Pastoral support

Providing effective pastoral support

It is often difficult to say where academic guidance ends and pastoral care begins, but pastoral support is generally considered to be the mental and emotional well being and welfare of the student. For example, a paper by Sayer et al (see Further Reading) reports that stress among medical students is a well recognised problem. Helping a student to deal with stress is a pastoral care activity.

Sayer et al also note the provision of pastoral care can impact on learning by improving a student's mental and emotional well being and creating a culture in which mistakes can be acknowledged and valued as learning experiences. Sayer et al note that ultimately, good pastoral care may lead to better examination results, improved student retention and completion rates, reduced psychological stress and increased student satisfaction.

Pastoral support includes supporting students:

• in identifying and achieving career and professional aspirations;
• applying for jobs, scholarships or bursaries;
• with special educational needs (such as dyslexia or dyspraxia);
• with physical or sensory impairment or disability;
• with mental health or emotional difficulties;
• who are parents or who have other domestic responsibilities;
• from other countries and cultures, especially if they are in Auckland or New Zealand on their own or for the first time;
• with finance, accommodation or visa issues;
• who have been subject to bullying or harassment; and
• in other personal or professional circumstances. 

As an educator you are not expected to provide the full range of pastoral care yourself; however, you do need to be aware of university and other support agencies that are available to help students to deal with the wide range of issues that may arise in a pastoral care situation. For example, students may come to discuss physical health problems and/or mental health problems and/or a conflict with another student and/or a conflict with a teacher and/or philosophical/religious issues to do with meaning in their lives.

A good place to start:

• Student Support and Services: You will find a comprehensive list of links about accommodation, healthcare, counselling, support groups, study areas and advocacy services.

• University of Auckland Postgraduate Support : A page that provides links to specialised support for postgraduate students.

• Computer Assisted Learning for the Mind (CALM) website :This website produced by Antonio Fernando and Fiona Moir at the University of Auckland, is a resource designed to help students to manage their emotional well-being.

Unless you have serious grounds to believe that a student is a danger to themselves or others (in which case you need to inform someone who can deal with this professionally and do not need the student's consent) it is good practice to consult with the student and gain their agreement about who you need to discuss issues with, how the process will be taken forward and any consequences for the student. In the vast majority of cases, a student who asks for help will be very pleased that you are helping them to deal with their problems.