Stress, fear, guilt, and structural bullying – the life of students

Stress, fear, guilt, and structural bullying – the life of students JULY 2016 A research note prepared by Sandra Grey and Charles Sedgwick for the Tertiary Education Union Te Hautū Kahurangi o Aotearoa

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TERTIARY EDUCATION UNION Te Hautū Kahurangi o Aotearoa

In its opening paragraphs, the Productivity Commission’s 2016 issues paper “New Models for Tertiary Education” includes the important statement “The Commission aims to provide insightful, well-informed and accessible advice that leads to the best possible improvement in the wellbeing of New Zealanders” (2016: ii). This indicates the importance of considering the structural conditions in tertiary education that students’ pay for and staff experience as part of their work environment. However, in the 78 questions in the issues paper, none speak of the structural conditions under which students learn, study or are assessed and staff teach, learn and research. This despite the rationale of the Productivity Commission being to:

anxiety and depression: “… sometimes you have to harden up.” Seymour noted there was a lot of help available in the tertiary education system and students should seek it.

He was also quoted as saying: “Sometimes you have to make a choice and choose to make the most of things.”

The same article presents responses to Seymour’s from the chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, Judi Clements and the NZUSA president Rory McCourt (Hunt, 2015 15 September 2015):

The idea that people experiencing mental illness need to ‘harden up’ is unfortunately a common misconception, but it is very unhelpful.

Consider how innovative “new models” can help the system respond positively to [big trends] and consider system and institutional settings that encourage or inhibit new models (2016: 1)

We’re risking creating a generation of highly-strung graduates. With rises in counselling sessions on almost all campuses, this is a real issue The extent of the problem trivialized by Seymour can be seen on the NZUSA website (http://www.students.org.nz/) in Table 1 on the use of student counselling between 2009 and 2014.

As TEU’s submission on the issues paper prepared for the inquiry points out, existing structural conditions which engender in staff fear, bullying, and stress (created by government and management demands, workload intensification, and funding decisions - all to cut costs), are not conducive to collegial, cooperative, and innovative relations. Fear, guilt, and stress is also being felt by students who learn under structural conditions in which there is growing debt, a fear of failure, and an ever present need to get credentials for work rather than engaging in life-long learning.

The hardship faced by tertiary education students is also seen in other spaces. For example, if one examines the results of the Victoria University of Wellington 2015 Student Experience Improvement Surveyat the time surveyed (mid-way through trimester one when academic pressure was high) approximately 46 percent of students had poor emotional wellbeing. This result is consistent with the findings in 2014.

The five questions, known as the WHO-5, an internationally recognised emotional wellbeing measure, were used to examine the wellbeing of Victoria’s students. The 2015 results confirm that whilst students’ mood and daily engagement is generally positive, their overall wellbeing is compromised by poor sleep and high levels of stress and anxiety.

Overall there seems to be little recognition or empathy for the structural conditions causing harm to staff and student wellbeing in current debates around tertiary education.

A 2015 newspaper headline “ACT leader David Seymour’s ‘harden up’” stunned Wellington students (Hunt, September 15, 2015). The story was recounting a speech to 100 students at Victoria University of Wellington where the ACT MP told students concerned about

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TABLE 1. STUDENT COUNSELLING SESSIONS 2009-2014 Institution

Sessions in 2009

Sessions in 2014

Change (+/-)

Student enrolment Change (+/-)

The University of Auckland The University of Otago Victoria University of Wellington Massey University Waikato University AUT Lincoln University University of Canterbury

1,215 4600 5729 4246 501 2629 1034 2617

2,139 5772 6982 5145 995 2927 598 3035

397 % 25 % 22 % 21 % 99 % 11 % -42 % 16 %

10 % -0.02 % -8 % -12 % -0.08 % 7% -35 % -20 %

Note: these statistics include students who have received the service and does not represent what may be the actual need.

THE CURRENT SITUATION AND ITS SOURCE The source of the current high levels of stress and anxiety for students in tertiary education appears to be twofold. The first can be credited to a tertiary education system which since the 1980s has been subject to:

“Reforming again and yet again.” The report stated that “Within the OECD membership, it is difficult to identify a country, unless it be the United Kingdom, which has during the past decade embarked upon such a sustained and radical reform agenda as New Zealand.”

… continuous financial and managerial pressures. The former generates underfunding, falling full-time equivalent staff numbers. Increasing staff: student ratios, increased fees, course closures, growing class sizes, institutional insecurity over competition for funds and other resources and insecurity for staff and students.

The second source of student stress and anxiety is the fees introduced in 1991, and the associated borrowing for course and living costs. Student debt will reach $15 billion in 2016; since 2011 the Government has been further honing its skill at student debt collection, using private debt collectors both in New Zealand and overseas (since 2010) and now boasts, ‘being proactive in tracking defaulters down’ (Joyce and McClay, 1st Dec 2014, media release). The collection according to Joyce and McClay is a year to date return (Grey et al 2013: 13). of ‘$16 for every $1 invested’. They said it took 3 years to collect $100m, the next six months to collect $50m and they have ‘$686m in There is no doubt that the tertiary education overdue debt owed by overseas borrowers’ system in New Zealand has been the subject of a long term agenda of change. The OECD, in (ibid). its review of New Zealand’s tertiary system in This debt burden is now influencing the life 1997, noted the New Zealand context as one of course decisions of students post tertiary

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increasing recourse to plagiarism (none of the following with the exception of ‘incompletions’ seems to be quantified

by TEC or the institutions), the need for extensions for internal assessments, aegrotat requirements, and course incompletion.

education including when to having children or buy a house - assuming they get a job (See NZUSA 2014). In today’s labour market even once a qualification is attained there is employment uncertainty – whether in attaining employment, staying in the job, or being able to get permanent work. In fact the only certainty for students is that employment will be met with debt repayment once an income threshold is reached.

The impact of all of this is stress caused by guilt. Estimates from counselling services at Victoria maintain that 50 percent of the student body is stressed and that the greatest manifestation of this stress is guilt.

Fees and indebtedness is also impacting upon the time students spend in tertiary education.

This approach has a range of outcomes all of which contribute to stress and anxiety.

There is constant pressure to supplement income with low paid part-time work during term time. A VUWSA survey noted that approximately 57 percent of the 4524 respondents (students) are working between 1 and 40 hours a week with 38 percent working between 6 and 20 hours a week. This means a dramatic shift in work-life balance and time management issues.

a. guilt over a failing study/work/life balance b. guilt of not doing what you should be doing c. guilt over not attending lectures Surely 50 percent of a student population in a state of stress and anxiety is a public issue and not merely ameliorated by saying ‘harden up’?

It is clear that tertiary education students in New Zealand, like those in other countries, are not spending sufficient time on their studies or in classes. Students who spend no time preparing for class are far less engaged in many areas of learning than students who spend a substantial amount of time studying:

So what is the role of staff in tertiary education? In the Victoria University student guide Gerrard Hoffman, Manager, Student Counselling Service noted:

Remember that your role is not to be a counsellor or confidant, nor to take responsibility for a student’s life or mental health; but, you can play a key role in starting a process whereby the problem can be solved.

Your ability to recognise and respond to student distress will, of course, vary greatly depending on the amount and closeness of face-to-face student contact you have”. (Hoffman 2013: 5)

As more and more students balance work with university study, there are concerns that employment is interfering with students’ success at university. Results from the AUSSE suggest that students who are working for pay for 30 or more hours in a typical week are significantly less engaged with their studies; however, no negative effect appears for students who report working for pay for up to 25 hours a week. (Radloff A 2010: xiv) Added to this, there is the intensifying rate of study to ensure as little time as possible is spent in full-time tertiary education.

Staff have commented anecdotally on the

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Academics do tell students to see them about problems before they lead to the above situations, but it doesn’t work like that, according to counsellors. Crises develop and there is a point where it tips over into the desperate need to do something. But the beginnings are seldom the point at which pleas for help are made.

The latter point related to the fact, of course that not all students need or would avail themselves of these services. The response was to make student association membership voluntary but this solution has not remedied this problem. As can be seen in this statement from Lincoln University, students are still paying for services (http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/ Lincoln-Home/Apply/Whats-it-going-to-cost/ Fees-Tuition/Student-administration-fee/):

Excessive stress during their time in tertiary education leads to the need for student support or counseling services at each institution and face-to-face services. As of 2010, 18 of 22 tertiary education institutions provided health and counseling services, and five universities and seven polytechnics provided ‘financial support and hardships funds’ (Joyce 2010: 3). Joyce noted (ibid: 4):

A change in government policy in 2011 requires that from 2012 the University must consult with students on the provision of student services. A ministerial directive determined the broad range of categories that can be covered by the fee. The Student Services Fee is not a membership fee of the Lincoln University Students’ Association (LUSA), but LUSA do provide some of the services on behalf of the University.

The Government has set an expectation through the Tertiary Education Strategy 2010-2015 that tertiary education organisations need to focus on improving their pastoral and academic support for students in order to increase course and qualifications completion ratesparticularly for younger students, and Māori and Pasifika learners. In addition, institution councils have a statutory duty “to ensure that proper standards of integrity, conduct, and concern for the public interest and the well-being of students attending the institution are maintained. There is a link between students’ success and a broader environment that supports their learning. Providers need to have adequate resources to deliver these services, without underfunding other items and resources that are directly linked to tuition. However students are being compelled to contribute towards the cost of additional services that are not directly related to tuition in order to be able to enroll in course at their chosen provider.

And this is the iniquity of the current system – students pay two lots of fees:

a. fees for courses from the institutions and requiring taking on debt and/or course term work for pay to live; and, b. fees for services to ameliorate the stress created by the former institutional structure.

As the president of TEU reminds students and all staff - “Our conditions of work are your conditions of learning” to which she might add “and you will be required to pay additional fees to solve problems created by those conditions of learning”.

At the time of the shift to voluntary student association membership, all universities and 14 out of 18 polytechnics charged these service fees including what was considered non-academic services such as ‘health and counseling services, careers information and sports and recreation. Data provided for the Minister (only universities included) showed that the ‘provider levy’ component accounted for the largest component and was at the time unregulated.

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HOW MUCH IS THE LEVY FOR STUDENTS TO ALLEVIATE THE STRESS CREATED BY THE SYSTEM? Massey University: (rate per 15 units) > 106 units

$536.90 (2016)**

Auckland University: 120 units

$754.80 (2015 - $726)

Victoria University: 120 units

$718.00 (2015 - $690)

Otago University: 120 units

$718 (2015)

Canterbury University: 120 units

$770 (2015 - $725)

Waikato University: 120 units

$443 (2015 - $430)*

AUT $573.30 (2016) Lincoln University $580.00 – (2016) *(1 Semester - $275 in 2015, 2016 -$283), distance learning 2015- $167 per 1 semester $105. **distance learning >106 units -$241.00 With the Student Service Fee (Levy) entrenched and partly regulated, tertiary institutions also responded with increased publications on students help available and in some cases advice to staff on supporting students as per “Just Doing Our Job? A staff guide to supporting students (2013). A note in the beginning of the Victoria University student guide states the following:

Fourteen out of 20 polytechnics in 2010 were charging levies of between $16 and $300 for full time students with an average of a 16 percent increase from 2009 to 2010, ( Joyce 2010: 4). No wānanga charged a levy in 2010 (ibid: 5).

What’s more, the levies charged have increased significantly. Between 2009 and 2010 Canterbury had increased the provider levy by 605.8 percent; Victoria by 93.5 percent, Otago by 34.5 percent, Auckland by 28.4 percent, AUT by 276.9 percent, Lincoln by 52.9 percent, Massey by 67 percent and Waikato by 13.5 percent with an average increase on 69.1 percent (including Canterbury and AUT) or 33 percent excluding them. Student association fee increases were under $11 for all universities except Lincoln which increased their fees by $68.59 (Joyce 2010: 14a).

The purpose of this guide is to provide information for staff at Victoria University. While every endeavour has been made to ensure the information contained in the guide is accurate, the University does not accept any responsibility of liability for errors or omissions, which may be contained in the guide or on any websites references (Student Academic Services, Victoria University, and January 2013 inside cover).

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WHAT IS TO BE DONE? Firstly the attitude of the Ministry, the Minister, respective institutions and students towards failure and the possibility of needing help, counseling or some other form of assistance needs to be addressed. There should be no stigma or guilt attached to this.

all staff under a productivity regime based on quantifiable outputs – whether they be research or administrative outputs and the requirement of compliance to management or institutional requirements flies in the face of their real job –to foster ‘learning for life’ (Hawke 2008:4) which for him means learning throughout a lifetime, not just learning in preparation for a job.

Sufficient flexibility should be available to allow students to switch their courses.

To deny students the right to fail - foreign concepts in some western European cultures - without penalty (aside from fees of course) or to change their mind or to choose a subject that interests them - is not only a denial of freedom but of the learning process. To replace freedom with guilt is not useful.

A Ministerial statement stating “We have to adjust some of those expectations and aspirations” is a case in point. The Minister is referring to students’ ‘aspirations’ to take up education and training, health care and medical, marketing and communication, environment and conservation, community service and development and arts. The Minister wanted to know how students were turning their education into income, that way there would be information that could be “used to help guide decisions students made on career choices. Students should be targeted from age 14 when they first start to think seriously about their career, rather than at school leaving age.” And this was preferable to leaving it to “the all-knowing careers advisor at school” (Eriksen, 2016). To deny freedom to students in the interest of getting output statistics and/or benefitting the economy seems outrageous.

Finally, if students have to pay for their own well-being, then they should be part of the decision making process which decides what is appropriate. In this way there may be more of an attempt to solve the structural conditions of stress rather than the symptoms. To this end we would recommend something akin to a process developed by tertiary education students in the Netherlands – a ‘Study Association Nucleus’ which may be organised between cognate disciplines on one campus but with relations to similar groups at other institutions. It is an NGO separate from the university and the student association with its own board of students from the respective disciplines. Its main goals are helping students with their studies and also with problems they come across during their time at the university.

This approach has the advantage of creating independent collective responsibility amongst students for their conditions of study, rather than reinforcing an entirely competitive individualised experience. It encourages rectifying a situation by getting appropriate help, and thus becomes a solution for the student rather than assuming the student is deficient. It also depends on a set of education and academic regulations which explicitly outline what students may expect across the institution.

The next change would be to allow a genuine space for staff (academic and general) to be able to treat students as a whole person and be trusted to offer that first important tier of pastoral care and or academic help. To place

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References Grey, S, and Scott, J. 2016. “TEU Submission to the Productivity Commission: Inquiry into New Models for Tertiary Education”. Tertiary Education Union: Wellington.

New Zealand Productivity Commission.

2016. “New Models of Tertiary Education”.

Issues paper February 2016.” http:// www.productivity.govt.nz/inquirycontent/2683?stage=2

Grey, S, Sedgwick, C, and Scott, J. 2013. “Te Kaupapa Whaioranga: The Blueprint for Tertiary Education”. Tertiary Education Union, Wellington. http://teu.ac.nz/wpcontent/uploads/2013/11/TKW.pdf

OECD 1997 “Thematic Review of the First Years of Tertiary Education, Country Note: New Zealand” OECD, Paris.

Radloff, A. (Ed) 2010. “Student engagement in New Zealand universities” (https:// akoaotearoa.ac.nz/download/ng/file/group-4/ student-engagement-in-new-zealanduniversities.pdf

Hawke, G. 2008. “Aligning education with our contemporary society and economy”. IPS Lecture Series, New Zealand Future Maker or Future Taker http://www.treasury.govt.nz/ downloads/pdfs/tfr-hawke-4nov09.pdf

Victoria University of Wellington 2015. “2015 Student Experience Improvement Survey for Victoria University” (http://www.victoria. ac.nz/students/support/student-experience/ student-experience-improvement-surveyreport.pdf),

Hoffman, G. 2013. “Victoria University student guide” Victoria University of Wellington.

Hon. Steven Joyce and Todd McLay MP. 1st December 2014. “Overseas student loans collection hits $150m” New Zealand Government https://www.beehive.govt.nz/ release/overseas-student-loans-collectionhits-150m Hon. Steven Joyce. 2010. “Setting controls on student services levies.” Cabinet Social Policy Committee, New Zealand Government.

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