Uni placement - how do I explain this to them?

[tomissmymum]

I’ve contacted uni and waiting on a reply .

I’m due to be going on placement next week for university (remote, I’d be away from home) . It would involve a three hour round trip and four night away from home minimum .

I’m currently FT carer for my mum, she’s got strongly suspected early onset dementia, had a seizure last week, ended up with psychotic like symptoms (hallucinating/delusions) and has been started on strong medication (anti psychotic and an SSRI) and needs 24 hour care . I can’t access respite at the time needed for placement, despite asking well in advance, so I can’t go .

My GP has said even if I could go that I need a proper break, and has signed me off sick for a fortnight .

I don’t know what I’m best doing, do I email my placement tutor and just say, this has happened and I can’t go - or do I say that it’s just a family emergency? I’m not sure what’s the most professional and correct thing to do. I woke up at 2am in a blind panic over it all, I don’t want to cause problems for the folk that have organised my placement but it’s just not realistic at all just now, sadly .

Tell them exactly what is going on. They will understand and giving them the details will help them find a solution that will work for you

I’d speak to your tutor and tell them what’s happened.
I’m a uni lecturer, and if you just said ‘family emergency’ to me I’d think you needed the placement put back maybe a couple of weeks. If you gave me the full story I’d realise I needed to be trying to find an alternative placement that would be doable for you.

I stupidly never thought of contacting my placement tutor directly (they’re separate from academic staff so only meet them once or twice), I’ll contact her just now . Thanks .

yes, I’m hoping mum will be moving into sheltered housing asap and that I’ll be able to complete placement during resit exam period later in the summer but am a bit panicked as my resit list is stacking up, so far that’s four full assignments and one online quiz thing and another oral exam too .

Another lecturer here. Totally agree with igivein that knowing as much info as possible helps us to come up with a solution that's actually workable for you.

Get in touch with your personal tutor and/or course leader, explain about your mum, and ask for advice on managing your resits. There may be options such as deferral, leave of absence to give you a bit of space to catch up, etc. You may not want to go down any of those routes, but having the conversation means you are informed and can make the decision that's right for you, and your course leader knows that you need support.

The thing that really bothers me is when a student actually needed support all along, but didn't let us know (or not in enough detail) so we couldn't help in time. Then they get to the end of the course with disappointing marks, there are no more support/deferral options available, and they leave with a degree that doesn't reflect their true abilities. If your course tutors are decent, they will genuinely want to help.

Another lecturer here agreeing with the others. Your situation is actually quite tricky and difficult and beyond the usual (frankly often bollox ) student excuses labelled as “family difficulties “. Think of all the dead grannies at exam time!

pPlease them what you’ve told us here so your tutors can have a productive conversation with you about what to do. It’s not simply a matter of rescheduling and it’ll be useful for them to know the circumstances you’re dealing with.

This.

I get really frustrated and it’s distressing when students with really serious challenges don’t seek out the assistance they need.

Particularly when I also have to deal with the chancers who just need to pull their fingers out.

It’s not cheating or weakness. It’s about helping you to cope and schistosomiasis the best of your abilities.

schistosomiasis?

Your autocorrect is more exciting than mine.

Oh gosh!

I meant achieve