It is important that tutors maintain records of tutorial meetings with individual students. Tutees are required to complete and share with you a tutorial meeting record prior to attending an individual tutorial meeting. You can add notes and action points to this record which summarise your conversation and clarify agreed actions. It is good practice to involve your tutees in summarising tutorial discussions and agreeing on actions. This will result in students having greater involvement with their personal development, and you will also be demonstrating that you expect your tutee to take responsibility for carrying out the actions. Notes made on the tutorial meeting record are visible to the student, so you should ensure that any notes you record are concise, factual, and non-judgemental. You should refrain from recording opinions in meeting notes, but where recording an opinion is unavoidable, you should make it clear in your notes that this is an opinion and not a fact.
In addition to the meeting records you share with students, you may also find it useful to maintain your own confidential notes. These may be useful if you are asked to produce a record of your meetings (e.g. as part of a student appeal) or when the student asks you for a reference. You should be aware of the implications of GDPR, data protection and freedom of information legislation, and that students have a right to see any notes held about them. For this reason, you should ensure that your own notes are factual, non-judgemental, and clearly identify opinions. If you do take your own notes and feel the need to share them with another colleague within the institution, you should seek the student’s permission before doing so. The student always has the right to insist that you do not share your notes about them with others.