In the run-up to this year’s Proud to Be Staffs awards we decided to speak to some of the event’s past winners so they could share their experience and the secrets to their success.
Multiple winner Louis Martin, who most notably received last year’s Personal Tutor accolade, is a senior lecturer at the university’s School of Law. We asked him how he felt about winning this coveted title.
“Getting nominated as a personal tutor is very nice and I found it a great honour that the students took the time to nominate me,” Louis said.
“But it wasn’t something I was mindful of at the time. Providing people with help and being there for them is part of the day job, so it’s almost just like a natural thing.
“It came as a pleasant surprise really, but I’ll be honest I don’t think it was just my personal tutees that voted for me. I think it was other people who came to me and I became their surrogate personal tutor, because they couldn’t find their own personal tutors or their own personal tutors had gone. I had dozens of students come in and say ‘I’ve never spoken to a personal tutor’.”
It was at this point a student, possibly one of Louis’ tutees, popped his head through the door looking for advice. That seems to be the secret to Louis’ achievement: his door is always open, even during an interview. He insisted it wasn’t staged.
He continued: “Other people would probably think I go the extra mile, but the role of a tutor is a full-time job, it’s not a vocation. So I think one of the reasons I probably won this award was because I come to work and do a full day at the university.”
“In the modern higher educational institutions the lecturer has to be available. They have to be available even if it sometimes comes at the price of not being able to do their own thing; researching or doing the more glamorous side of lecturing. It’s important to deal with the day-to-day needs of the students and that they get the first crack of my time. That’s how I see it but others will think ‘I don’t think so’.
“The bottom line is, and a lot of other lecturers will not like what I have to say, you’ve only got x amount of time, you might have your own career and research and your own aspirations, but at the end of the day you need to balance that with the demands of the students who are paying your wages.”
Louis’ recipe for success in his award, or more aptly for becoming a good personal tutor, is simple: “Availability, patience, empathy, knowledge of the university in respect to its infrastructure and being able to signpost students to the right place.”
Tellingly, neither reputation nor knowledge of subject make the list. No doubt some of his peers will disagree, but Louis’ popularity with students is hard to argue with.
“I didn’t go out of my way to get any of these awards, but I was very proud to get them. I’m pleased, for the students as well, because some of those who nominated me came into my office and felt that they were responsible for it.
“I live in Staffordshire, two of my children were born in Staffs, so I am a Staffs-based person. I came here as a student doing my post-graduate course and had an amazing experience myself. I am proud to be Staffs.”