Edinburgh Napier University

  During the first UK lockdown period, degree apprentices in two universities in Scotland were invited to complete a short qualitative survey with their reflections on starting to work and study from home. They were encouraged to complete the survey once a week for four weeks, from the end of April 2020. The survey asked some basic questions about the apprentices, their jobs and courses, followed by four reflective questions asking them to identify the challenges they faced in working and studying that week and how they had resolved or begun to address those challenges. Boundary and border theories were used to orient the initial analysis. The apprentices’ main challenges centred on the lack of structure, while three domains (home, work, and study) competed for their attention. Their experiences diverged from each other, due to their diverse work and family contexts, and rarely resembled contemporary stereotypes of young students.