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There has been a significant change in the landscape of higher education in the UK since the introduction of higher tuition fees in 2012, which has seen a shift in student values and concerns about their teaching and learning experience. As a result, mentoring, across all aspects of the student journey, has been advocated as having benefits to students, staff and the higher education institution and can be seen as an integral tool in helping to provide a positive student experience. This chapter proposes a “continuum of mentoring”, highlighting four different approaches which can support undergraduate study. The chapter also evaluates the development of a peer mentoring scheme in a UK higher education institution to highlight the benefits and limitations of the scheme.

This study looks at the stories that foster carers and the young people in their care jointly construct as they engage in discussion about their relationship. The research aimed to explore both the meanings that they hold regarding the development of this relationship and the patterns of contributions they make as they engage in their conversations. Four dominant narrative themes emerged: talking being central; the relationship and placement being different to expectations; being included like family, now and always; and sharing laughter through normal experiences. Analysis of the conversations showed that the foster carers made extensive use of ‘imputation questions’ – speaking for the young person in an attempt to prompt them to talk. However, these questions typically had the opposite effect to ‘invitation questions’ that enabled more extended interactions and joint storytelling. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for future research on fostering relationships and foster carer training.

Claire Hennessy, head of Operational Estates and Facilities Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HEJ - May 2016), describes a major infrastructure project currently ongoing at Oxford's John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals to upgrade and modernize heating and energy systems - one of the most challenging aspects of which has been the installation of a 1.4 km district heating system (Energy Link) between the two sites, involving laying of a variety of pipework and cabling under local roads. Without the heating and energy project, she explains, not only would the Trust have struggled to get through another winter, but it could also not have contemplated the redevelopment of the Churchill site, or met the expected needs of the John Radcliffe Hospital now and into the future.

In an article in the April 2016 issue of HEJ, we highlighted the current UK shortage of female engineers, focused on some of the reasons for the difficulty in recruiting young women, and considered some of the key steps bodies including professional institutes need to take to address the 'gender gap'. Here, in the first of a series of planned follow-up articles on successful women engineers' careers, HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, talks to Claire Hennessy FIHEEM, who, as head of Operational Estates and Facilities at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is responsible for the smooth day-to-day running of the buildings and plant at four busy hospitals. As she explained, she gained her first engineering experience looking after weaponry in the Royal Navy.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline an innovative method of delivering staff development in an higher education (HE) setting. The paper evaluates the processes behind the “Focus on Inspiring Teaching” week and outlines its initial impact on staff. Design/methodology/approach – This is a descriptive case study which highlights how an immersive staff development event can be used to enable HE teaching practitioners to utilise more inspiring approaches to teaching and learning. The paper draws on questionnaire evaluations (n = 43). Findings – The paper highlights how staff development events can be used to foster communities of practice for teaching staff. For this to be successful, staff needs to be committed to reflecting on their own practice and be sufficiently engaged to partake actively of staff development events. By establishing these communities, inspiring practice in teaching can be developed with successful outcomes. The paper outlines a model for staff development which could be established in other HE settings. Practical implications – Immersive staff development events are effective in achieving sustainable impact. To achieve success effective leadership and a team of committed teaching staff are needed. Success was also fostered by not making sessions compulsory whereby the staff could opt in for sessions to fit around teaching schedules. Originality/value – This paper will be of interest to those working in staff development and training and academic managers. It indicates how immersive staff development can have a positive impact on staff practice to bring about improvements to the student experience.

The increase in the use of technology-enhanced learning in higher education has\ud included a growing interest in new approaches to enhance the quality of\ud feedback given to students. Audio feedback is one method that has become more\ud popular, yet evaluating its role in feedback delivery is still an emerging area for\ud research. This paper is based on a small-scale study which examined the\ud perceptions of first and final-year undergraduates who received feedback from\ud tutors in audio form and considers the impact of this method of feedback\ud delivery as a formative process. The paper examines the extent to which students\ud respond to and engage with audio feedback, and how the method might facilitate\ud a better understanding of the role of feedback amongst teachers and students\ud alike. The two cohorts in the study express differences, but also commonalities\ud in what they require from audio feedback. A conceptual framework is developed\ud from the study’s findings, which highlights best practice and guides practitioners\ud in their effective utilisation of this form of feedback.

This paper examines the complexities of providing housing support services for people who have experienced homelessness. The evidence is from a qualitative study of both those receiving and those providing support services for homeless people to resettle into the wider community from homeless accommodation in the Merseyside area. Different approaches of support are considered and using narratives, a model of successful support is established. The experiences of the majority of the service users strongly suggest that support has been critical in assisting a resettled way of life after being homeless. The paper contends that a critical prerequisite of successful support is the strength of desire of the homeless person to become resettled, coupled with a degree of motivation to engage with support services. The importance of such motivation should not be underestimated. Equally important to the success of resettlement is the relationship that most clients develop with a support worker. This relationship can initially develop while attempting to resolve practical difficulties of finding suitable, permanent accommodation. Through a mutual respect between worker and client and a high degree of empathy from a worker towards a client in tandem with an individualized support package aimed at independent living successful outcomes can occur. The paper concludes that support is successful when it is provided in a flexible manner thus relying on the skill and ability of a support worker to adequately judge the exact requirements of a service user. When this delicate balance between support and service user needs is achieved, the outcome is long-term sustainable housing solutions.

The concept of resettlement of homeless people has become an important idea among homelessness practitioners. The principles of resettlement involve assisting homeless people to live independently providing appropriate levels of support in order to do this. For young homeless people this type of support is considered particularly important to be able to overcome social exclusion. This paper examines the perceptions and experiences surrounding resettlement of young homeless people, hostel support workers and resettlement staff in a hostel for young people in Merseyside. The paper suggests that while resettlement represents a positive step towards overcoming homelessness, certain working practices are needed to ensure the best outcomes. These include team working between hostel and resettlement staff and offering easy access to services for young people. The paper also suggests that improvements to certain housing and social security legislation may improve the pathway through homelessness as experienced by certain young people.

Following a three-year staff development initiative within one faculty in a UK university, the authors reflected on inspiring teaching and the role that staff development can play in enhancing individual practice. Teaching is a core component of Higher Education and is complex and multi-faceted both theoretically and in practice. Through individual reflections to a set of pre-determined questions, a group of Higher Education teachers (n = 5) with a responsibility for the development of learning, teaching and assessment, share their thoughts, feelings and beliefs on inspiring teaching. The interpretive analysis of the data shows from a staff perspective that the notion of inspiring teaching has three main components which are all interrelated, those being; the actual teaching and learning experience; the design of the curriculum and the teacher/student relationship. Staff development initiatives were found to help people explore and develop their own teaching philosophy, to develop new practices and to share and learn from others. However, individual’s mindset, beliefs and attitudes were found to be a challenge. Teachers can frame their development around the different aspects of inspiring teaching and with support from senior leadership as well as a positive culture, teaching communities can work together towards inspiring teaching.

Students spend 12 to 14 years in school settings learning in what could be considered a carefully controlled and structured environment. Higher education may not offer the same landscape to students and it appears that many enter with unrealistic conceptions of what is expected of them and are faced with different approaches to aspects of teaching, learning and assessment. This qualitative study explores the perceptions of second-year and final-year students in relation to their expectations whilst studying at university. Focus groups were used across two programmes in one university faculty to ascertain student expectations and what they perceived as important. From the thematic analysis, four areas were highlighted by the students as key to the transition into university these were directed time, non-directed time, support and relationships. Overall these students where positive about the university experience and the levels of support offered to them, particularly noting that working in peer learning groups (PLGs) was beneficial. Issues were raised around the timetabling of face-to-face contact time and the value of the experience and this is an area that needs further research as is understanding the complexity of the students’ lives outside of the institution.