Lecture attendance is now so low that some academics have started to openly question the future of the teaching method.
Scholars’ accounts of teaching to empty rooms in recent months have amplified concerns that the post-Covid decline in attendance, with many students preferring to catch up remotely, has been exacerbated by a cost-of-living crisis that has forced some undergraduates to prioritise paid work over attending classes.
Rob Briner, professor of organisational psychology at Queen Mary University of London, recently had a single student show up for a class from a 70-strong master’s cohort.
“That was quite extreme, but it’s not uncommon to have 25 per cent of a class attend, maybe less,” said Professor Briner, who added that colleagues in other departments and institutions had noted similarly high levels of student no-shows. “There’s definitely not the same feeling that you have to show up that once existed.”
