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Teaching Tips: How to be more ‘commuter compassionate’

Posted on 15 October 2025

Liz Thomas shares the importance of showing compassion to commuting students in your teaching and student support practices.

While students found some HE staff to be empathetic to commuter students' experiences and made adjustments to support them, this is not always the case. For example, a student in research in Ireland commented: "No flexibility to support students who are commuting… seen as an outcast compared to students who live on campus or near campus."

These teaching tips are things that all staff can do in their classroom practices and when engaging one-to-one with students.