A sea of new students’ faces, some more eager than others, greets me on a rainy Monday morning during our welcome session. As another academic year begins, these postgraduate students have come from around the world to Leeds University Business School, bringing with them an array of academic, work and cultural experiences, as well as varied expectations and ambitions for their futures.
But how many of us take the time to discover what has brought each individual to this induction? What are their motivations and strengths? What skills do they have or need to develop over the next year? What does success look like to them?
Programme induction sessions are usually designed to give the students all the information they will need for the year ahead. This can range from module option information and students’ union offers to academic integrity and plagiarism policies. However, in the Human Resource Management master’s programmes, we dedicate one of the first induction sessions to the students’ professional development. This prompts them at the earliest opportunity to begin practising self-awareness and self-reflection through a series of questions as part of a personal statement task. The session marks the start of a comprehensive and integrated professional development offer, including weekly professional skills workshops, team challenges, simulations and assessed reflective videos and presentations.
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In this introductory session, students are introduced to the importance of self-reflection as part of their professional development. The programme is designed to provide opportunities for practising this skill, incorporating designated “stops” to facilitate reflective practice. This session prompts the start of students developing and refining this skill independently, as a vital component of lifelong learning.
To kick-start this initial reflective practice, I assign the first task: a 500-word personal statement to be submitted to their personal and professional tutor in the following weeks. I provide prompts such as:
- How would people describe you?
- What does “success” mean to you?
- Why did you choose to come to Leeds or choose this programme of study?
- What is the biggest life lesson you have learned to date?
This assignment not only prompts students to engage in reflective thinking but is also a valuable tool for fostering relationships with their personal tutors. Through these personal statements, students give their tutors an early understanding of their motivations and aspirations, and this can help make initial interactions smoother and lead to more meaningful relationships. All students meet with their personal tutors in semester one, and this is an opportunity to discuss a range of issues, including the content of the personal statement task. For those students who are less confident, this can be a useful tool for both parties on which to hang early conversations.
This induction session also emphasises the importance of self-reflection within the broader context of the skills students will be developing throughout the programme, and it is explicit in its intention. Students receive the message that we care about them, as individuals, and that the programme team are invested in their professional development learning journey. It might be easy to assume students will be practising self-reflection before, during and after their studies. However, my experience suggests this is not likely for all students and perhaps less likely for those who have previously studied in different educational environments, which may have been not pedagogically designed in this way. Being explicit here is important.
The personal statement is a living document, owned by the student. As part of the task, students are also asked to think about their goals for the coming year. It is widely accepted that when people write down or record personal goals, it increases their chances of success. Students are encouraged to review their statement at set points throughout the year, amending and updating as their learning journey progresses and their priorities and experiences develop.
So, while the introductory session reads as just another information-giving session in the student induction timetable, it is intended to be much more. We aim to ignite in the students something that other parts of the induction schedule do not. The session signifies the beginning of a journey where new students engage with themselves, reflect on their short- and long-term motivations, and consider what they want to achieve at Leeds and beyond.
I told my students today that by the end of this year they will have changed, that they will be different. Some looked on, wondering if the latte in the cafe next door would be as good as Starbucks, but on many faces, I saw excitement and anticipation that marked the beginning of what was next.
Marianne Savory is a lecturer in professional skills and curriculum development at the University of Leeds Business School.
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