I could do without this shit

[rhondacrockett]

So there's a new "requirement" for the PhD now? I got an e-mail yesterday about a "Postgraduate Skills and Training Programme" which they're starting this year. It all has to do with stupid new regulations so the School can keep its 3 or 4-star rating (I'm not sure which it is). I'm not sure whether I'm confused or angry about it. Never mind that I REALLY DO NOT HAVE THE TIME FOR THIS, there are too many unanswered questions about how it's supposed to work. In the e-mail, they put speech marks around the word requirement - so is it a requirement or isn't it?!? It says we're supposed to do 30 days of scheduled training, 10 in the first year and 10 over the next two years. But I'm in my last year already; am I supposed to do the whole 30, or just 10 or what?! Will I get the certificate they talk about if I don't have the full 30 days? And we're supposed to fill out some questionnaire so we can figure out which programmes to book, but I can't access that questionnaire unless I book a session! Oh, and the questionnaire itself is non-specific to the point of meaninglessness. "At what level would you place your ability to demonstrate original, independent and critical thinking?" How the hell should I know? I just do what I'm told.

*stab-strangles the whole poxy thing*

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Know what I worry about? Running into my students around the libraries and other student areas. If a stranger had come into my tutorial yesterday, they wouldn't have been able to distinguish the tutor from the students. I know I would be confused and doubtful if I had run into any of my tutors working in the same places as me when I was an undergrad.

Yeah, I worry too much.

My teaching philosophy has come down to this: "Everything is the students' job; none of it is mine!"