{"id":257,"date":"2017-10-06T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/shaping\/?p=257"},"modified":"2018-02-06T11:22:08","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T11:22:08","slug":"leadership-bulletin-october-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/shaping\/2017\/10\/06\/leadership-bulletin-october-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership Bulletin – October 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Shaping Futures update from the October 2017 Leadership Bulletin<\/a>\u00a0including the introduction by Christina Hughes<\/p>\n

Introduction by Professor Christina Hughes, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pencils sharpened? \u00a0It\u2019s the new academic year and there is anticipation, excitement and some nervousness in the air.\u00a0 And what a year this will be. We have been beavering away, translating the strategy into actions, writing mandates and business cases, having great discussions and incredible engagement.\u00a0 Colleagues have been doing the most amazing job, in the most difficult of markets, to help us achieve our recruitment goals.\u00a0 We have improved our sector position in NSS thanks to all your hard work.\u00a0 Last month saw the successful launch of South Yorkshire Futures<\/span><\/a>, a Sheffield Hallam\u00a0led social mobility partnership focused on improving educational attainment and raising aspiration, particularly in disadvantaged areas.\u00a0 And for Shaping Futures we saw the commencement of our institution-wide focus on Goal 1 of the strategy for achieving consistently outstanding outcomes.\u00a0 This included a day-long event on the BME attainment gap led by Jacqueline Stevenson.\u00a0 Every department was represented at this meeting and I cannot thank you enough for your demonstrable commitment.<\/p>\n

It would be easy though to think that the strategy can be achieved only through the inception of a range of initiatives.\u00a0 Of course, it includes this.\u00a0 But it is also something more.\u00a0 It is a demonstrable commitment to putting into action what we stand for as an educational and educating institution.\u00a0 These are the values at the heart of our strategy that are epitomised in the Hallam Difference.\u00a0\u00a0 We are committed to ensuring that everyone has access to the best opportunities, so that all students, regardless of ethnicity, gender or disability, can flourish.<\/p>\n

And for me flourishing is a key word here. How can we ensure \u2013 particularly as an applied university – that we are sufficiently knowledgeable of how we can best support our students to thrive, blossom and prosper and apply this to our own practice?\u00a0 Are we asking the right questions?\u00a0 Are we focusing in the right areas?\u00a0 For Shaping Futures these issues are of such importance that we have put in place an Evaluation and Impact Advisory Group to help us respond to them.\u00a0\u00a0 This Advisory Group will, of course, be concerned with whether the programmes of work we are putting in place are doing what they have been designed to do.\u00a0 Are they significantly improving our retention rates?\u00a0 Are gaps in attainment outcomes diminishing?\u00a0 Are we enabling all our students to achieve the levels of graduate employment we expect?\u00a0 Are NSS and other measures of our performance improving?<\/p>\n

But we are also focusing on an area of student experience that can actually remain unnoticed beneath these metrics.\u00a0 This is how our students\u2019 engagement with us and our engagement with them impacts on their sense of belonging and mattering.\u00a0 The core question here is \u2018do our students feel that they matter to us?\u2019\u00a0 We are therefore putting in place institution-wide research that is designed to explore issues of affect, mattering, friendship and belonging.\u00a0 These are areas of student experience that are under-researched and under-weighted in many institutional approaches.\u00a0 Here, we are innovating methodologically by drawing on the work of Emma Heron, Principal Lecturer in Politics, who has developed an approach she calls \u2018Listening Rooms\u2019.\u00a0 This is a data collection method that asks friends to discuss a number of topics of interest.<\/p>\n

Already we have learnt from Emma\u2019s early research.\u00a0 So, if you now ask me why students don\u2019t turn up to things, I no longer assume it is because they are scheduled at the \u2018wrong\u2019 time or they don\u2019t think it is worth turning up or all the other hypotheses I might have previously thought.\u00a0 Yes, these are still valid and need consideration.\u00a0 However, it might be that they don\u2019t turn up to a lecture because their mates aren\u2019t there or they don’t know anyone or they don\u2019t think they belong or even matter.\u00a0 And this is something that is very hard to say aloud except, perhaps, to your friends.<\/p>\n

Have a good start to the new academic year.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be a good one.<\/p>\n

Shaping Futures<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Professor Christina Hughes<\/strong><\/p>\n

For this edition of the Bulletin, I\u2019ve asked my colleague Dave Laughton<\/strong> to write an update:<\/p>\n

From strategy to implementation. The Shaping Futures Pillar Board is now sponsoring and overseeing work associated with a number of initiatives focused on Shaping Futures objectives. These are being led by various members of the SFPB, and although early days, there’s a real sense of energy and some positive developments:<\/p>\n