“I went for the first week and then missed the rest”: Why are fewer students attending lectures?
Last December, as the semester drew to a close, Dr. Laura Loyola-Hernández made her way to her classroom for the final seminar for the political geography module she teaches.
She arrived to an empty classroom and after waiting a few minutes, her fears were realised. Not a single student had turned up.
Across the country, other academics have spoken out online with similar experiences, as students increasingly fail to turn up to in-person classes.
A study conducted last year by Times Higher Education found that 76 percent of academics worldwide have seen lower numbers of students in classes and among those who do attend, over half said their engagement in class is worse than before the pandemic.
Loyola-Hernández, a lecturer in Human Geography, said the experience was a career first. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, she asked: “Are they not interested in abolition & climate justice? Are they just tired? Are they sick? Are they cold? Are they just relying on rewatching the live lecture?”
After the clamour for the return of on-campus classes after 18 months of lockdown, academics are baffled by the decline in attendance and engagement.
But now two researchers at the University of Leeds are hoping to find out why students are shunning the lecture hall.
Dr Lisa Buckner, Associate Professor of Social Statistics and Dr Katy Wright, a Lecturer in Sociology & Social Policy have created a survey to understand the trend and to identify potential policy responses to encourage students to return and engage in classes.
Buckner told The Gryphon that the upheaval of the pandemic and the change it necessitated in the way students were taught had created a need for a conversation about the way students should be expected to attend and engage with classes.
“What does attendance and engagement mean? What does that look like and what do students think it means?”
The survey asks students who missed in-person classes last year why they skipped them and prompts respondents to give feedback on potential policy solutions. These include giving out extra marks for attendance and clustering classes so students have more than one or two hours of teaching on one day.
It also asks for opinions on attendance and engagement and the importance that students place on attending and taking part in classes.
Understanding what is happening, Wright argues, is crucial so that universities can “address it in a way that is supportive of students.”
Buckner warned that students who missed in-person lectures were harming their learning.
“It’s the stopping by to us to ask a question after the lecture has finished. It’s those sorts of things that you don’t necessarily get online or dropping into an open office if you have a question when you’re passing by.”
Whilst the survey was not commissioned by senior management, its findings are likely to be closely read by the University Executive as they grapple with the issue.
Buckner and Wright say they also hope to contribute to the debate taking place nationally.
Angela Smith, a Sustainability and Environmental Management student, is one of the many students who skipped her in-person lectures and seminars last year.
She told The Gryphon that she lost motivation to go to classes after receiving high marks in her A-levels despite, as she admits, not doing “a lot of work for them.”
“I think it made me realise that I didn’t need to put in much work to do well in education and I think that has been reflected this year. I missed a lot of lectures but still came out with good marks.”
“I also could learn on my own time by watching pre-recorded lectures and rewinding if I missed something.”
The convenience of watching recorded lectures was frequently mentioned by those interviewed for this piece.
Hannah Laycock, a Linguistics and Phonetics graduate, says she has always “struggled with education” and has been suffering from poor health this year.
But with minimal contact hours spread thinly across the week, trying to find motivation to attend became even more difficult.
“Even on days where I was feeling well, it almost felt like there was no point dragging myself into university for one hour and then going home.”
After attending her in-person classes for the first week of the semester, she skipped the rest, instead watching lecture recordings at home.
She felt vindicated by her decision after graduating this summer with an upper second class.
“It just seems really pointless making the effort when the contact hours are so low. It takes more effort for me than most with really bad anxiety, a heart condition and kidney disease to get in.”
Kat Padmore, a Film, Photography and Media graduate, also found that watching lectures online was more accessible.
“Some of my classes were in buildings that didn’t have functioning lifts or accessible entrances, while others were in very large buildings that would have been far too overwhelming for me sensory-wise as an autistic student.”
“I watched all my lectures online, getting into a routine when I figured out when to expect recordings to upload, and always signed up for office hours if they were offered virtually.”
The cost of living crisis has also meant that more students have been forced to increase the amount of paid employment they work to cover their basic needs, meaning that they are either unavailable to go to class or simply too exhausted.
Michele Caso was studying International Relations but left the course as he found the quality of teaching to be poor and was struggling to manage his work commitments with studying.
“In order to afford to go to university I was having to work which then stopped me from being able to effectively complete and attend what I was working for in the first place.”
Industrial action by the University College Union (UCU) over pay and working conditions has also severely disrupted learning since the end of the pandemic, which may have confused some students about whether their classes were actually taking place or not.
“Due to the marking boycotts, strikes, a lack of communication and a lack of effort in creating engaging classes, my motivation to attend disappeared. I felt like the university and the staff didn’t care so what was the point of attending?”
Georgia Wade, a Geography graduate, said that after coming back to campus from a year in industry she struggled to get used to university life again.
“I got a job and worked there rather than going into lectures. When I did go onto campus, I avoided lectures and seminars as I found the content didn’t even relate to the assignments.”
“I just wanted to make sure I could pass my assignments and other than that I really struggled to want to go in”
Dr. Lisa Buckner and Dr. Katy Wright will present their findings this autumn.
