University lecturers post images of empty classrooms as they slam students failing to turn up to seminars: Teachers blame rise in online courses in a ‘pandemic hangover’ and undergraduates being forced to take on full-time jobs to survive
- University lecturers have been posting images of their empty classrooms
- Lecturers believe students don’t attend and then use materials uploaded online
- The ‘demoralising’ occurrence could also be due to students needing a job
University lecturers are posting ‘demoralising’ images of their empty classrooms and and slamming students for failing to turn up to their seminars.
Disheartened teachers who have been stood up by their students are blaming the ‘pandemic hangover’ of uploading lectures and resources online – allowing them to stay at home.
Lecturers also suggested more undergrads are unable to attend due to being forced to take on jobs amid a cost-of-living crisis.
Dr Peter Olusoga, a psychology lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, posted pictures of empty classrooms alongside the caption: ‘Dearest Students, I don’t want to hear a single word of complaint from you EVER, about ANYTHING.’
Dr Olusoga said it is ‘genuinely demoralising’ when none of his students attend his lectures, but added it is ‘important to ask why this is happening’.
One argument he suggested was that students ‘think they’re paying for a degree’ rather than for ‘access to an education’ and therefore think they do not have to show up.
Despite the no-shows for lectures, students were scrambling for university places this year, after all restrictions had been lifted, with a higher than usual number of applications.
Though the desire to not attend lectures in person can be seen by the rise in teenagers going to study at the Open University – allowing them to live at home and work through the cost of living crisis.
University lecturers have been posting images of empty classrooms and blasting students for not showing up
Dr Peter Olusoga, a psychology lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, expressed his frustration at the ‘demoralising’ situation
Some lecturers are blaming the ‘pandemic hangover’ of uploading lectures and resources online – allowing students to stay at home
Laura Loyola, a geography lecturer at the University of Leeds, had none of her students show up to their final class of the term.
She tweeted: ‘I’m honestly really worried what is going on with students across the sector because this is not an insulated case.
‘We need wider structural changes because this is not sustainable for anyone.’
Her colleague at the university, Dr Leah Henrickson, said the same happened to her last week and that she then ‘spent 45 minutes crying in a colleague’s office after’.
In response some suggesting they were watching the lecture online afterwards, to Ulster University’s Dr Carla McCabe said: ‘We don’t record, and worryingly, they still don’t come!’
Dr Olusoga said: ‘From a student’s perspective, not turning up to class is like setting fire to a £20 note.
‘Maybe it’s me? Maybe I’m s**t at my job? Well, that might be true, but anecdotally, this is a problem across the board, not just in my sessions.’
In a long Twitter thread the lecturer argued that there may be several reasons why there are empty classrooms, beyond it just being winter and near the end of term.
Laura Loyola, a geography lecturer at the University of Leeds, had none of her students show up to their final class of the term
Students may not be turning up due to a ‘shift’ in motivations, where students see university as just ‘the thing that you do after school’ and are happy to do the bare minimum
Dr Olusoga suggested that some students have to work jobs while studying in order to survive and could struggle to attend due to the logistics.
Another reasons could be that online resources allow students to study without having to attend in person.
Many studying will have spent time attending lectures virtually during lockdowns and prefer this method as they can go over the lecture at their convenience.
A third reason was due to a ‘shift’ in motivations, where students see university as just ‘the thing that you do after school’ and are happy to do the bare minimum.
Dr Olusoga said: ‘paying £9K to go to Uni has had an unquestionably negative impact on… everything.
‘Many students (and parents) think they’re paying for a degree, but the reality is they’re paying for access to an education.
‘So the student may well be a “customer”. But if I’m a customer at Virgin Active and I spend 3 yrs sitting in the cafe eating donuts & drinking mocha-choca flat white, pumpkin-spiced lattes (look, I don’t drink coffee ok!), I can’t complain if I don’t look like The Rock in 3 years.’
The lecturer also described instances when students do attend his classes but don’t even respond to him saying ‘hello’.
He expressed concern about a ‘generation who have literally nothing to say for themselves’.
He added: ‘I’ll ask if there’s anything they’ve found interesting, or anything they’ve enjoying and largely, this is met with a shrug, and a “meh”.
‘It is equally tragic whether it’s because there’s literally nothing they find remotely interesting, or whether they just cannot articulate it.’
Some of the Twitter thread posted by Dr Peter Olusoga about students not showing up
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