[Politics] More decisive action by HMG over contact teaching and illegal immigrants

First, teaching at universities:

The bbc headline (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-58504263) says:

"Universities told to give students face-to-face teaching"

But the text says:

"Universities have been urged to provide face-to-face teaching when students return this term.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said students should expect to be taught "in-person and alongside other students". It would be right to stay online when there's a "genuine benefit to using technology", he said.
But he warned university leaders: "I do not expect to see online learning used as a cost-cutting measure."
Parents would find it "odd" if students could go to other social activities but were not allowed back into lecture halls, the education secretary told the Universities UK conference."

So, students should expect to be taught in person alongside other students. Expect?

What cant. And nobody is teaching online to cut costs. It takes ages to record lectures and upload, and curate the web pages. It has been a bloody nightmare. All recorded lectures have to be captioned for the hard of hearing. Captioning is done professionally but there are so many errors it takes hours for the academic mug (i.e., me) to edit one hour of captions. Cost cutting? The man knows absolutely nothing. He's a fool or a knave, and probably both.

Nevertheless I expect to be sent another 4 page email from the dean of deliverance asking me to take another online survey that will deem me ready for face to face teaching, any day now. When HMG says 'it is expected' the do-rights run around like excited Eunuch at Cleopatra's bathtime.

I will then do what I was doing until today's edict. When told by colleagues (or asked as in "sorry, I meant to ask - didn't word that well" - a reply I received when I told a colleague I would not do what he wanted) to teach face to face, I will refuse. And they will say 'OK, that's fine' and nothing will happen. That how it works, now, in Boris-UK.

Resist coercive control when people in ivory towers are telling you to enter the lion's den (or the unventilated room filled with unvaccinated people) but you are not best placed to catch covid and shrug it off like it is nothing.

Staff should expect to be able to teach safely, to double jabbed students, not tipped head first into an unregulated pox pit. FFS.

The reality is HMG cannot 'tell' anyone to do anything. It goes against the grain. In some respect Boris' libertarian instincts are well meant, but they are incompatible with firm government. Or sane government.

Take, also, Priti Patel's latest announcement that illegals will be turned away mid channel. They have added various codicils.
The latest BBC headline is 'could be turned back'. And I could be Madonna's next love puppet. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58495948

"Boats carrying migrants across the English Channel could be turned back from the UK, if personally approved by Home Secretary Priti Patel. The government has authorised Border Force officials to use the new tactic - but only in limited circumstances. "

I wonder what these limited circumstances will be? Perhaps it is when it is a luxury yacht, with a couple of well-fed males, with enough provisions to cruise the channel for weeks, and where there is a BBC or (better still) GBTV crew at hand to preserve the Great British Defiance under a Conservative Government for posterity.

What a load of shitehouse old bollocks.

Harry Wilson's tackle said:

Take, also, Priti Patel's latest announcement that illegals will be turned away mid channel. They have added various codicils.

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For a moment then I had a thought that the latest hair brained government scheme to stop the flotilla of dinghies hitting the Kent shores, was salt water crocodiles. That would explain what you were doing down at Camber earlier in the week, laying croc eggs!

You having an even worse day than usual?

It’s a most unlikely alliance then of those demanding face to face lectures, with HMG.

I’ve listened to 12 months worth of very angry/upset undergrads (and their parents), as well as Student Unions making that case.

They feel cheated of the quality of learning they deserve and have paid for at £9,250 per academic year.

Mustafa said:

I would say it is the responsibility of the university to make it safe for you to give lectures. Lectures over zoom etc is not acceptable anymore though. Kids are paying through the roof for their education.

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A simple and elegant reply with which I agree 110%

Edit: typo fixed

You missed the bit where Williamson gave the message about ditching videolinks by, er, videolink

I'm embarrassed to have gone to the same uni as this dimwit

That's the conference that Williamson gave a speech to by video link.

Weststander said:

It’s a most unlikely alliance then of those demanding face to face lectures, with HMG.

I’ve listened to 12 months worth of very angry/upset undergrads (and their parents), as well as Student Unions making that case.

They feel cheated of the quality of learning they deserve and have paid for at £9,250 per academic year.

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Cheated and lied to.

To students:

'We will be providing on campus teaching'

To staff (during peaks 1 and 2)

'Please invent something that can be done as small group teaching to replace the large (400 plus) theatre teaching that we can't provide'.

I created ersatz practicals where the students watched a vid of me in the lab and were then given PowerLab traces of the sort they would have generated, pre-covid, to analyse. I can tell you that learning about medicines using interpretive dance would not go down well.

But what also happened was instead of 6 lectures, 2 practicals and 2 tutorials a week (say), they were getting lectures and tutorials online (all viewed from the privacy of their expensive and pointlessly-rented accomodation in London), no practicals, and one hour of contact teaching a week (with the latter being made-up bollox). Just so my employer can say 'no you can't have your fees back because we gave you face to face teaching'. Borissian truth. The sort of hubris that JCFG would applaud.

I'm surprised the kids haven't marched on parliament about this. The lies, that is. But there may be a reason. The teaching has actually been decent (well, mine and that of my colleagues has been). That said....where I work the students are pragmatic and have made the best of it. The marks haven't suffered. But I work at one of the top 5 and our students are all AAA minimum A levels, middle class, sensible....most of the complaining may be being done by weaker students and those at former polytechnics, where the staff are often poor (an ex student of mine, my worst ever PhD graduate - lazy and a poor writer, stepped into a lectureship at a former poly and was promoted to senior lecturer in 2 years). I find that revealing - the lower you go down the pecking order the shitter it gets and the more people complain - who knew? .

monty uk said:

That's the conference that Williamson gave a speech to by video link.

View attachment 140267

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Video link, you say?

Not face to face, then?

Edit: I see Max [MENTION=25]Gwylan[/MENTION] spotted the irony earlier

Mustafa said:

I would say it is the responsibility of the university to make it safe for you to give lectures. Lectures over zoom etc is not acceptable anymore though. Kids are paying through the roof for their education.

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perhaps they could try mandatory vaccines?