Dr Pierre Purseigle
University of Warwick

This is the message I sent my students earlier to confirm I will be taking part in the UCU strike.

#UCURising

The transition from secondary school to university is often challenging, not least for first-generation students. It has been particularly difficult to navigate for those students who came of age during the Covid-19 pandemic and spent the best part of two years learning on-line.

Back in October, I opened my first-year seminar discussions with remarks I had often found myself repeating over the years. I thought it might be useful to share them during our first meetings; to establish a set of principles and expectations which are not always made clear to university students.

Since feedback from both students and colleagues has been rather positive, I decided to share this on my blog. Bear in mind this was simply meant to serve as a memo for my first class with Year 1 History students. It turned out to be much longer than planned and it was never intended for publication. It is pretty rough and frank, but I hope it might be of some use to students and colleagues within and outside Warwick.