What should I do about a tutor that is uncomfortable to work with?
I can’t go into much detail as I want to remain mostly anonymous, but I’m a student studying at a UAL campus and about to enter my third year.
Recently the Moodle pages got updated for the upcoming year, and I’ve found out I’m going to be in a tutor group for my dissertation with a tutor who I’ve had bad experiences with in the past year.
They’re not un-academic, but that’s part of the problem. They are academic to the extent that they’re constantly speaking and explaining things as if they’re writing an essay. Because of this, me and the other students have a really hard time understanding them, whether that be in direct communication or on assessment feedback.
The other major issue comes from that, because if you fail to understand them, they get really frustrated and annoyed with you, regardless of the context in which you were speaking.
On the flip side, there are also issues when it comes to getting other feedback from them. I once submitted a piece of work before a tutorial for them to look at ahead of time (this was a planned/necessary part of the course), and they not only missed the email, they mistakenly found a different email I’d sent months before and berated me for not doing any more work on it since last time.
Once we realised the mistake, they were able to go over what I’d sent them, but it was in-the-moment and they had to give feedback in real time, so it was all over the place.
In a separate incident, me and some of the other students were taking a break when we got our results for the course they had taught us on. One student was so stressed about what the results would be that they actually started crying, and another had to make a complaint because the tutor had taken marks off for something being absent in their work which had actually been included.
I know this is quite complicated, but there’s just a lot of different factors here.
I also don’t know the best way to really talk to anybody about this. After the incident with the feedback, I contacted the head of the course because I wanted to know if it would be possible to have another tutorial with a different tutor due to the issues mentioned above.
The head of the course then turned around and forwarded that to the tutor I was complaining about, and I had to listen to them berating me again via email, this time for complaining.
All of this means that, now that I’m set to study under them for my dissertation, I’m getting stressed thinking about how that might end up. I’m finishing up a task we were set to do over the summer, but now that I know they’re going to be the one seeing it I am CONSTANTLY worrying about how they’re going to react, rather than whether the task itself has been completed properly.
I really would rather study under literally anybody else, but I’m scared that if I say something it will be sent to them again. Swapping groups will also make them aware that I don’t want to work with them regardless, and that would be more awkward since I’d be seeing them in person while attending lectures and such.
It’s really starting to eat me up, but I don’t know if I should say something or just roll with the punches?
Recently the Moodle pages got updated for the upcoming year, and I’ve found out I’m going to be in a tutor group for my dissertation with a tutor who I’ve had bad experiences with in the past year.
They’re not un-academic, but that’s part of the problem. They are academic to the extent that they’re constantly speaking and explaining things as if they’re writing an essay. Because of this, me and the other students have a really hard time understanding them, whether that be in direct communication or on assessment feedback.
The other major issue comes from that, because if you fail to understand them, they get really frustrated and annoyed with you, regardless of the context in which you were speaking.
On the flip side, there are also issues when it comes to getting other feedback from them. I once submitted a piece of work before a tutorial for them to look at ahead of time (this was a planned/necessary part of the course), and they not only missed the email, they mistakenly found a different email I’d sent months before and berated me for not doing any more work on it since last time.
Once we realised the mistake, they were able to go over what I’d sent them, but it was in-the-moment and they had to give feedback in real time, so it was all over the place.
In a separate incident, me and some of the other students were taking a break when we got our results for the course they had taught us on. One student was so stressed about what the results would be that they actually started crying, and another had to make a complaint because the tutor had taken marks off for something being absent in their work which had actually been included.
I know this is quite complicated, but there’s just a lot of different factors here.
I also don’t know the best way to really talk to anybody about this. After the incident with the feedback, I contacted the head of the course because I wanted to know if it would be possible to have another tutorial with a different tutor due to the issues mentioned above.
The head of the course then turned around and forwarded that to the tutor I was complaining about, and I had to listen to them berating me again via email, this time for complaining.
All of this means that, now that I’m set to study under them for my dissertation, I’m getting stressed thinking about how that might end up. I’m finishing up a task we were set to do over the summer, but now that I know they’re going to be the one seeing it I am CONSTANTLY worrying about how they’re going to react, rather than whether the task itself has been completed properly.
I really would rather study under literally anybody else, but I’m scared that if I say something it will be sent to them again. Swapping groups will also make them aware that I don’t want to work with them regardless, and that would be more awkward since I’d be seeing them in person while attending lectures and such.
It’s really starting to eat me up, but I don’t know if I should say something or just roll with the punches?
Reply 1
Seek help from student welfare services at your uni. They can argue you are suffering from mental health issues - stressing out about having to work with this tutor. They can insist that the department assign you a different dissertation tutor.
Reply 2
Original post by mike23mike
Seek help from student welfare services at your uni. They can argue you are suffering from mental health issues - stressing out about having to work with this tutor. They can insist that the department assign you a different dissertation tutor.
Thanks for the suggestion, it’s definitely a better option confidentiality wise. I was considering contacting the head of the course, but I was worried they might end up forwarding it to her like that other tutor did.
Also sorry for the late reply, I wasn’t logged in so couldn’t see it.
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