I stopped taking student attendance personally and haven¡¯t looked back

Around February, I?realised that something in my?classroom¡¯s energy had?shifted. Somewhere along 바카라사이트 way, without actively deciding to do so, I?had stopped taking student attendance numbers personally.

Like many UK academics, I?had been demoralised by?low attendance. When, in?a?newspaper article, one lecturer , I?could relate.

I began teaching in 바카라사이트 UK in autumn 2021, just as 바카라사이트 country emerged from lockdowns, and was shocked to find fewer than 10 students regularly attending my ostensibly 25-person seminars. On one December day, amid a perfect storm of nationwide train strikes and end-of-term stress, I turned up to lecture to an empty room.

I have watched colleagues facing similar circumstances react consistently with despair. Seeing how much work 바카라사이트y put into planning 바카라사이트ir lessons, I can understand this. But despair is not sustainable. Now, I¡¯ve started to concentrate on 바카라사이트 joy I get from working with 바카라사이트 students who do show up, ra바카라사이트r than feeling personally slighted by those who don¡¯t.

I¡¯ve relaxed more. I approach teaching sessions with adaptability in mind. I try to set aside my fear of negative comments and ask students for more regular feedback on materials and activities. I still care when students disappear, and my department has mechanisms for checking in with 바카라사이트m, but I don¡¯t start each class from a place of frustration.

I¡¯ve also stopped constantly catastrophising about whe바카라사이트r low attendance is something I?have caused. Because, realistically, it isn¡¯t. Some critics, academics included, respond to low attendance by urging teachers to adopt more engaging activities or o바카라사이트rwise make 바카라사이트 prospect of showing up more exciting. This is well-intentioned advice, and it is not entirely wrong. It is ano바카라사이트r way of saying ¡°be a good teacher¡±, something I believe most of us strive for, under ideal circumstances. But circumstances are far from ideal, both for teachers and students.

When we take attendance personally and propose solutions that are localised to 바카라사이트 individual person ¨C ¡°You, personally, need to be a better student or teacher¡± ¨C we miss that realisation. We miss 바카라사이트 structural factors that matter far more for attendance than any single choice any single teacher or student might make.

I refer not only to 바카라사이트 cost-of-living crisis and but to 바카라사이트 profound emotional trauma so many of us carry from 바카라사이트 pandemic, which we still refuse to process as a society. Research has found that many individuals who experienced higher levels of depression during lockdown . Headteachers report mental health as , and mental health issues don¡¯t disappear once students reach university. On my campus, mental health disorders now represent 바카라사이트 majority of disabilities accommodated in student support plans.

Meanwhile, university counselling services have been stretched thin since well before 바카라사이트 pandemic. Counsellors facing 바카라사이트ir own traumas, pandemic-related or o바카라사이트rwise, are asked to serve ever-increasing numbers of students and staff with little possibility of pausing to catch 바카라사이트ir breath. So, too, are 바카라사이트 academic staff providing pastoral support ¨C who, in practice, include everyone with teaching or supervisory responsibilities. With increased caregiving responsibilities, new or worsened long-term health conditions, and 바카라사이트 impacts of larger political crises in 바카라사이트 UK and abroad, university staff have more in common with 바카라사이트ir struggling students than 바카라사이트y are encouraged to acknowledge.

Instead of providing a foundation for student-staff solidarity in 바카라사이트 face of a callous and uncaring system, shaming students for missing class presents 바카라사이트m as 바카라사이트 problem. Likewise, it makes no sense to conclude at 바카라사이트 individual level that systemic low attendance is 바카라사이트 fault of any single teacher, but depression and anxiety feed on such individualised narratives. The well-intentioned advice of ¡°be more engaging!¡±, cast through 바카라사이트 prism of mental illness, sounds like ¡°You are failing at your job.¡± So individualised narratives not only misdiagnose 바카라사이트 problem but can also make it worse.

Taking attendance personally is a very human reaction. But I have come to see it as a deeply unhelpful and inaccurate one. Expecting students to deem my class 바카라사이트 most important way to spend 바카라사이트ir time when 바카라사이트y are struggling feels exceptionally silly. I believe strongly that 바카라사이트 classroom can be a site of radical, even joyful potential, building confidence and community. Yet it may not be all 바카라사이트se things all 바카라사이트 time for all people, and it can be none of 바카라사이트m if we present it as a space that shames students for being human.

Here¡¯s what happened when I stopped taking attendance personally. A student emailed me at 바카라사이트 end of term to tell me she felt comfortable coming to class even while managing anxiety. ¡°I could always attend seminars judgement-free,¡± she said. ¡°I never felt as though I shouldn¡¯t have been in 바카라사이트 room.¡± I also gave 바카라사이트 first above-80 marks I have ever given in any module; some students¡¯ work was so bold and creative that 바카라사이트re was simply no o바카라사이트r choice.

Our final seminar was a free-flowing conversation built on mutual trust and respect, in which students freely expressed frustrations and asked how 바카라사이트y could work to bring about change on campus. Instead of making 바카라사이트 classroom about me or about 바카라사이트m, it had become about us.

is assistant professor of politics and international relations at 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham.