'I feel out of my depth': university lecturers in England on the impact of the pandemic

When the number of students infected with Covid-19 at the University of Birmingham rose sharply earlier this term, Gemma, a senior academic, hoped it would mean an end to in-person teaching. But this proved not to be the case.

“Our students are dropping like flies,” she said. “In my seminars roughly four to eight of 16 students attend. Yet the university insists we come in. To say we feel abandoned and disposable would be putting it too mildly.”

Lecturers across England told the Guardian they feel burnt out by the impact of the pandemic, in which tens of thousands of students have been infected since the start of term. Gemma said she was overwhelmed by the high volume of student emails about serious welfare issues, including many from those in self-isolation.

“Many of them say, ‘I’m confused, I’m frustrated, I’m barely hanging on’,” she said. “One student wrote to me saying, ‘I’m getting tested for Covid but I’m also starting to take medication for depression and who do I talk to?’ I feel out of my depth. I’m working 10 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week dealing with this. I was just sobbing the other night on the couch, just feeling like this is not sustainable.”

The responses to the Guardian’s callout reflect a survey by the University and College Union in which staff required to teach in-person said they have not had robust risk assessments, and their institution has not published plans to deal with a Covid-19 outbreak. This comes as the government announced a staggered return for students in the new year, with most courses only taught online for several weeks.

Janet, a sessional lecturer at another university in the Midlands, expressed fears over the safeguards put in place for in-person teaching. She said her classrooms either only have a tiny window at the far end or the windows “do not open more than an inch,” raising concerns that the virus will linger in the air due to the lack of ventilation.

“Yet we’re sent in with a face shield, as if that would protect us from aerosol transmission,” she said. “I am seriously terrified of going in, especially because we are hearing that students don’t report their symptoms in fear of being locked in [their accommodation].”

Helen, a senior lecturer at Oxford Brookes university, said being forced to teach on campus felt like being “on the set of a disaster movie, like Outbreak, but without the full biohazard kit.” She added: “I feel depressed as ever more students are forced to drop out of face-to-face contact as a housemate is diagnosed with Covid. Once busy campus buildings feel like ghost towns.”

Many staff said that having to teach both in-person and online, as well as supporting anxious and isolated students, has increased their hours by up to tenfold. Helen said: “I was given 60 hours for workload planning – it took 500 hours,” she said.” “Over Christmas I have to compress what I did over the whole summer whilst I’m marking. It’s going to be a nightmare.”

She added that her university’s insistence on providing ‘blended learning’, making staff simultaneously teach students on campus and those studying remotely, was “a nightmare”. She said: “Going around classrooms and talking to students in their small socially distanced groups, we don’t have time to go into the online breakout rooms to see if the students working remotely are actually doing anything.”

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Staff face unmanageable workloads and incredibly high levels of stress, constantly adjusting their teaching to ever-changing government guidelines and management demands, whilst colleagues and students yo-yo in and out of self-isolation and lockdown.”

Tom Gorman, 52, a senior lecturer in theatre at Coventry university, who has prior experience of online teaching, was one of a handful of academics who said they were coping with the crisis.

But he added that changing Covid regulations have complicated efforts to continue practical classes. “It’s been incredibly tough,” said Gorman. “Everything that we do has about 10 separate plans. We’re used to being a very lively course but now the building is quiet with small pods of students coming in for their practical classes and leaving immediately afterwards.”

His students were recently due to collaborate on a live performance with a London-based theatre company but the online event had to be cancelled because one of the student cast members tested positive for Covid. He added: “I think the students understand that we are trying our best to give them a great experience but we are all painfully aware that this is a shadow of what they should be doing on this course.”

A Birmingham university spokeswoman said: “Students have welcomed face-to-face contact. There is no evidence of transmission in teaching settings and our case numbers have continued to fall and are currently fewer than 25 over the last seven days.”

Oxford Brookes University was approached for comment.