{"id":42338,"date":"2018-02-05T09:23:29","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T17:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=42338"},"modified":"2018-02-05T09:23:29","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T17:23:29","slug":"dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nMore and more students are reporting<\/a>\u00a0significant mental health issues. This should not come as a surprise; life seems to have become more complex, more information intensive.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that the young are responding<\/a>\u00a0to the society in which they find themselves, having to navigate social media, financial difficulty, increasing expectation and competition \u2013 the list can go on.<\/p>\n

However, although this may sound harsh, students at least have options.<\/p>\n

If they find their study to be either \u201ca waste of money\u201d or \u201cbad for their health\u201d, they can move on. According to the government, some 491,300 apprenticeships started in 2016-17; I recently noticed an apprenticeship available for a trainee skydiving instructor earning \u00a3240 a week, which I would gladly have applied for if I weren\u2019t 45 with a PhD.<\/p>\n

Academics are not so mobile. Once you have completed your PhD, you have often been outside the workplace for several years and your research most likely points you towards a university career, whether or not this is likely to damage your mental well-being.<\/p>\n

And damage<\/a>\u00a0mental health it does. Many academics are simply unable to cope with increased workloads and university strategies that force them to be both dynamic teachers and energetic researchers, but with no time to actually do either role well.<\/p>\n

Universities are unable to guide academics about the future because of the uncertainties posed by political developments, such as Brexit and its potential consequent funding crisis. It is as if universities have decided that the only way to survive the coming years is to pare everything down to such lean levels that they will be able to respond in an \u201cagile\u201d way: a management term invented to obfuscate the erosion of job security and one that amounts to a heartless battening-down of the hatches for both students and staff.<\/p>\n

It is likely that few will shed tears for academics who until fairly recently had it quite good.<\/p>\n

But my own experience in a new teaching job has made clear to me that those times are long gone.<\/p>\n

I am an associate lecturer, which means that I am paid by the hour. I am well paid for one hour of work, but this must include preparation time, holiday pay and any sick pay; and if calculating contact time and preparation time alone, I can confidently say that I am paid less than the minimum wage. For the nearly full-time contact hours I work, I am paid less than two-thirds what I would receive if in contracted employment.<\/p>\n

There is also the issue of actually learning the practical details necessary to get the job done. When I joined my university, in somewhat of a last-minute \u201cagile\u201d appointment, there was no time for, or inclination to give, any induction into the labyrinthine computer systems that house such critical items as timetables and pay sheets. If you don\u2019t understand the system by some lucky osmotic transfer of knowledge, you won\u2019t find your classrooms, won\u2019t be able to operate your classroom technology and \u2013 this was the killer \u2013 won\u2019t get paid; I wasn\u2019t paid for two months.<\/p>\n

You would imagine that the experience of the associate lecturer must have some benefits. After all, we get more choice about when we work, surely? This is also not the case.<\/p>\n

Most of the time a university\u2019s attitude is, \u201cif you can\u2019t fit into the timetable, you won\u2019t get the hours available\u201d and \u201cif you turn down hours, you might find yourself being sidelined completely\u201d. The more hours you do, the more students you teach, and, therefore, the more marking you must do. I recently spent the entire Christmas holiday marking, which my university claims is time included in my hourly rate. Every time you take on more hours, you require more preparation; so all in all, many lecturers now, whether sessional or not, are working well over full-time hours for part-time money.<\/p>\n

My colleagues have been as supportive as possible given their own time constraints, further amplifying the sense that lecturers are in essence fighting fires on a daily basis, managing to keep themselves and each other afloat by the skin of their teeth.<\/p>\n

So where does this leave the students? They are, after all, paying for this privilege. In short, it leaves them short-changed, and because the sessional lecturer is not provided with a desk or a computer (at least I haven\u2019t been), students can\u2019t find me when they finally do have a mental health crisis.<\/p>\n

I had, for example, one student I had taught for 11 weeks before the university revealed that he was autistic. Materially, they suggested that I was to plan separate sessions for him; I have no time for this \u2013 it just could not be done.<\/p>\n

This hourly sessional work is a gig. And much like a musician who turns up, delivers the material and leaves, that\u2019s how we operate. This is not a \u201clearning journey\u201d for students or a chance for them to develop themselves, this is them paying \u00a39,000 a year to be taught by people who are not supported, not given any time to develop as teachers or researchers and, most importantly, are at breaking point. The system is a mess.<\/p>\n

Author Bio: <\/b>Sam Christie is an associate lecturer in media production at Southampton Solent University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More and more students are reporting\u00a0significant mental health issues. This should not come as a surprise; life seems to have become more complex, more information intensive. It\u2019s clear that the young are responding\u00a0to the society in which they find themselves, having to navigate social media, financial difficulty, increasing expectation and competition \u2013 the list can […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":42339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[165375],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-42338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-mental-health-issues"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDon\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More and more students are reporting\u00a0significant mental health issues. This should not come as a surprise; life seems to have become more complex, more information intensive. It\u2019s clear that the young are responding\u00a0to the society in which they find themselves, having to navigate social media, financial difficulty, increasing expectation and competition \u2013 the list can […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-05T17:23:29+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/stressed-student1.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"371\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Don\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-05T17:23:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":897,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/stressed-student1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"mental health issues\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Higher Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/\",\"name\":\"Don\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/stressed-student1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-05T17:23:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/stressed-student1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/stressed-student1.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":371},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Don\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Don\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Don\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"More and more students are reporting\u00a0significant mental health issues. This should not come as a surprise; life seems to have become more complex, more information intensive. It\u2019s clear that the young are responding\u00a0to the society in which they find themselves, having to navigate social media, financial difficulty, increasing expectation and competition \u2013 the list can […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2018-02-05T17:23:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":371,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/stressed-student1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Don\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse","datePublished":"2018-02-05T17:23:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/"},"wordCount":897,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/stressed-student1.jpg","keywords":["mental health issues"],"articleSection":["Higher Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/","name":"Don\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/stressed-student1.jpg","datePublished":"2018-02-05T17:23:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/stressed-student1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/stressed-student1.jpg","width":680,"height":371},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-pity-stressed-students-much-academics-worse\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Don\u2019t pity stressed students too much \u2013 academics have it worse"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42338"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=42338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}