Policy Pitstop: Conducting risk assessments in complex student cases (free event)

When a complex student case arises, a well-constructed risk assessment can provide a clearer basis for making difficult decisions.

But how confident are you that your current risk assessment template asks the right questions – and that the resulting assessment would stand up to an appeal, complaint or external scrutiny?

On 17 November, Plinth House will launch a new student risk assessment workbook, created to support a more structured, transparent and defensible approach to assessing risk in complex cases.

We are making the workbook freely available to the higher education sector under a Creative Commons licence. Your institution will be able to download it, use it as it is, borrow from it or adapt it to suit your own context.

What you’ll gain from this 50-minute event

• A practical walkthrough of the new workbook and how to use it

• A clear way to identify, analyse and record relevant risks in complex cases

• Prompts to support consistent and proportionate decision-making

• A resource you can take away and adapt for your institution

Join us at 3pm on 17 November to see the workbook, explore how it can strengthen your practice and be among the first to receive a copy of this new resource.

Only live attendees at this event will receive early access to the risk assessment workbook for the sector – general access to the workbook for the sector will be provided at a later stage.

We are not yet decided on whether we will release a recording of this session; however, we will be recording the event both for our own internal purposes and in case we do decide to share part or all of the recording.

Who is the event for?

Our free 50-minute online event is open to anyone with an interest in student risk assessment. It will be especially useful for colleagues who coordinate or contribute to complex student case management, including work relating to:

• student conduct and disciplinary cases

• harassment and sexual misconduct

• fitness to study / support for study

• fitness to practise

• fitness to reside

• safeguarding disclosures and concerns

• criminal conviction disclosures

• other serious incidents

You do not need to be a risk specialist to take part. The session is designed to be practical and relevant to institutions of every size, including teams that manage complex cases without dedicated specialist roles.