University of Auckland defends 'super-tutorial' of 147 students

There were also concerns about tutorials of up to 60 people becoming the new norm for arts students. Photo / 123RF

Students at the University of Auckland are furious about a so-called "super-tutorial" in which nearly 150 people have been put in the one available study group.

Tutorials are traditionally small, to give students the chance to discuss and clarify learnings from lectures in depth with a handful of their peers and a tutor.

But the only out-of-class group learning offered for the paper Sociology 203: Social Reality and Ideology (SOCIO203) was a "discussion hour" for the entire class of 147.

The university has defended the group, saying the discussion hour was not supposed to function like a tutorial and was unusually large because the course had been more popular than expected.

Discussion hours have been in use since 2010 and were not a teaching programme, but an alternative "third hour" of contact time designed to supplement lectures, a spokesman said.

The number of contact hours vary but most are three hours for undergraduate classes.

Not every second-year course is offered tutorials and the discussion hour was not mandatory, but the sociology students told the Herald their learning was impacted without an option to engage with course material in smaller groups.

Tutors and students were also concerned about tutorials of up to 60 people becoming the new norm for arts students.

A student in the sociology class, Vanessa Arapko, said she was "extremely concerned" about the standard of education being offered.

She worried about the growing discussion hour and tutorial group sizes which led to students struggling to pass assignments, she said.

Drop-off rates for what she called SOCIO203's "super tutorial" were particularly high because students did not find much value in it.

"I have witnessed a decline in student participation, which devalues the importance of discussion, lack of space to develop ideas, inability to build relationships with classmates and tutors, as well as a general disengagement."

Data from the University of Auckland showed an average of about 30 students for first-year sociology tutorials.

In second year that average increased to 50 students for five of the seven second year courses offering tutorials since 2013, with two spiking to nearly 60 students last year.

Of the four third-year papers offered, one's tutorial numbers had nearly doubled since 2013 to 60 students this year.

The remaining three had an average of 50 students every year, and one dropped to 40 this year.

Complaints to the head of department had been made, Arapko said.

SOCIO203 was in its first year and taught by lecturer Ronald Kramer, who declined to comment.

Its tutor, who is in her first year of teaching, also declined to comment but another University of Auckland sociology tutor spoke to the Herald on the condition they would not be named.

"Tutorials between 50 and 60 people are becoming the new norm," the tutor said.

"You can't do your job right with that amount of people.

"We're concerned that the quality of the education is rapidly decreasing, not only from the reduction in tutoring hours, but reduction in the ability of the staff to engage with students one on one generally."

A university spokesman said SOCIO203's "record numbers" reflected the paper's unprecedented popularity.

Responding to direct questions about students' unhappiness with discussion hours and tutorial sizes, he said the University of Auckland was ranked first in New Zealand and in the top 50 globally, according to the recent QS world university rankings.

The spokesman said tutorials were still used for first-year students, while at higher levels a range of different teaching models were used in line with changing guidelines for best teaching practice.