Interviewing Sara Turkington

1)   What do you do as an LDA?

The role bridges between enhancing essential skills development and pastoral guidance. There’s a number of different classes which we might take for an hour or two depending of level of course and the sessions we do with our students, can be on for example equality and diversity. And health and well-being and employability. The 1 to 1 support with students involves talking about any issues they might have whether inside college or outside college.

 2)   What is the purpose of your job?

The purpose of my job is to develop essential skills, as well a pastoral guidance. This means we support the retention, achievement, progression of students. We work with curriculum/programmes team to support our students successfully of this course.

3)   How do you as an LDA help students?

I think a big part of our job is to listen as a way of supporting our students to be successful. That might mean we sign post them to other organisations or make referrals to our counselling service.

4)   What are the ups and downs of your job?

 Getting to know students and building a good relationship with them and feeling like I have contributed in some way to making their college life a good one.

Only so much help and support we can give and lots of our students have personal issues.

  

5)   What would you have done differently?

 As I was doing a lesson on discrimination, I did a experiment with the students. But looking back I had split my former step class into two groups by eye colour. I had treated the blue eyed group differently from the group that had mixed eye colour. At the end of experimenting with the students I had spoken to the students about it and a few students had gotten upset about the experiment. So I would be more sensitive and more aware of student’s previous experience.

6)   How many years have you been working as an LDA?

This is my 4^th year.