You should get to know your tutees so that you can provide a genuine and informative reference for a prospective employer or for postgraduate study. It is expected that tutors will normally provide references to tutees upon request. Your tutees should help you in this process by making requests for references in a timely manner and by providing you with full details of the job or course for which they are applying. During their final year you may wish to use an individual tutorial meeting to work with your students to create their portfolio/summary of experiences. This gives you more information which helps you write a better reference for and it also helps the student articulate better the skills and abilities they have gained from their time in higher education.
In exceptional circumstances, you may feel unable to provide a reference for a tutee. If this occurs, you should politely refuse the students request, explaining why you are unable to provide a reference for them, and refer them to other colleagues who could produce an appropriate reference.