Welcome Week Takeover Day 2: The Value of Consistency - How A Shared Approach To Welcome Can Underpin Student Success

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 By Samuel Dougherty

"Consistency": The word is used so often in educational settings and in directions we give to students.

  • "Make sure you are consistent in taking notes"
  • "Consistently revisit topics you’ve studied to aid retention of information"
  • "Consistently complete seminar reading"
  • "Consistently practising a skill will lead to confidence and proficiency"


However, there is a risk that, while we may acknowledge the need for consistency in approach by students in order to progress, as individuals, consistency in a whole provider approach can be overlooked. This may be for many reasons and usually not deliberate: large workloads, limited time and multiple commitments mean that we may start to focus more specifically on our own subject area or section of professional services in order to "get the job done" without considering how it fits into the bigger picture or impacts upon student experience.

The Welcome and Transition Oversight Group have been working on ensuring greater consistency in approaches to Welcome Week across academic schools. This drive for consistency aligns with the University’s inclusive education guidance and is also supported by student feedback through events such as the Student Experience Panel Townhall, in which participants spoke highly of their experiences where there was consistency in messaging, approaches and terminology. Importantly, consistency during Welcome Week helps to support an extended transition period through which students benefit from being given time to absorb important messages over a number of weeks, rather than all in one go.

In line with this, the Welcome and Transition Oversight Group has developed a number of new resources that have been shared across academic schools. These include terminology guidelines, a set of Welcome and Transitions Principles and a staff facing Welcome Week site with important information and that links to a repository of useful resources. A new slide deck for Welcome Meetings has also been produced and shared with School Experience Managers to be used by staff who are involved with these presentations in Welcome Week.




At the heart of the work around Welcome is supporting students to feel that they belong at the University of Sheffield. A sense of belonging underpins success at university and one key way that we can support students is consistency - particularly in relation to how students feel they are being supported through their programmes of study. 

There is an expectation from students that some things will be the same as their peers on other programmes e.g. clarity around how they will be assessed or having consistency across Blackboard course layouts. Engaging with underlying principles of consistency helps to  provide strong foundations from which students feel they can take risks and flourish. Interesting comments from members of the Student Experience Panel highlighted that when there is consistency across programmes for example, they can focus on their studies rather than being distracted by concerns or questions related to issues such as lengthy waits for assignment feedback.

It’s important to be clear that the drive for consistency is not a drive to remove individuality or the many nuanced approaches that are required across the University in order to deliver programmes in a relevant and engaging way. Ensuring consistency in fundamentals, such as common terminology, means that students are able to understand their environment more readily and focus on what is important - the content and skills related to their Programme and engaging in University life. 

It is vital that we all play a role in demystifying elements of higher education and allow students to understand the “hidden curriculum”. Elevate has put together some great guidance that supports staff to unpick certain assumptions around HE and better understand the needs of our students in relation to Welcome and beyond.

Consistency supports both the initial transition to university and through to different years of study and Welcome Week is the perfect opportunity for us all to reflect on our own practice and commit to shared approaches that will underpin student engagement and success.

Sam Dougherty is Student Success and Inclusion Adviser on the Student Success and Inclusion team. He has worked in a wide range of schools, colleges and HE institutions with a focus on supporting underrepresented student engagement.