"There wasn't a manual saying this is what you do in this circumstance."

TOG member referring to the effect of COVID-19 on higher education

The COVID-19 crisis brought uncertainty and instability to UK Universities, with a move to online teaching taking place overnight. Like everyone else, staff in Sociology at Newcastle faced massive challenges adapting teaching practice and approaches, as well as dealing with personal and social difficulties related to the pandemic. In addition, Newcastle University staff had to navigate the effects of a major cyberattack on the university and the introduction of a new virtual learning environment. 

The Sociology Teaching Online Group (TOG) was formed with the initial focus of supporting the transition to online teaching as a result of COVID-19 but also guided staff around these other obstacles. Further detail is on this timeline.

Based on the experiences of Sociology staff, these challenges can be broadly understood as:

• Unhealthy work-life balance
• Lack of (sense of) control
• Acting with partial knowledge
• Conflicting messaging

‌(Left) Slide from Powerpoint presentation for a TOG Cafe // (Right) Example of TOG resource available on Canvas

Unhealthy work-life balance

"I was at home with two kids home-schooling... my work has never been as intense as it was over April, May, June and July. Those four months were unreal... it was eat, work, sleep, repeat. It felt very much like survival mode."

Sociology teaching staff member referring to their work/life balance in 2020

The pressurised workload placed staff closer to the precipice of chaos through the increased likelihood of burnout, or as it was dubbed here 'survival mode.' This marries with the 2021 UCU Workload Survey, which collected responses post-pandemic between February and April 2021, that found 86% of respondents reported that the ‘pace and intensity of their workloads had increased in the six months before completing the survey’ (UCU, 2021). 

Lack of (sense of) Control

"...you have the shock element of it where you are like a rabbit in the headlights trying to make sense of what you're trying to do and what is possible. Then [due to Newcastle University switching learning management software] everything is suddenly unfamiliar."

Sociology teaching staff member speaking to a lack of familiarity and control 

COVID-19 set in motion unordered, unpredictable, and shifting sets of working and living conditions for teaching staff and students alike. This feeling of not being in control was compounded by an inability to influence decisions that affect workload and lack of the resources needed to carry out work tasks, such as knowledge of IT systems or stable working/living situations. The perpetual adjustment to circumstances meant staff were expelling significantly more mental and emotional energy, often for extended periods.

Acting with Partial Knowledge

"I asked [my students] all the time 'are you able to access this?', 'have you got this?'. They assure me that they have, but those are the ones turning up to stuff... so there is a risk that there is a silent majority that isn't getting anything... I want to know what the students are getting from it."

Sociology teaching staff member on their uncertainty over the quality of students' learning experience

"I tried to take part in some of the online learning [provided by the university]… but within the first five seconds, they started speaking in terminology that I didn't understand about a context that was completely irrelevant to mine… I thought I'm not going to waste my time listening to this."

Sociology teaching staff member on their self-professed lack of IT literacy

The fast-moving pace and unpredictability of the situation meant that staff were forced to act quickly but also without the knowledge of IT systems, online pedagogy, how the situation may develop or how students were responding to the new teaching delivery. This had an emotional toll on staff and students in terms of connection to the delivery or receiving of teaching material and university experience more broadly.

 Conflicting Messaging

"I quite quickly began to switch off from the messages because virtually as soon as you got the hang of one thing there was another central message"

Sociology teaching staff members on the messaging from central university

Several staff reported that the vast amount of messaging and information from central university was overwhelming and at times at odds with their lived experience. This led to staff acting against the advice of central university and acting independently. There was a strong sense of staff on the ground needing to create a space between their pedagogy and the advice of central university.

Several students expressed distrust and suspicion of the university's motivations, this was often in relation to resentment around student fees and accommodation fees.