What I Wish I Could Tell My Students
Being a student can be challenging and demanding at the best of times; during a faculty strike, it can feel downright overwhelming! Fortunately, there is some research on Canadian university students’ experiences with faculty strikes that we can look to for guidance on what to expect and how to cope with the situation. Below, I’ll be using some data from several studies discussed in Wickens and colleagues (2016) paper on strikes in Ontario.
First, it’s normal to feel happy or even grateful at the start of a strike! This doesn’t mean you are a “bad student” or don’t care about your classes. Around 57% of students said that an upcoming strike would be a “good opportunity to catch up on coursework” but after the strike only 12% felt that way. By the end of the strike, around 75% of students said it had “disrupted good study habits” and that they “got lazy” even though before the strike began only a quarter of students thought they would feel that way. It’s definitely normal for your feelings to change over the course of the strike.
It’s also normal to find yourself questioning whether to even bother keeping up with your studies at all. Almost all students assumed it would be worth it to “keep up with studies” before the strike began, but during the strike only slightly more than half felt it was worth it, and after the strike that dropped to only around one-third. It can be really hard to stay motivated when you don’t have regular classes to attend, you aren’t seeing your professor on a regular basis, you aren’t getting announcements or reminders about coursework and/or you aren’t seeing your fellow classmates. This is a challenging experience and however you feel about it, you’re not alone.
Second, it can be really hard to find accurate, reliable and up-to-date information about the strike so it’s important to know where to look. Relying on word of mouth from other students or social media can lead to inaccurate or outdated information, so be mindful of who you listen to and seek out trusted sources of information. Although less than a quarter of students sought out information on the faculty union’s website, the union often has the most accurate and up-to-date information. You can find a lot of great information on CUPE3912.ca and on their social media!
Having accurate information is important, because students who felt like they couldn’t get access to reliable information were more likely to experience negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, and anger and to feel powerless and unmotivated. And those who felt “well-informed” were less likely to experience psychological distress, to see the strike as a chance to catch up on coursework, and to maintain good study habits. So keep yourself informed by using reliable sources of information, like professors on the picket line! We may not be able to teach, but we can certainly talk to you about why we’re on strike and what the status of any bargaining is.
Third, it’s normal to feel like you learned less than you “should have” because of the strike; almost all students felt that way after a strike! Often professors need to cut content from a course because they simply can’t make everything up after weeks on strike and if this happens in your course, it’s okay to feel frustrated. In addition, many students said that the most important part of re-starting classes was having a say in what the rest of the semester would look like. While it is obviously up to individual professors to make decisions about how best to make up for the time that was lost during the strike, many professors may not know just how important it is for students to have a voice in those decisions. You and your classmates could think about how to respectfully approach your professor with a request to have some say in what will work best.
Around 60% of students who experienced a strike would have appreciated either (a) their professor leading a class discussion and then letting the students vote on how to adjust the syllabus or (b) being able to choose an individualized plan (perhaps from two or three possible options) that worked best for them. Every professor is different and some may not be able to be as flexible as others, but it’s okay to respectfully advocate for yourself – and your classmates – and see where your professor may be willing to be more accommodating to students’ preferences.
Finally, if at all possible, learn about collective bargaining! Many students who experienced a strike did not know that striking is legal, that negotiations have often been going on for a long time before a strike happens, or that at the time of the strike the faculty do not have a current contract with the university. (A new contract is actually what is being negotiated right now!) You also may not realize what part-time faculty contracts actually include (or don’t include) or what the union is actually asking for (i.e., not just higher wages, but overall better working conditions like getting contracts sooner). You can find bargaining updates here CUPE 3912 website.
I know that this strike is stressful, but with this research hopefully we can all know what to expect and how best to approach the rest of the semester.
Wickens, C. M., Labrish, C., Masoumi, A., Fiksenbaum, L. M., & Greenglass, E. R. (2016). Understanding the student experience of a university labour strike: Identifying strategies to counter negative impact. Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. Retrieved from https://heqco.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/HEQCO-Formatted_-CAMH.pdf