groups themselves by using the facilities within the VLE to contact fellow students in their geographic area.

Support from Professional Bodies and Colleagues

Acupuncture students benefit from free student membership of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) with access to many resources on the BAcC student website, including forums for interaction with fellow students and BAcC staff.

Students on the acupuncture courses at the College are also welcome to join their local BAcC regional group. This is a chance to socialise with other students and practitioners in the area, to hear about the profession and the world of practice, and to build up local networks. Details of BAcC regional groups are given in each issue of the BAcC newsletter “Acu”.

¹These include sudden crises at work, or unanticipated overtime or travel

²To allow time for marking, submission of dissertations/research projects must be 6 weeks before the Board.