More than just teaching: Mentoring needs to embrace wider university life

“You will need to get your SAR to the DMG ASAP, otherwise they won’t be able to present it to FET and that is when the ULG get involved and I’m sure you know what that means….” 

Anyone who has worked in higher education for a period of time would probably know what you meant. Even if the nomenclature might differ between organisations, the structure, processes and approaches remain broadly similar, so whether it is a Faculty Executive Team, a Group or a Collective, you know that if an acronym begins with F, it means it is senior. 

However, what about if you have just started your career? Of course, you can ask for clarification, but many people dislike asking for help. The fear is that it makes them look weak or as though they don’t belong. Many academics talk about having an imposter syndrome and not knowing, merely reinforces this. So, to help ease them into the often confusing world of higher education, our call is for early career mentoring to include the hidden curriculum of university culture rather than just focus on teaching and research to ensuring a positive student experience and publication of journal articles. 

“My main aim was to help produce a young man who left the academy with an all-round view of life” (McRae, 2023) 

The words were spoken by Lucy Ward, now a noted football analyst but previously Head of Education and Welfare at Leeds United. As so often in our blogs, we turn to sport for inspiration and the case described above provides some good evidence regarding the importance of the wider person. Ward’s role came about due to concerns the club and the wider football sector had over the development of young players. Not on the field, but when they left the cosseted world of the football pitch. The temptations of life for those often armed with large contracts and a lack of experience were the reason why the club decided to introduce the role of a guide through the maelstrom of temptations faced. 

Now let’s go back to Ward’s quote and replace ‘man’ with ‘academic’ and ‘academy’ with ‘university’ and this takes us to our point of view. Historically mentoring in the university sector has focused on one specific aspect of the role. This might be teaching, assessing or support in achieving a particular qualification. Whilst this might well be useful and we are certainly not suggesting anything other than support for this, by its very nature it is transactional in nature rather than transformational. Once the standard has been reached or the award achieved, the mentoring stops, the goal has been achieved. 

Where this leaves us is with many new academics having to navigate a landscape that is full of inculcated knowledge that only time, or an appropriate support mechanism, can navigate. Acronyms are only one part of this landscape, others include navigating the complexities of balancing various parts of your workload, understanding what is key to the role and what is merely a ‘good to have’ and how to manage colleagues.  

Performance mentoring in sport is often based around handling pressure situations, dealing with setbacks and building confidence; all of which are relatable to education. In short, building confidence and resilience in an everchanging environment is key. 

The call for more comprehensive mentoring schemes 

So, what we are asking for is not more bureaucracy, but better stewardship of academic talent, a more comprehensive mentoring scheme for all new academics, focused not just on the teaching and research aspects of the role but the wider concept of being an academic. Whilst there are some good examples of this, at best this is patchy and done at local level rather than being driven by a commitment from the central university. Just as Lucy Ward did with her young charges at Leeds United, universities need mentors who help early career academics understand not just how to teach, but how the place works. If we want people to thrive, and to stay, mentoring must reflect the full reality of academic life and, of course, so that they know that once FET gets involved, you had better focus on your SAR. 

Reference: 

McRae, D. (2023), I loved Leeds … now I look at the club through different eyes, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jun/04/lucy-ward-football-abuse-commentary-leeds-united (accessed 30th April 2026)