Laurence shares more detail about their practice us and how they felt about being shortlisted for a Bristol Teaching Award.
- Which Award were you shortlisted for?
Personal tutoring award
- How did you feel when you found out you had been shortlisted for an Award?
Delighted and honoured. I know how much work my colleagues put into caring for their students; to be singled out in this way, if perhaps a little unfair (!), was certainly a pleasure!
- Can you tell us a little bit about your practice and why you were nominated?
I think it was a combination of doing the basic things well (i.e., being there as a sounding board and source of advice when my personal tutees need me) and, where necessary, going a bit further to help students in especially difficult circumstances. In the case of the latter, this has meant identifying what kind of pastoral care is needed by them individually, rather than assuming that the same approach will work for all students.
- What inspires you to go the extra mile with your teaching?
I love teaching, and I value seeing students respond to texts and authors with the same sense of excitement that I do. In the case of many students, anxieties and certain external influences and pressures can sometimes prevent them from being able to do this. My aim as a personal tutor is to help them navigate sometimes complex institutional systems, and to ensure that they feel that they can approach me in the first instance with any pastoral issues they might be facing, so that they can maintain (or, if necessary, rediscover) the love of reading and thinking about literature that brought them to Bristol in the first place.