The rumour is that as a result of restructuring in the name of Growing Esteem, the School of Political Science, Criminology and Sociology in the Faculty of Arts has decided to increase its maximum tutorial size from 15 to 20 students as of Semester 2, 2007.
In addition to obvious concerns for the quality of discussion in future tutorials, there is cause for alarm regarding the manner in which this decision has been made. Today is the last day of the official teaching period, after which there is no scheduled contact between students and staff, and at least at the time of writing, the decision has not yet officially been made public.
In other words, the decision comes at a time when official channels for protest are more or less closed: subject evaluation forms have been submitted, the vast majority of tutorials and lectures are over, and moreover, students are preoccupied with take-home tests, essays and other forms of assessment, not to mention exam preparation.
That policy-makers feel entitled to introduce significant changes to tutorials without consulting tutors or students – in fact, anyone - is disturbing indeed. Furthermore, we are being denied proper opportunities for, let alone reasonable time to organise, objection. ___________________________________
What difference do an extra five people make? Not so long ago, the minimum number of tutorials for which a tutor was required to be responsible increased from 2 to 3. This means that in the space of less than a year, tutors could see the number of their students double at the very least.
Students, say goodbye to your polsci, crim and soc tutors ever knowing your name or making the vaguest attempt to ask about your interests or concerns with a mind to remembering them! By the way, this latest decision has no mention of a pay increase for tutors. Go figure.
A moment of silence for our tutors: archetypically people managing both a PhD and paid work; people whom we all know are simply more than eager to have twice as many essays to mark and unable to contain their joy at the thought of having weekly opportunities to coordinate fruitful discussion amongst twenty strangers.
Regardless of whether the majority of students in a tutorial are quiet or long-winded; opinionated or apathetic, we would all agree that a classroom-like situation is not the ideal learning environment, especially in humanities disciplines. Especially in political science, criminology and sociology. ___________________________________
To those of you who are dreading the prospect of being stuck in a musty John Medley Building tute room with a crowd of twenty others, fear not! Instead, look forward to walking to Queensberry Street (for those of you who aren’t sure, it just made the student diary map and no, it’s not in Parkville) for every single PSCS tute you have! (And you thought the Law Building was hard to reach. Oh well, at least you can be sure of having company along the trek.)___________________________________
Trivialities aside, although we students may appreciate that some restructuring is necessary, we reserve the right to be informed of policy changes which directly concern us well in advance, as well as the right to comment upon them. ___________________________________
We have less than four weeks in which to mobilise. Urgent action is necessary because once tutorial timetabling (as opposed to alloc8-ion) begins, as it will in the coming weeks, administration will have an excuse with which to dismiss our complaints. It goes without saying that if the change has not been challenged by the beginning of Semester 2, it will be with us for at least the rest of the year.
Resist thinking that you don’t have time to protest because you are up to your neck in assessment and prep; that’s exactly what the policy-makers are relying on you to do. Don’t give them the confidence to try such tactics again. Particularly to those of you considering taking subjects offered by this school, consider investing a little time in your future education: write an email to a head honcho or at least spread the word.
Don’t let that knowledge of contemporary social movements, appeals and class oppression go to waste.
Shame on us should we fail to put up a good fight.
The University of Melbourne is currently undertaking changes that will dramatically reshape higher education in Australia. This blog is a space for members of our community, especially students, to engage in the debate and planning surrounding Growing Esteem.
If you are personally affected by the changes you are welcome to write your experiences on this blog. By sharing your experiences you may help other students facing similar situations. You will also assist your UMSU office bearers in representing students accurately during the Growing Esteem transition.
Alternatively you can email Libby Buckingham, your UMSU education officer at elizabeth.buckingham@union.unimelb.edu.au.
2 comments:
The rumour is that as a result of restructuring in the name of Growing Esteem, the School of Political Science, Criminology and Sociology in the Faculty of Arts has decided to increase its maximum tutorial size from 15 to 20 students as of Semester 2, 2007.
In addition to obvious concerns for the quality of discussion in future tutorials, there is cause for alarm regarding the manner in which this decision has been made. Today is the last day of the official teaching period, after which there is no scheduled contact between students and staff, and at least at the time of writing, the decision has not yet officially been made public.
In other words, the decision comes at a time when official channels for protest are more or less closed: subject evaluation forms have been submitted, the vast majority of tutorials and lectures are over, and moreover, students are preoccupied with take-home tests, essays and other forms of assessment, not to mention exam preparation.
That policy-makers feel entitled to introduce significant changes to tutorials without consulting tutors or students – in fact, anyone - is disturbing indeed. Furthermore, we are being denied proper opportunities for, let alone reasonable time to organise, objection.
___________________________________
What difference do an extra five people make? Not so long ago, the minimum number of tutorials for which a tutor was required to be responsible increased from 2 to 3. This means that in the space of less than a year, tutors could see the number of their students double at the very least.
Students, say goodbye to your polsci, crim and soc tutors ever knowing your name or making the vaguest attempt to ask about your interests or concerns with a mind to remembering them! By the way, this latest decision has no mention of a pay increase for tutors. Go figure.
A moment of silence for our tutors: archetypically people managing both a PhD and paid work; people whom we all know are simply more than eager to have twice as many essays to mark and unable to contain their joy at the thought of having weekly opportunities to coordinate fruitful discussion amongst twenty strangers.
Regardless of whether the majority of students in a tutorial are quiet or long-winded; opinionated or apathetic, we would all agree that a classroom-like situation is not the ideal learning environment, especially in humanities disciplines. Especially in political science, criminology and sociology.
___________________________________
To those of you who are dreading the prospect of being stuck in a musty John Medley Building tute room with a crowd of twenty others, fear not! Instead, look forward to walking to Queensberry Street (for those of you who aren’t sure, it just made the student diary map and no, it’s not in Parkville) for every single PSCS tute you have! (And you thought the Law Building was hard to reach. Oh well, at least you can be sure of having company along the trek.)___________________________________
Trivialities aside, although we students may appreciate that some restructuring is necessary, we reserve the right to be informed of policy changes which directly concern us well in advance, as well as the right to comment upon them. ___________________________________
We have less than four weeks in which to mobilise. Urgent action is necessary because once tutorial timetabling (as opposed to alloc8-ion) begins, as it will in the coming weeks, administration will have an excuse with which to dismiss our complaints. It goes without saying that if the change has not been challenged by the beginning of Semester 2, it will be with us for at least the rest of the year.
Resist thinking that you don’t have time to protest because you are up to your neck in assessment and prep; that’s exactly what the policy-makers are relying on you to do. Don’t give them the confidence to try such tactics again. Particularly to those of you considering taking subjects offered by this school, consider investing a little time in your future education: write an email to a head honcho or at least spread the word.
Don’t let that knowledge of contemporary social movements, appeals and class oppression go to waste.
Shame on us should we fail to put up a good fight.
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