Compassionate communications in higher education: Practical resources for the University of Plymouth to support communication with students
- William Brown
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Across the higher education sector, universities are committing to the principles of compassionate communication. The University of Plymouth identified the importance of going beyond principles to embed the practice of compassionate communication more consistently across all of its activities. Plinth House worked with colleagues across the University to develop resources to support staff in their day-to-day communication with students.
The result is a practical suite of video and written resources for everyday use in emails, policies and one-to-one conversations. ⏬ Watch the short video Plymouth is using to promote the new resources.
The challenge - practical guidance for compassionate communication in higher education
‘Compassionate communication’ may have become a familiar term across higher education in recent years, but much of the high-level guidance available to universities, such as the Academic Registrars’ Council (ARC) commitment on compassionate communication, does not always guide the detail of everyday interactions.
The University of Plymouth wanted a set of resources that would support good communication with students in any context, while also reflecting the more complex situations staff sometimes need to manage.
This meant recognising that compassionate communication is not simply about being kind in the moment. Colleagues often need to set boundaries, deliver bad news, and communicate clearly without mismanaging student expectations or creating false hope. Our aim was to develop guidance that reflects this reality.
The University set out to:
Commission a high-quality set of practical resources for staff
Support greater consistency in student-facing communication
Embed good practice through manageable, continuous improvement
Our approach
We worked closely with colleagues across the University to scope the project, develop and test draft content, and refine the resources for use in practice.
This collaborative process combined Plymouth’s understanding of its own context, language and priorities with Plinth House’s experience of student support, including the challenges of student-facing work, across the sector.
The solution
The result is a concise suite of video and written resources designed to support the main ways in which staff communicate with students.
The final suite of resources includes:
A video exploring what we mean by ‘compassion’ in practice
A video focusing on compassionate one-to-one conversations with students
Written guidance on emails and letters to students
Written guidance on student-facing policies and procedures
Each resource is designed for everyday use, so that colleagues across the University can dip into them as needed.
We also produced the following short (90-second) video to introduce colleagues across the University to the new resources.
“Working with Plinth House has enabled us to develop and launch a full set of materials that would have been very difficult for us to find the time to draft or produce in-house. This project has enabled us to create something genuinely practical for colleagues – a suite of resources authentic to Plymouth, which is helping us to build an even more consistent approach across the University. The resources are also an important contribution to our wider institutional initiatives on student mental health and the student experience.”
Dr Steve Gaskin
Academic Registry Associate Director (Student Support and Experience)
University of Plymouth
A Plinth House perspective
Through this project with the University of Plymouth, we aimed not only to support colleagues in their work with students, but also to give the wider institution a practical foundation and shared framework for understanding, reviewing and improving student-facing communication over time. This project also drew on Plinth House’s wider training and consultancy work, which is always geared towards helping colleagues to feel confident when navigating more complex or higher-risk conversations.
“We are grateful to the many colleagues at Plymouth whose input helped ensure that the resources are grounded in the University’s context. From the outset, we were clear that the resources we were producing for the University of Plymouth needed to be directly applicable to the realities of day-to-day work in higher education. It was a pleasure to bring our experience of complex casework and student support into resources that will support practice at the University in the years ahead.”
Levi Pay
Director
Plinth House
Interested in finding out more about the resources we produced for the University of Plymouth?
The University of Plymouth has kindly given us permission to share elements of the final set of resources with colleagues at other institutions.
If your institution is looking to make compassionate communication more practical, consistent and sustainable, we would be happy to talk through what we learned from the project and, where helpful, share elements of the resource suite.
Arrange a quick video call with William at Plinth House to explore what might be most useful in your context.
