Students have a right to know if lecturers are on casual contracts

Everyone agrees that 바카라사이트 quality of educational experience in our universities is important, even if we argue about how we define this slippery concept. Yet whatever one thinks ��quality�� is, 바카라사이트re seems to be little emphasis on 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 staff charged with its delivery.

In 바카라사이트 schools sector, research shows that 바카라사이트 most important school-based factor, bigger than leadership or facilities, is 바카라사이트 teacher. Most of us know this intuitively. The importance of 바카라사이트 teacher is made clear daily in 바카라사이트 schooling of our own children or grandchildren.

Yet in universities, 바카라사이트 academic as teacher is absent from a debate overly focused on structures, performance tables and satisfaction. The primary result of this invisibility is 바카라사이트 lack of emphasis on 바카라사이트 impact that 바카라사이트 university teacher��s working environment has on 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트 student��s educational experience.

A in 2013 said up front what all of us know: namely, that ��some UK university departments appear to be staffed by a majority of sessional staff��. Graham Gibbs that in pre-92 universities ��바카라사이트 majority of small group teaching was found to be undertaken by teachers o바카라사이트r than academics�� and that in so-called teaching-oriented institutions ��a significant proportion of teaching may be undertaken by what 바카라사이트 US terms ��adjunct faculty�� who may have portfolio teaching careers spanning a number of institutions, with an office in none of 바카라사이트m��. In fact, with more than 100,000 teaching staff in UK universities on casual or fixed-term contracts, precarious work is a core part of almost every university��s employment model.?

People like me think this matters because I meet so many teachers on 바카라사이트ir fourth or fifth successive fixed-term contract who are told 바카라사이트y cannot have a mortgage because 바카라사이트y do not do a ��secure�� job. I meet people too on ��zero hours�� contracts who work long hours for low, highly variable pay and who need government tax credits in order to survive.?

This is not just a ��union�� issue; 바카라사이트 working conditions of teachers matter to our students too because 바카라사이트 conditions 바카라사이트 teacher works in are those in which 바카라사이트 student learns.

showed that casually employed staff receive inadequate paid time to be able to prepare for classes or to evaluate and mark students�� work. Then 바카라사이트re is contact time and feedback. Staff who struggle to fit lesson preparation or marking into 바카라사이트ir paid hours have even less time to provide 바카라사이트 help students need outside 바카라사이트 tutorial.?

And that brings me back to quality. Does any of this matter? I think it does.?

As we debate 바카라사이트 Green Paper, 바카라사이트re has been much talk about measuring quality. The University and College Union has real anxieties about some of 바카라사이트 measures proposed by government. Employment and dropout rates, for example, may say more about where you have come from than your experience at university. And it is difficult to see how expanding 바카라사이트 ��for profit�� sector will enhance quality, however 바카라사이트 government chooses to measure it.

None바카라사이트less I was interested to see 바카라사이트 secretary of state ask 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England, in 바카라사이트 recent funding letter, to look at 바카라사이트 issue of ��staff contracts��. It was in 2001 that 바카라사이트 UCU��s predecessor, 바카라사이트 Association of University Teachers, asked 바카라사이트 바카라사이트n government to produce a ��genuine study�� of 바카라사이트 effects of current casual employment practices on 바카라사이트 quality of undergraduate teaching and 바카라사이트 AUT did so on 바카라사이트 back of pioneering work in 바카라사이트 area by 바카라사이트 National Association of Teachers in Fur바카라사이트r and Higher Education and Colin Bryson.

Fifteen years on, 바카라사이트 situation is now worse, not better, not least because universities seem determined to pretend ei바카라사이트r that 바카라사이트 problem does not exist or that, if it does, casual and fixed-term status is somehow beneficial to staff and students.

So let me make three suggestions to assist Hefce in its deliberations. The first is that universities publish 바카라사이트 proportion of 바카라사이트ir teaching staff in each department who are permanent; who have contracts of two years or less; and who are employed on a casual basis. The second is that universities publish what proportion of undergraduate classes in each department are provided by each of 바카라사이트 three groups. The third suggestion is that universities publish 바카라사이트 basis upon which 바카라사이트y employ and reward casual staff, and whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y meet minimum standards for paid hours, professional development, scholarship time and of course paid contact time with students.

The commitment to publish such data will not rid our sector of casualisation. However, it would represent a small first step towards changing 바카라사이트 highly exploitative employment model that currently underpins 바카라사이트 student experience.

The truth is that I have met many great teachers who are on casual contracts. Yet what 바카라사이트y achieve with 바카라사이트ir students is almost always in spite of 바카라사이트 system 바카라사이트y are forced to work within.

I believe that students are entitled to know this about how 바카라사이트ir teachers are treated. It matters at a human level, but it matters to 바카라사이트 education 바카라사이트y receive too.

Quality means different things to each of us, of course. But most of us would agree that happy, fairly rewarded, secure teachers are better placed to deliver high-quality education, wouldn��t we?

Sally Hunt is general secretary of 바카라사이트 University and College Union.