[Academic] Brief update regarding face-to-face teaching

[David McKee]

Dear Paul

Unfortunately I can't make it to the meeting tomorrow. I would have 
liked to hear in what manner the University believes the Covid situation 
has improved in the last two weeks? To my mind the numbers all appear to 
be going in the wrong direction. With Northern Ireland and now Wales 
both moving to temporary lockdown, it certainly seems like the situation 
is generally worsening rather than improving.

At the last Dept Cttee the issue of contingency plans for dealing with 
staff becoming ill with Covid, potentially as a result of being required 
to come back in to do F2F teaching was raised. Is there any guidance on 
who picks up the pieces if teaching staff are incapacitated? Of course 
the bigger issue is dealing with the consequences of a colleague 
becoming seriously ill or potentially dying as a result of returning to 
F2F teaching. Can anyone really believe that 'blended learning' is worth 
dying for?

In terms of health and safety considerations - the hierarchy of control 
measures asks first - is it necessary to perform the activity? The 
answer here is clearly no. We can deliver an acceptable level of 
teaching remotely without incurring the risks associated with F2F. F2F 
teaching is an unnecessary hazard that can be eliminated without 
compromising our ability to provide a suitable education to our students 
in this time of crisis.

Hierarchy of hazard controls - Wikipedia

At this point in time, I remain opposed to resuming F2F teaching, 
notwithstanding any additional information or reassurance that the 
University might be able to offer tomorrow. At the last Dept Cttee 
meeting (only 2 weeks ago) the view of the Department was resolutely in 
favour of continuing with online teaching. I believe that this message 
needs to be reiterated in the strongest possible terms to senior 
management. You may confidently include me as one of those not willing 
to return to F2F teaching next week, and nor would I be willing to put 
forward my colleagues.

 From the perspective of running the 3rd year lab - we have been able to 
deliver a good quality first online experiment experience for both 
classes. We are preparing to roll out further experiments for PH380 next 
week. Whilst I would dearly love to be in a position to return to 
working face to face in the teaching lab, I cannot envisage it being 
safe to do so in the near future. Moreover, having started upon the 
online route this year, I believe it would actually be counter 
productive to switch mode at this point mid-semester, and it would 
create a number of very difficult logistical issues as the new structure 
that has been imposed on us (PH380 and PH390) complicates matters 
considerably.

It is a matter of regret that we are still dealing with this situation. 
I am concerned that the University has failed to heed the health and 
safety concerns of both staff and students. I reiterate that the 
students union and UCU both remain opposed to resuming F2F teaching.

According to the attached guidance from the Health and Safety Executive, 
employees have a *_duty_* to "Tell someone (your employer, supervisor, 
or health and safety representative) if you think the work or inadequate 
precautions are putting anyone’s health and safety at serious risk". I 
believe returning to F2F next week would put people's health at risk and 
I am raising this with you as a serious concern. I am copying this to 
the local branch of UCU as I believe this is a matter of concern across 
the University as well as in our Department. I hope after tomorrow's 
meeting you will be in a position to raise this concern with senior 
management.

Regards

David


On 19/10/2020 17:42, Physics-HOD wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> This email contains a brief update regarding face-to-face teaching.
>
> As you know, the University Executive Team adjusted its plans for the 
> transition to blended learning, by rephasing the commencement of the 
> transition phase for two weeks. This means that across the University 
> there is no face-to-face teaching in weeks 4 and 5 of semester 1, and 
> face-to-face teaching will start next week (week 6).
>
> We are in discussions with the Faculty regarding teaching delivery in 
> Physics for the reminder of the semester, given that the learning 
> outcomes for our courses can be achieved via online methods. The Dean 
> will discuss our case with the Executive Team and I expect a decision 
> on this in the next day or two.
>
> I have scheduled a Zoom meeting (details below) for 4pm-5pm on 
> Wednesday (21st Oct) afternoon, to discuss our approach to delivering 
> teaching for the rest of semester 1, including a discussion of the 
> University’s process of approvals, assurances, and risk assessment. 
> Please join this discussion, particularly if you are teaching this 
> semester. Thanks.
>
> Meeting URL:     https://strath.zoom.us/j/97517250810?from=addon
> Meeting ID:     975 1725 0810
> Password:    898474
>
> Best wishes,
> Paul
>
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