Hours worked on average day this week: 12
Response to those who say ‘I thought you were on holiday’: unprintable!
I totally sympathize with my colleagues in the school teaching profession who see red mist every time someone mentions their long summer holidays. OK, so on the surface it does seem to be a cushy number that teachers have several weeks over the summer when they are not in the classroom, but for them and us academics that doesn’t mean we are being idle during that time, far from it!
First of all there’s the finishing off of work generated by students from last term. This includes writing references, informing them of their marks, attending endless exam board meetings. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy every minute of it, but many outsiders don’t realise we are still agreeing marks for students on our modules into the third week of July. And then there’s planning for next term, for me of course it’s all change. Starting a new job, getting used to a new university set-up and a new group of colleagues.
I will be running my own modules for the first time ever, and have a small army of hourly-paid and short-term-contract staff to help me. It will be a strange feeling to be the one with the permanent job trying to help others find their first job. Hopefully my experiences will offer hope to the jobseekers of the future, if you stick it out and strategically build your CV then your chance will come along one day!
Get real, my heart bleeds. I am a fellow lecturer so know the profession, it’s hardly heavy industry now is it.
re your comments
Agree entirely – but think about how much worst it is for us hourly paid lecturers!!
I have been doing hourly paid for 5 years – with little hope of a permanent contract.
As we only get paid for contact hours I worked 70 hour weeks all last year – and grossed 16 grand.
Summers are spent supply teaching, A level marking and signing on as a job seeker – whilst trying to finish my PhD ( as I get no chance to touch it in term time!)
Furthermore we tend to be paid with a flat hourly rate irrespective of what we teach – I run modules and prepare all lectures and seminars – yet get the same pay as someone who only teaches prepared seminars.
Also rolled up holiday pay ( the hourly rate covers everything including holiday pay) was deemed unlawful under a European Directive in March 2006 – but nobody seems to want to tackle these issues
just thought I’d have a moan – but really HE per se should stop using part timers as cheap labour and also pay full time starting salaries which reflect the hard work and extraordinary amount of skills, qualifications etc which people need to get in at the bottom
ps my PhD is about student satisfaction – but it will certainly be taking a highly critical look at the immorality which apears to be an inherent part of university management ( or mismanagement)
regards maggie watkin
Two very interesting and contrasting responses: thanks to you both.
To R: totally agree, academic life is certainly not physically challenging and is far from monotonous, I just wanted to redress the balance a little for those who assume that ‘summer = holiday’.
To Maggie: very true, but unfortunately the trend of using part-timers as cheap labour appears to be growing not shrinking. I’d be interested to hear whether your PhD research reveals students are more or less satisfied being taught by part-time, hourly paid lecturers. Anecdotally, some students I have spoken to feel cheated that they have not got a ‘real lecturer’, whereas others prefer it because classes seem fresher and sometimes the teaching skills of younger scholars are stronger (not my view, I hasten to add!).
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title jobs.ac.uk. Thanks for informative article
To Jakob: Thanks for your comment, I am glad that jobs.ac.uk is able to offer advice as well as job opportunities to the academic community. What is your experience, are you in HE yourself?
These are interesting comments – it is really hard to make ends meet as a sessional lecturer. But I have found as a coordinator of sessional staff that the summer becomes problematic for the few lecturers on full time contracts as they have to deal with all the admin, exam boards, retakes etc. throughout the summer and for me this seems to be growing each year. It would be better to have permanent staff because sessional money is only really for lecuturing duties in term time – and this is only half the job – management need to address this if they want their full time staff to have any research time.
To M: I think you are absolutely right. One colleague I spoke to recently said that he was working solidly on the admin tasks you mentioned for at least six weeks after the end of the term. And that is one blessing about being a sessional lecturer, avoiding the mountains of admin that many permanent staff have to cope with, especially during the exam ad post-exam periods. I wonder if universities will be long-sighted enough to share your view about the perils of employing fewer permanent staff? I am slightly cynical about that, I must admit!
Hi: I have worked as a lecturer for over seven years now, and recently our terms and conditions have changed and we have lost 10 annual days leave, of course under the pretense of “you will be paid more”. I think what every one seems to forget is that those long summer holidays are the only time we can have with our families. You cannot take your leave at any other time, as most people do. If I fancy a week off, I have to wait for the next holiday period.
Plus, those long summer holidays are always at the most expensive time of year, and if like us, 1 permanent post and 1 sessional, we find it hard to make ends meet over the holidays anyway. We’ve had enough and after 3 years of training my other half is now forced to go back into industry as we just cant go on like this. It’s so sad! and I feel a great loss to the kids he would have taught, its not often you get a commendation from a group of 17 yr olds. Well done Mick, do what you have to do love, Ill support you!.
Intersesting reading all these comments. They’re really an eye-opener. My case is that I live in France and teach in a secondary school. I find the job not very satisfying due to some pupils’ unruly behaviour in the class. It’s energy-sapping and I feel that I’m wasting a lot of my time in this level of teaching.
Meanwhile, my intention is to leave France for the UK in order to teach in an institution of higher learning. For this I’ve registered as a Phd student in a French university.
My question is this: Can any one kindly inform me on how to obtain a place to teach in a university in the UK while preparing for my thesis?
Thank you in advance for your help and suggestions.
To Tracy: that’s a really important point actually, going away (either for a holiday or to attend a conference) in term time is a complete no-no in many institutions, and in those that do allow it, you get so far behind with teaching and admin that it seems hardly worth it anyway. I am sorry that you have been ‘forced’ out of academia. It seems as though good teachers are just not being rewarded these days sadly.
To Ngozi,
Thanks for your comments. I hope some other contributors might have some advice for you in your particular situation. I am not sure how easy it would be to get a teaching job in the UK straight out after your PhD with very little experience of the university system in this country. But obviously keep an eye on the jobs advertised on jobs.ac.uk and use any contacts you have at UK universities who can advise you on available teaching jobs.
Your point about high school teaching is interesting. The behaviour of students is one thing that puts a lot of good teachers off the sector I think. At least at university level the students are almost always well behaved because they want to learn. I am sure some lecturers have horror stories though….!
Hey! I came across your blog posting after searching for teaching jobs and your post on jobs.ac.uk makes an interesting read. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Emily,
Thanks for your comments, what’s your jobseeking experience?
Catherine
Hello, I came across your blog posting after searching for teaching jobs and your post on jobs.ac.uk makes an interesting read. Thanks for sharing. I will search online more next Tuesday when I have the day off.