Maintaining professional boundaries between Staff and Students

Maintaining professional boundaries

Staff should be aware that the following situations can be misconstrued and so are not without risk. Therefore, to protect both parties, staff are strongly advised to maintain clear professional boundaries and to consider carefully before: 

• Meeting a student one-to-one outside of office hours and/or off campus, particularly where alcohol may be available
• Corresponding with a student one-to-one on anything unrelated to the student’s course of study or their university residence
• Befriending and communicating with a student on a personal basis via any social media channels
• Sharing their personal information or problems with a student
• Physically comforting/embracing a student and/or using terms of endearment
• Giving a student a gift or lending or borrowing items/money to or from a student.

Staff must also: 

• Acknowledge and respect that it is perfectly acceptable for a student to deem the above interactions as out of the ordinary and/or inappropriate and so fully within their right to decline
• Respect and consider cultural and language differences which could lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding of, for example gestures, words, jokes, ‘banter’ etc
• Be mindful that it is a criminal office for someone in a position of trust to engage in any sexual activity with a person under 18 years of age to whom that trust is extended.

Guidance on unacceptable behaviour towards students and apprentice learners: 

Please note that the below is not an exhaustive list of examples: 

• Physical touching, that could be construed as sexualised (e.g. touches of the shoulder or squeezes of the leg), or comments or questions of a sexual nature (whether verbally or electronically)
• Paying undue special attention to a particular student which may be seen as grooming
• Accepting gifts from a student, unless it is following final assessment completion and deemed to be a minor token of thanks
• Inviting an individual student to your private home or room, or visiting their home or room, including while at conferences, overseas trips, or on placement
• Asking a student to care for your child, or to house sit whilst on holidays, or perform any other personal services or work-related duties.

Maintaining Appropriate Relationships

To maintain appropriate relationships with students, and to help reduce the risk of sexual misconduct, abuse of power or conflict of interest, staff should: 

• Maintain an appropriate physical and emotional distance from students and perform their university duties in the best interests of the University without favour towards any individual student over another student.
• Avoid creating special friendships with students as this may be seen as grooming.
• Use a university email account, University telephone, University software and applications and internet access for communications with student avoiding personal messaging or use of any other forms of digital messaging (such as through Messenger or X.
• Set an example by writing and communicating with students in a professional and business style. Any email sent to a student or a colleague about a student may be disclosed to the student or their legal representative, for example under data protection law.
• Give careful consideration before giving their personal mobile phone number to a student. Sometimes it may be unavoidable, for example when they are arranging and taking part in conferences or organising field trips. University of Wolverhampton communication channels such as email or Microsoft Teams should be used as an alternative but may not always be practicable. Staff are encouraged to use their work telephone numbers which may be diverted to the staff member’s personal mobile.

Where staff have a primary role of providing supervision, teaching, or pastoral care to students (including personal tutors), staff should: 

• Ensure that meetings and discussions occur on campus or other University-approved premises and formally recorded in colleagues’ diaries and any notes taken are to be typed up and retained in a word document or email folder.
• Refer students with support needs to a relevant University support service and limit your role in providing personal support to a student where this is not part of your employment duties.
• Refrain from contacting students outside of reasonable working hours.
• Not seek personal information from a student except as relevant to a university process (e.g. medical information for special consideration, or personal circumstances information as part of an academic progress process).

Relationships with students or staff under the age of 18 or who are an "adult at risk" 

Members of staff must not be in, or enter, a close personal or intimate relationship with a student or staff member under the age of 18, or an adult known or suspected to be at risk, for whom they have any responsibility for, or involvement in, that person’s academic studies and/or personal welfare. 

Staff must not engage in sexual behaviour with someone with whom they are in a position of trust. Whilst a young person can consent to sexual activity once they reach the age of 16 in the United Kingdom, the Sexual Offences Act (2003) makes it a criminal offence for a person to engage in sexual activity of any kind with a person under the age of 18, where the adult is in a position of trust. 

Anyone suspecting a member of staff of acting inappropriately towards a student or staff member under the age of 18 or an adult at risk has a safeguarding obligation to inform the Safeguarding Team via safeguarding@wlv.ac.uk who may then contact the local authority designated officer and/or the police. Failure to report may lead to disciplinary action and be considered as gross misconduct. 

Inappropriate and Unacceptable Behaviour 

The University will not tolerate any form of sexual harassment, i.e. any unwanted conduct related to the protected characteristic of gender which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual. 

It therefore considers the following to be examples of behaviour which are inappropriate and unacceptable, and which could lead to disciplinary action: 

• Any form of unwanted physical contact
• Unwelcome attention or advances of a romantic or sexual nature, in person or in writing (including electronic communication such as text, email or social media posts)
• Use of sexually suggestive images and/or language
• Coercion i.e. attempts to persuade someone to do something, e.g. engage in intimacy, through use of force or threat of something not being granted or being withdrawn
• Suggestion of reward/privilege for sexual favours
• Grooming or predatory behaviour.