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1/ Ok as things stand, it looks like the University of Essex (UoE) is insisting we teach face-to-face (f2f) as well as online next term
2/ Staff expected to teach f2f include some considered clinically vulnerable by NHS (e.g. with asthma or hepatitis) and those who live with someone clinically vulnerable
3/ If we're worried, we can have some CBT to manage our 'anxiety' about returning
4/ Unlike other UK unis, UoE wants lectures as well as seminars to be in person where possible. Groups of up to 30 with 1m distance, up to 60 with 2m distance.
5/ Up to four hours in the same room without a break.
6/ Mixed messages on masks. UoE tell us that students will wear them in lectures, but guidance for students and for managers says only for short periods and in places like corridors where distancing isn’t possible.
7/ Lecturers to wear visors rather than masks, maybe due to concerns about the audibility of recordings (even though research suggests mask use most important for those speaking for long periods)
8/ Management will not confirm whether staff who refuse to work f2f will be disciplined or fired.
9 / There has so far been no information about any process of appeal against decisions to require staff to work f2f.
10/ Workability of measures to make teaching safer is… questionable. Management advise:
11/ That lecturers wipe down areas of the classroom they plan to use, and get students to wipe down their own desks and chairs
12/ That we make sure that students do not arrive early and congregate outside classes
13/ That we make sure students do not arrive late and pass close to others on way to seat
14/ That we make sure that students ‘tap in’ on arrival (or if they forget ID cards, that we take a register
15/ That we make sure that students do not leave during class e.g. to go to toilet, passing close to others
16/ That we make sure that students sit in same seats before and after a break
17/ That we make sure that students file in from the front and out from the back of rooms so as to avoid passing close
18/ That teaching staff bring their own board markers and other equipment to class
19/ That staff exercise ‘dynamic’ judgement in the event of unexpected risk posed by e.g. non-compliance by a student.
20/ Have they ever a) met a student? b) met a human? c) been on a university campus?
An open letter is circulating for all ESSEX staff and students to sign: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeILi5Ui699CGLZ00fWEHLm-QWj4QoT372gCTeTBMV1ZycMRA/viewform
