Students are calling: We are tired of feeling burnt out

by Lauren Harries | Aug 3, 2022 | Breaking Headlines, Features

At the end of the first semester, many UP students seemed to be feeling burnt out and exhausted. With a shift in teaching methods and the pressure of a return to campus for assessments, PDBY decided to find out how many students attributed this feeling of burnout to this shift. In addition to this, other grievances students had with regard to the shift in teaching methods were also taken note of. 

Most UP faculties made a shift in teaching methods at the beginning of the second quarter with many students not taking to this change with great enthusiasm. This was mostly due to the limited time that the university allowed for students living outside of Pretoria to find accommodation. In addition to this, UP also introduced a hybrid form of teaching for many degrees. This involved some lectures, tutorials and practicals being conducted online and others on campus. In the polls conducted, 168 students of the 285 that participated (59%) have spent the last semester engaging with this new hybrid method with only 12% of students attending university completely on campus and the remainder online. 

In addition to the change in teaching methods, students also had to deal with a change in testing methods. After spending most of the pandemic and the first quarter of 2022 with online testing, many students were forced into exams and semester tests on campus without the skip of a beat. This is evidenced by half of the students that participated in the poll having to write tests and exams on campus and an additional 26% having to use a hybrid method of taking assessments both online and in person. 

Moving on to the burnout aspect, of the 270 students who participated in the section of the poll, 86% of students felt burnt out at the end of the first semester. Of the students that experienced a change in teaching and testing methods, 78,5% of them attributed the feeling of burnout to these changes. This clearly shows the contribution of such a rapid shift of teaching and testing methods to the students’ overall feeling of well-being. 

In addition to the general feeling of burnout, 32% of the students that participated in the polls felt that the lecturers were not accommodating at all with regard to this shift and 45% felt that lecturers were somewhat accommodating. Some students attributed this to the general lack of regard for students’ well-being, which was as students expressed that they feel unheard when expressing to lecturers that they are struggling.

A change in teaching and assessment methods has also resulted in many students lacking the flexibility to work and partake in hobbies while attending university. In addition to this, many students expressed frustration regarding the increase in workload, feeling overwhelmed by the number of weekly assessments and lecturers’ inability to stick to timeslots causing the students to feel overworked. Specific mention was made of the assessment timetable of final-year law students. 

Ultimately, these polls appeared to show that a proportion of UP students have found this shift in teaching and assessment methods challenging and exhausting. Students have felt unheard and overworked this first semester and seemed to largely lack the accommodation they expected when transitioning back to a pre-pandemic style of university learning. With a large proportion of undergraduate students having never experienced this style of university, it is no wonder that the shift has had such a detrimental effect on the general well-being of students. UP students are calling, and they feel burnt out and alone. 

 

Image: Khumbulani Chaima

Features journalist | view posts

Hi I'm Lauren, I'm passionate about writing and run a personal blog called Life on my Wall (@lifeonmywall). I enjoy writing about student issues and minority group experiences.