Read on Twitter
This is a crass and mentally deficient position from my union.
Universities cannot be "the care homes of a second #COVID19 wave" because they are nothing like care homes.
1/21 https://twitter.com/ucu/status/1299811608491823104
Universities cannot be "the care homes of a second #COVID19 wave" because they are nothing like care homes.
1/21 https://twitter.com/ucu/status/1299811608491823104
#COVID19 hit cares homes hard because they're full of ppl vulnerable to respiratory disease: the elderly and unwell.
I.e., sadly, #COVID19 mostly kills people already relatively close to death.
Average "stay" in care home = 12mos nursing, 27mos residential.
2/21
I.e., sadly, #COVID19 mostly kills people already relatively close to death.
Average "stay" in care home = 12mos nursing, 27mos residential.
2/21
89% of #COVID19 deaths = among >65s.
>90% of #COVID19 fatalities had ≥1 pre-existing condition; most common = Alzheimer's and dementia.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/latest#deaths-registered-by-age-group
3/21
>90% of #COVID19 fatalities had ≥1 pre-existing condition; most common = Alzheimer's and dementia.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/latest#deaths-registered-by-age-group
3/21
Universities house mainly young people. The standard retirement age= 67.
Only 568 ppl <45 have died from #COVID19 in Eng & Wales. 4,971 aged 45-64.
48.3m ppl are aged 0-64.
Your chances of dying from #COVID19 aged <65 are absolutely miniscule.
4/21
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/overviewoftheukpopulation/august2019
Only 568 ppl <45 have died from #COVID19 in Eng & Wales. 4,971 aged 45-64.
48.3m ppl are aged 0-64.
Your chances of dying from #COVID19 aged <65 are absolutely miniscule.
4/21
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/overviewoftheukpopulation/august2019
It is thus manifestly stupid to suggest universities could ever be "the care homes of a second #COVID19 wave".
UCU must know this; hence it is also crass & disrespectful: harnessing the hurt and suffering of old ppl & their families for propaganda effect.
5/21
UCU must know this; hence it is also crass & disrespectful: harnessing the hurt and suffering of old ppl & their families for propaganda effect.
5/21
UCU's position - derived from doom-mongering advice from @IndependentSAGE - also expresses the myopic one-sidedness manifested in public health ideology throughout this pandemic.
It considers only the risks (which it grossly inflates), not the costs of mitigation.
6/21
It considers only the risks (which it grossly inflates), not the costs of mitigation.
6/21
Thus, public health leaders demanded a #lockdown to prevent #COVID19 deaths, based on Imperial's wild over-estimates.
But the long-term costs of #lockdown will likely far exceed lives saved: cancelled operations, missed cancer detections, domestic violence, depression...
7/21
But the long-term costs of #lockdown will likely far exceed lives saved: cancelled operations, missed cancer detections, domestic violence, depression...
7/21
Not to mention the colossal economic costs and "scarring" of the generation emerging from education into work. The health burdens alone are staggeringly bad.
The same one-eyed approach is evident in UCU's statement. It ignores the cost of cancelling face-to-face teaching.
8/21
The same one-eyed approach is evident in UCU's statement. It ignores the cost of cancelling face-to-face teaching.
8/21
The negative and serious costs of moving to online teaching are well established in the research literature.
It
- decreases student attainment 11%
- increases drop-out rate 9%
- hits weakest students hardest
https://www.brookings.edu/research/promises-and-pitfalls-of-online-education/
9/21
It
- decreases student attainment 11%
- increases drop-out rate 9%
- hits weakest students hardest
https://www.brookings.edu/research/promises-and-pitfalls-of-online-education/
9/21
So: UCU are proposing to shut-down face-to-face teaching, to protect students from a practically non-existent #COVID19 risk, thereby exposing them to well-established educational harm associated with online learning.
This is utterly irresponsible.
10/21
This is utterly irresponsible.
10/21
Now, many will say: it's not students we're worried about, it's their vulnerable family members, and/or staff with underlying health conditions.
Fair enough.
But that's not a good reason to impose blanket restrictions on everyone. We need better policy than that.
11/21
Fair enough.
But that's not a good reason to impose blanket restrictions on everyone. We need better policy than that.
11/21
From the beginning we should have had policies that shielded the most vulnerable while allowing everyone else to get on with their lives with modest restrictions.
In reality we did the opposite: discharging infected ppl into care homes while caging-up the healthy.
12/21
In reality we did the opposite: discharging infected ppl into care homes while caging-up the healthy.
12/21
A smarter approach is needed for educational settings.
Staff/ students who are vulnerable/ co-habit with vulnerable ppl should be allowed to work from home indefinitely.
Everyone else, return to campus with modest restrictions.
13/21
Staff/ students who are vulnerable/ co-habit with vulnerable ppl should be allowed to work from home indefinitely.
Everyone else, return to campus with modest restrictions.
13/21
The other thing UCU ignores (worst of all for any trade union) is the impact on working conditions.
The shift online has been BRUTAL for workload. I have worked 50-55hr weeks since Feb with only 5 days off. And no end in sight - teaching online is MUCH more laborious.
14/21
The shift online has been BRUTAL for workload. I have worked 50-55hr weeks since Feb with only 5 days off. And no end in sight - teaching online is MUCH more laborious.
14/21
Home-working has also hit female colleagues hardest as they shoulder the lion's share of childcare.
It also hits those in precarious contracts and cramped housing - i.e. the poorest workers.
Meanwhile predatory university bosses see this as a great "opportunity".
15/21
It also hits those in precarious contracts and cramped housing - i.e. the poorest workers.
Meanwhile predatory university bosses see this as a great "opportunity".
15/21
They greedily accelerate their strategies for cheap, massified online teaching - which removes control from academics and allows a shift to disempowered agency working.
If UCU leadership had half a brain, they'd see this and fight tooth and nail against it.
16/21
If UCU leadership had half a brain, they'd see this and fight tooth and nail against it.
16/21
The big question, then, is why UCU leaders are too daft or myopic to see all of the above (all of which is pretty obvious).
2 reasons spring to mind.
1) UCU has been captured by some of the worst middle-class #COVID19 panic-mongers.
2) This is mainly anti-govt posturing
17/21
2 reasons spring to mind.
1) UCU has been captured by some of the worst middle-class #COVID19 panic-mongers.
2) This is mainly anti-govt posturing
17/21
UCU lost its battle over working conditions: 2 massive strikes practically bankrupted the union, yielding diddly-squat.
And UCU has been utterly useless at defending members' jobs as #COVID19 plunged unis deeper into £ crisis, leading to mass redundancies.
18/21
And UCU has been utterly useless at defending members' jobs as #COVID19 plunged unis deeper into £ crisis, leading to mass redundancies.
18/21
So UCU now seems to be modelling itself on NEU, the teachers' union: if you can't win on material issues, inflict symbolic damage on govt by trying to foil its policy agenda of getting the country going again.
If that's the motive here, that is immoral and pathetic.
19/21
If that's the motive here, that is immoral and pathetic.
19/21
I'm sure that those behind this "policy" genuinely believe they are fighting for the health and safety of workers. But as the facts show, that is pure ideology. Something else is driving this, and it's not rationality.
20/21
20/21
As academics, we should know better. I hope colleagues who disagree with UCU's stance will say so, and show the public that some of us are still capable of rational thought and have a sense of duty to our students.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/students-need-real-teaching-not-virtual-campuses
21/21
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/students-need-real-teaching-not-virtual-campuses
21/21
And if you do disagree with the UCU Gen-Sec's demand to close campuses and shift all teaching online, please sign this open letter.
https://forms.gle/FVaFmNSmtiFZwJD8A
22/22
https://forms.gle/FVaFmNSmtiFZwJD8A
22/22
One other thing occurs to me.
Most universities are already planning de facto online-only teaching under the guise of "blended learning".
When students turn up and find this deficient, who do you think they will now blame? Way to go, UCU.
23/23
Most universities are already planning de facto online-only teaching under the guise of "blended learning".
When students turn up and find this deficient, who do you think they will now blame? Way to go, UCU.
23/23
