Students are starting to return to classes at university after two years of remote learning during the pandemic.
But lecturer Scott Macpherson says he is concerned. Universities from across Scotland are dealing with requests from students asking to take temporary leave or who want to completely drop out of their courses.
Many students are just too anxious to go back to class.
“Some have talked about feeling really scared, really anxious about going into class,” Scott says.
“Some of those concerns are about Covid itself and people in vulnerable groups that might be more likely to contract the virus.
“And other concerns are about being among people, and in particular with people they didn’t really know.”
Students don’t feel safe sharing their thoughts or beliefs
Scott, who works at Robert Gordon University, has heard sad stories from students now in their second year who have still not yet met anyone else in their class face-to-face.
They didn’t feel safe sharing their thoughts, experiences or beliefs in online sessions because they hadn’t bonded with others.
Before the pandemic, new students would usually get to know each other by meeting up after class and it gave them the chance to form meaningful relationships.
He says further education teachers found themselves leading classes online with many of the students turning off their cameras.
“That can be quite frustrating for lecturers and other students as well,” he says.
“But there are a number of totally understandable reasons for that.
“Some students may have unstable internet connections which didn’t allow them to have their cameras on and engage in a similar way as they would have done before.
“Others were anxious about turning their cameras on because of how they looked, or about how their accommodation looked.
“All that led to people getting less out of their courses and maybe achieving less, and also getting less out of the university experience as a whole.”
The mental health nursing lecturer believes the pandemic could have a negative impact on students going into the workplace.
And colleagues from other universities share the same concerns.
How could it cause problems for students going into jobs?
“They may feel less confident in their knowledge or abilities, particularly with courses with a strong practical element such as the nursing course I teach on,” he says.
Students might also struggle to understand the theories behind the work they do when they go into work environments.
“It’s potentially a worry if people go out into jobs and they can be taught how to do tasks but don’t really understand the theory behind what they’re doing.
“As an educator being in a class you can tell if people are frustrated or are really confused or asking pertinent questions that show their understanding.
“There’s that shared experience of not getting something and learning something together and that is really powerful.”
Conversation