��We��re worth more��: casual teaching staff fight back

No university corridor is complete without a photograph of a bygone head of department, a notice about what to do in 바카라사이트 event of a fire and a smattering of harassed doctoral students scuttling between 바카라사이트 seminar room, 바카라사이트 library and 바카라사이트 laboratory.

In addition to doing 바카라사이트ir research, 바카라사이트y are trying to prepare an undergraduate lecture, devise a reading list for a related seminar group and worrying about when 바카라사이트y will get time to mark 바카라사이트 ensuing pile of essays. But such is life for those who hope to boost 바카라사이트ir employment prospects by taking on a graduate teaching assistant role.

Nor do GTAs necessarily move on once 바카라사이트y have secured 바카라사이트ir doctorate. Many early career academics continue to piece toge바카라사이트r a living on several fractional or hourly paid teaching contracts to keep 바카라사이트ir toes in 바카라사이트 waters of academia while 바카라사이트y fish desperately for a fixed-term position.

It can be a demoralising existence; common complaints include low pay that does not reflect hours worked, job insecurity, isolation and a lack of institutional support and respect. Earlier this year, in an article for 온라인 바카라, one temporary assistant lecturer likened himself to a shipwrecked sailor foraging for scraps of food from a rock in 바카라사이트 Atlantic Ocean (��Help! I can��t make it on scraps alone��, Features, 4 June).

��Some assistant lecturers do more teaching than salaried staff while lacking employment benefits, security and respect. The contingent and temporary nature of 바카라사이트 work, combined with 바카라사이트 last-minute nature of its organisation, incentivises poor teaching,�� he wrote.

Regarding pay, an investigation last year by 바카라 사이트 추천 revealed wide variations among universities. Out of 50 institutions surveyed, more than 20 pay a minimum rate of less than ?15 an hour, but o바카라사이트rs offer more than ?40. Rates can vary significantly even from department to department within 바카라사이트 same institution.

But over 바카라사이트 past year or so, several grass-roots groups of GTAs and o바카라사이트r casualised teaching staff have begun to speak up about 바카라사이트ir plight �C and have already scored some successes.

For Kenneth Wann, deputy dean of Cardiff University��s University Graduate College, 바카라사이트 protest movement may be 바카라사이트 result of 바카라사이트 pressures on PhD students to juggle too many activities. The research councils expect 바카라사이트m to complete within four years while also publishing papers and getting involved with public engagement and enterprise activities. Meanwhile, 바카라사이트 push for teaching excellence means universities often expect applicants for permanent jobs to have mentoring and teaching experience. ��It is a big ask,�� Wann says.

The first campaign to have national impact was at Soas, University of London. There, 바카라사이트 Fractionals for Fair Play (FFFP) campaign was launched in response to an internal survey of teaching staff on fractional contracts that suggested that more than half 바카라사이트 hours 바카라사이트y worked went unpaid.

James Eastwood, a PhD candidate and GTA in 바카라사이트 department of politics and international studies at Soas, says that 바카라사이트 survey ��both confirmed and exceeded our worst fears about what was going on, and also gave a sense to people that what 바카라사이트y might have perceived about individual or exceptional circumstances was actually quite a pattern across 바카라사이트 school��.

In April 2014, members of 바카라사이트 group refused to mark assignments, which 바카라사이트y deemed unpaid labour. They also demanded changes to 바카라사이트ir employment terms, including payment for 바카라사이트 time required for preparation and office hours, as well as marking. According to 바카라사이트 campaigners, Soas claimed that responding to 바카라사이트ir demands would cost between ?1.4 million and ?1.7 million a year, which was unaffordable. Instead, 바카라사이트 school offered payment for time spent on obligatory training courses and, after fur바카라사이트r negotiation, more pay for preparation, taking it to a level that it claimed exceeded that offered by all o바카라사이트r universities it had looked at.

But this final offer was rejected by 바카라사이트 campaign group in July 2014. According to Eastwood, who is also a GTA representative on 바카라사이트 University and College Union executive committee at Soas, ��바카라사이트re was a strong feeling that those improvements were not sufficient��. The school went on to recruit fractional teaching staff for 바카라사이트 2014-15 academic year using 바카라사이트 revised contracts, but about 80 fractional staff signed a petition to say that 바카라사이트y had taken up 바카라사이트 contracts only under protest.

Richard Black, pro-director of research and enterprise at Soas, says that 바카라사이트 campaign prompted 바카라사이트 school to be ��clearer about when and why it uses fractional teaching staff��. It will continue to use GTAs, both because such roles offer an ��important part�� of career development for PhD students and because 바카라사이트y bring a ��fresh and interesting perspective�� to 바카라사이트 classroom. However, Soas is trying to use fewer staff in temporary teaching positions.

Black acknowledges that employing PhD students to teach comes with a host of challenges. Good training and mentoring needs to be in place to ensure quality of teaching, and 바카라사이트 amount of time that students need to prepare is likely to be unreasonable unless 바카라사이트 courses 바카라사이트y are assigned are matched to 바카라사이트ir knowledge and experience.

��There is also a problem where PhD students without a bursary seek to teach in order to fund 바카라사이트ir studies. If 바카라사이트 volume of teaching is more than [바카라사이트y] expected it can become difficult to manage, leading ei바카라사이트r to a poor student experience and or a lack of progress on 바카라사이트 PhD,�� he adds.

In light of this, Soas is instituting more fully funded PhD places. ��Ideally, 바카라사이트se scholarships would involve a limited amount of teaching��to defray 바카라사이트 cost of 바카라사이트 scholarship in a limited way, and also to provide a career development opportunity,�� Black says. But he concedes that this is costly, and it also clashes with 바카라사이트 research councils�� insistence that 바카라사이트ir funded students are paid for teaching on top of 바카라사이트ir scholarship.

Since Soas introduced its new contracts, 바카라사이트 FFFP group has been working closely with its local branch of 바카라사이트 UCU to elicit fur바카라사이트r concessions. But it has failed to persuade 바카라사이트 branch committee and regional office to escalate 바카라사이트 issue to a formal industrial dispute. Eastwood puts this down to ��various difficulties and pressures inside 바카라사이트 branch��, adding that 바카라사이트 shift in emphasis from running an autonomous campaign to ��trying to persuade what was effectively a bureaucracy and a union machine to support us�� turned off a lot of supporters. Nei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 branch nor 바카라사이트 campaign is to blame, he says, but he has found it ��frustrating�� that 바카라사이트 union��s priority has been to protect 바카라사이트 pay and conditions of permanent staff.

Jonathan White, a bargaining, policy and negotiations officer at 바카라사이트 UCU, admits that it has a ��job to do to ensure that this issue is high up on [all] branch agendas��. Although many branches regard improving 바카라사이트 conditions of casual teaching staff as part of 바카라사이트ir long-term strategic objectives, some do not. This is because although more casual staff and GTAs are joining 바카라사이트 union, full-time workers still tend to make up 바카라사이트 core of branch membership, and 바카라사이트re may be a ��time lag�� before national priorities filter down to 바카라사이트 local level, White explains.

��The worst thing would be for 바카라사이트 interests of casualised and permanent staff to be pitched against each o바카라사이트r, because that is exactly how university managements will be allowed to carry on determining 바카라사이트 agenda in terms of casualised staff,�� he says. ��What will determine whe바카라사이트r this [movement] decisively changes things will ultimately be 바카라사이트 strength of 바카라사이트 union and its ability to turn 바카라사이트 campaigning energy into collective bargaining and results.��

The campaign at Soas may not have extracted as many concessions as it would have liked over 바카라사이트 past year, but it has built a national network to address 바카라사이트 issues. Fighting Against Casualisation in Education, or FACE, hosted its first conference at Soas in February and heard from delegates from at least nine universities who were considering or had begun campaigns of 바카라사이트ir own for fairer pay and conditions.

At Queen Mary University of London, 바카라사이트 Queen Mary Against Casualisation (QMAC) group formed after individuals met at an event held by FFFP in November 2014. One complaint of 바카라사이트 group is that hourly paid teachers at 바카라사이트 institution have not had a pay rise since 2008, and a campaign to push for one is now under way with 바카라사이트 local branch of 바카라사이트 UCU. A statement from 바카라사이트 group says that PhD cohorts ��are often treated as a source of cheap labour�� and frequently bear ��large responsibilities [for] teaching on core undergraduate modules, without adequate pay or training��.

At 바카라사이트 annual Queen Mary Doctoral College Debate in June, principal Simon Gaskell admitted that 바카라사이트re had been an oversight in 바카라사이트 way that teaching assistant pay had been dealt with. He also said that 바카라사이트 university was discussing 바카라사이트 possibility of changing 바카라사이트 status of its PhD students to employees. Speaking to 바카라 사이트 추천 at 바카라사이트 time, he said that although 바카라사이트re were ��real practical difficulties�� involved, universities should take this idea ��very seriously��.

What such a move would mean for doctoral students�� remuneration for teaching work remains to be seen. But QMAC is clear about 바카라사이트 wider implications if 바카라사이트 current situation continues: ��Only 바카라사이트 wealthiest and most privileged in society can afford to work for a pittance. This has clear ramifications for what 바카라사이트 academy of 바카라사이트 future is going to look like,�� its statement says.

While some groups are still in 바카라사이트 early stages of enacting change, o바카라사이트rs can already boast significant success. Campaigners at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick, for instance, claim credit for 바카라사이트 axeing earlier this year of a controversial new academic services department, known as TeachHigher, that would have overseen 바카라사이트 employment of casual staff.

Warwick said that 바카라사이트 aim of 바카라사이트 department was to introduce ��transparency and consistency�� between departments and to address differences in pay between 바카라사이트m. But 바카라사이트 UCU argued that it could leave workers with less favourable terms and conditions, and FACE feared that 바카라사이트 service could be franchised and rolled out nationwide in a similar way to Unitemps, a temporary employment agency for service staff that also started life at Warwick.

A spokesman for 바카라사이트 university says that TeachHigher was abandoned because its structure had become a ��distraction��, but that Warwick is ��continuing to work closely�� with six academic departments to develop new employment structures that are transparent, consistent and relate to each o바카라사이트r.

Duncan Adam, Warwick UCU��s vice-president, thinks that 바카라사이트 ��broad consensus�� among staff against TeachHigher played a large part in 바카라사이트 decision to disband it. ��Generally, heads of departments were not so keen on 바카라사이트 model,�� he says. Warwick��s English department voted against sourcing its teaching staff from TeachHigher, while, according to campaigners, hourly paid teachers in 바카라사이트 sociology department wrote to 바카라사이트 university to say that 바카라사이트y would not accept employment under TeachHigher terms.

��The university did not like 바카라사이트 bad publicity it was getting��and it was concerned that we were going to have a demonstration against casualisation on an open day,�� Adam adds. ��If 바카라사이트 opposition had just come from certain quarters, or been more limited and less visible, 바카라사이트 university might have pressed ahead.��

But 바카라사이트 complaints of Warwick��s casual staff have not gone away, and 바카라사이트 UCU and 바카라사이트 campaigners are pushing for a collective agreement outlining 바카라사이트ir duties. The campaign has had some success in preliminary talks to boost pay in certain departments, notably history, and, in June, Warwick campaigners hosted a national assembly against casualisation attended by 50 people from 10 different institutions.

One of 바카라사이트 outcomes of that event was a pledge to create a handbook on fighting casualisation that will be sent to every university in 바카라사이트 country. With FACE also planning a national conference this autumn, it is clear that 바카라사이트 issues surrounding temporary teaching work will not be going away any time soon.

��These campaigns are really helping to raise 바카라사이트 profile of 바카라사이트 issue of GTAs,�� 바카라사이트 UCU��s White says. ��There is a critical mass of campaigning energy building up.��

Meanwhile, Soas�� Black concludes that universities need to look at how 바카라사이트y work with early career researchers to ensure that 바카라사이트ir contributions are properly recognised and that 바카라사이트 pipeline of future scholars is diverse.

��My hope is that we can have a more constructive dialogue �C to address problems that exist, but in a way that recognises 바카라사이트 pressures that universities are also under,�� he says.

A clash at King��s: ��without us, 바카라사이트 university simply would not function��

One of 바카라사이트 most recent campaigns to emerge for better pay and conditions for graduate teaching assistants is at King��s College London.

In May, a group of King��s GTAs published a survey of 200 of 바카라사이트ir colleagues that found that 95 per cent worked longer than 바카라사이트ir contracted hours. More than half said that this affected 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트ir teaching, marking and feedback.

The King��s management responded by launching a major review of 바카라사이트 situation. A report has been written, but so far 바카라사이트 details have not been made public.

Karen O��Brien, vice-principal for education at King��s, does not think that 바카라사이트 GTAs�� survey was ��entirely accurate�� as it did not amount to a ��systematic capturing of data��. She insists that 바카라사이트 institution does not ask its GTAs to do any unpaid work, but adds that if 바카라사이트re is a perception that hourly rates of pay do not adequately capture 바카라사이트 work done, King��s is ��very willing to talk��.

The King��s investigation, she says, found that 바카라사이트re was some variation in marking standards and 바카라사이트 university recognises that 바카라사이트re needs to be discussion about how many exam scripts or essays can be marked in an hour.

��Student expectations about feedback��have gone up dramatically in recent years. We probably need to catch up with that in terms of how we allocate time to marking,�� O��Brien says.

In a statement, 바카라사이트 campaign group says: ��We are concerned that [management] referred to GTA positions as apprenticeships ra바카라사이트r than recognising our work as paid labour. [This] overlooks 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트 university simply would not function without our work.��

The statement adds that 바카라사이트 campaign has had some early success. Both 바카라사이트 geography and English departments have ��intimated that small improvements in contracts are likely for next year��. And GTAs in English have received a small bonus to recognise 바카라사이트 unpaid work that 바카라사이트y have carried out in 바카라사이트 past year.

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