Lecturers union threaten strike action if forced to teach in person

[EnemyOfEducationNo1]

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/17/lecturers-warn-they-will-strike-if-forced-to-resume-unsafe-teaching

Good. This is my union though I work in a college not a university.

What do they mean by unsafe though? Masks and distancing should be ok surely? Is much easier to teach young adults than children..and there are less of them in much bigger lecture theatres.

I’m trying to teach face to face and my students have refused to come in. 🤷‍♀️

I'm really looking forward to teaching face to face again. Hoping to do so whenever the uni okays it. Students will wear masks and I will wear an FFP3 mask and goggles if the rates are still high, probably lower rated protection if rates have dropped by then and regular testing on campus. Just worried about whether the students will be able to hear me with my face covered! And I think attendance will be low to start with as the students seem pretty anxious.

NB: am still seeing medical students as usual in small groups, I'm talking proper large group teaching again! Numbers likely to be reduced but at least we can do several sessions in big rooms to make sure everyone has the choice to come in.

When I was at uni most lectures were in halls with around 100 to 150 students at a time. So far enough.

By the time uni would be allowed back. Say April it is to late in the term for them anyway.

There are so many options for reducing the risk of transmission at uni level, this really shouldn't be necessary.

Students have had the most godawful year, let's not add the threat of strikes to everything.

Oh joy. Glad I quit the union then. I felt very safe teaching at my university, everyone was masked and distanced. Staff cases were minimal.

Would any of you affected be happy if you could teach in ventilated socially distanced rooms, with everyone wearing cloth face coverings?

Thank you to all lecturers on here. My kids are desperate to get back and it’s been a particularly horrendous year for the freshers. All they want is a taste of uni life!

@EnemyOfEducationNo1 - our rooms will be well ventilated and socially distanced, and students will wear face covering. I'm happy to go back. I hope that lecture attendance rate is better than it usually is, perhaps the novelty will wear off after a while for them though!

@EnemyOfEducationNo1

Would any of you affected be happy if you could teach in ventilated socially distanced rooms, with everyone wearing cloth face coverings?

Absolutely

Thank you

Corona virus is just the latest in a long line of excuses for strike action by lecturers. Most of them, especially at Russell group institutions, are employed for their research and don't enjoy teaching and try and find any possible way out of it.

@EnemyOfEducationNo1

Would any of you affected be happy if you could teach in ventilated socially distanced rooms, with everyone wearing cloth face coverings?

I’ve been doing this up to Xmas.

We taught face-to-face last term and would be this term if it wasn't against government policy. Russell group, by the way.

Antisocial distancing is enforced and everybody wears masks, although face shields are encouraged for staff when actually teaching. Rooms are ventilated.

Yup, I'm also Russell group. I care a great deal about my research, but I care a great deal more about the students.

We have face-to-face larger group teaching plans in place and rooms booked so we can switch 'seamlessly' (okay, as seamlessly as possible) as soon as we are permitted to. The plans they have put in place to reduce risks are great. In some disciplines (e.g. medicine) we have been seeing students face to face throughout in smaller groups, safely.

Obviously can only speak from my own experience but am very happy to return to face to face when lockdown over. We have heavily restricted, spaced students in large ventilated rooms and I teach behind a screen. Cleaners come in immediately I finish. Obviously the amount of F2F is limited due to teaching space logistics, but it's valued by students, many of whom are struggling, and, as far as anything can be completely, delivered safely.

Oh and all students masked, obviously.

DD is a fresher and has had 5 hour-long sessions of small group face-to-face teaching for her entire first term. Those five occasions (with a PhD student) are the only times she's been into her department and met a handful of people from her course. She's never been into the library, never met her personal tutor and has been the student union only once (seated tables, booked ahead). She's now stuck back at home and unable to return to her halls.
I don't mind you teaching online next term but my heart breaks at the idea of strikes on top of this. She's so sad and disappointed at what her university experience has been so far.

@Quarks69

What do they mean by unsafe though? Masks and distancing should be ok surely? Is much easier to teach young adults than children..and there are less of them in much bigger lecture theatres.

Except that for all the messages from the SLT, at my university there is no enforcement of mask wearing and social distancing and half of the students ignore the rules. So no, it's not safe until the SLT puts safety over student feelings

I must say my students have behaved impeccably with regards to social distancing and masks.

I think it’s completely unacceptable how often lecturers strike. When you compare their working conditions to school teachers especially at the moment. Most lecture theatres they will be at least 2m from students, can wear masks if they wish and the vast majority of students will be compliant and wear face coverings,SD correctly etc. I work at a Russell group university doing face to face teaching (dentistry) so we wear full PPE but do have to get close in small groups to students to teach. Some of our staff have just refused point blank (despite not being CEV, elderly etc) to teach. Why is that an option when mitigation is in place for a safety when my children’s teachers are in a stuffy room with 30 children.

It would also be a massive kick in the teeth to the students paying £9k a year for barely any face to face teaching and a lot of stress and loneliness for the last year.

I think it’s completely unacceptable how often lecturers strike

I think it's unacceptable how badly they strike. They always strike in a way to causes as little disruption as possible. What is the point of that? If you are going to strike, you need your employer to think their entire business is going to go under if they don't come up with a compromise.

Yes the strikes tend to hurt the students not the employers. I don't think they should even be talking about strikes right now.

Unless a lecturer is vulnerable I think they need to realise they are not being asked to do anything particularly risky, not compared to loads of other people who have been working throughout.