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Algonquin College professor Jordan Smith is paid to spend 12 hours a week in the classroom teaching communication skills to college students. At a wage of $82 an hour, that’s not bad for part-time employment.
But Smith estimates he spends 40 or 50 hours every week at the job, including course preparation, marking, answering questions from students and posting course material online.
Not that he’s complaining. Smith adores teaching — “It’s all I want to do” — and is holding on to the possibility that some day he’ll get a full-time position.
In the meantime, he juggles three other part-time jobs with a busy family life as the parent of two young children. “It’s a crazy life,” he said cheerfully, taking time from walking the picket line with fellow faculty members.
Faculty at Algonquin, La Cité and 22 other colleges across the province went on strike Monday, cancelling classes for hundreds of thousands of students.
A key issue in the dispute is the number of part-time faculty like Smith, who are paid less than full-time professors and have no job security.
The union wants to boost the number of full-time faculty at colleges to 50 per cent. The council bargaining for the colleges says that would be too expensive and not allow enough flexibility to change courses based on the job market.
“Partial-load” professors like Smith teach seven to 12 hours a week.
His contract is renewed every four-month semester. Sometimes he’s given a month or two notice about what courses he’ll teach, sometimes less. “I’ve been given weeks to scratch together an entire course.”
Smith prides himself on putting a lot of effort into his four courses. He gets top ratings in student evaluations. Still, he has to limit the amount of time he spends on Algonquin teaching duties to attend to his other jobs: running a general education website for the college, writing a textbook, and handling communications for a medical office. “I have to make ends meet.”
Algonquin is a lovely community and his colleagues are great, says Smith. He considers himself “incredibly lucky” to have his current position, considering he started five years ago as a “part time” professor, another category lower down on the salary scale at $55 an hour.
“But I’m champing at the bit for a full-time position,” he said. “I love it. It’s my calling — seeing students succeed, fostering learning.”
The faculty union maintains that students suffer when the majority of teachers are contract staff. There is less consistency in course material and delivery. And faculty can’t spend as much time with students when they are rushing between several jobs, says JP Hornick, chief bargainer for faculty represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.
College president Cheryl Jensen says Algonquin needs a balance of full- and part-time teachers. The advantage of employing part-time professors drawn from industry is they have real-time knowledge, she points out.
Some professors prefer to work part-time, such as dentists, veterinarians and lawyers who have their own practices to maintain, says Sonia del Missier, chief bargainer for the colleges.
At Algonquin, contracts for part-time staff are renewed each semester because preference for workload assignments is given to full-time faculty, as specified in the collective agreement, said spokesman Scott Anderson. Full-time staff receive their workload six weeks in advance, and the remaining teacher hours are assigned to part-time staff, he said.
Algonquin faculty union president Pat Kennedy says he doesn’t understand why part-timers like Smith aren’t given permanent jobs. “The work is there, that’s the thing. Clearly they’ve been in the system for years, and they are just manipulated around different classifications to keep them out of the bargaining unit and deny them a full-time job.”
How many contract and part-time faculty are there at Ontario colleges?
There is no agreement on the numbers and the best way to calculate them. The College Employer Council, which represents Ontario’s 24 colleges, says full-time faculty cover 49 per cent of all “teaching contact hours,” or time spent in the classroom.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union estimates that “more than 70 per cent” of the total number of faculty at Ontario colleges are not permanent full-time staff.
The union represents 12,000 professors, instructors, librarians and counsellors, of whom 60 per cent are full time; the rest are “partial load” staff who work seven to 12 hours a week. However, the union does not represent part-time faculty, who work less than six hours a week, or sessional teachers, who work more than 12 hours a week, and can work full time, but are restricted to contracts of no more than 12 months in a 24-month period. The part-time and sessional teachers have just voted on whether to join the faculty union, but no results have been decided.
What was the union proposal?
The union proposes a 50-50 ratio between all full-time and non full-time staff at Ontario colleges, and enhanced job security for partial-load teachers, who currently work on one-semester contracts.
What was the management response?
The Employer Council says the staffing ratios proposed by the union would add hundreds of millions of dollars in costs, reduce program flexibility, and result in a net reduction of 3,350 contract jobs.
How much do union faculty members get paid?
Full-time professors: A maximum of $106,800
Partial-load professors working seven to 12 hours a week: An average of $104 an hour
jmiller@postmedia.com
jmiller@postmedia.com
查看原文...
But Smith estimates he spends 40 or 50 hours every week at the job, including course preparation, marking, answering questions from students and posting course material online.
Not that he’s complaining. Smith adores teaching — “It’s all I want to do” — and is holding on to the possibility that some day he’ll get a full-time position.
In the meantime, he juggles three other part-time jobs with a busy family life as the parent of two young children. “It’s a crazy life,” he said cheerfully, taking time from walking the picket line with fellow faculty members.
Faculty at Algonquin, La Cité and 22 other colleges across the province went on strike Monday, cancelling classes for hundreds of thousands of students.
A key issue in the dispute is the number of part-time faculty like Smith, who are paid less than full-time professors and have no job security.
The union wants to boost the number of full-time faculty at colleges to 50 per cent. The council bargaining for the colleges says that would be too expensive and not allow enough flexibility to change courses based on the job market.
“Partial-load” professors like Smith teach seven to 12 hours a week.
His contract is renewed every four-month semester. Sometimes he’s given a month or two notice about what courses he’ll teach, sometimes less. “I’ve been given weeks to scratch together an entire course.”
Smith prides himself on putting a lot of effort into his four courses. He gets top ratings in student evaluations. Still, he has to limit the amount of time he spends on Algonquin teaching duties to attend to his other jobs: running a general education website for the college, writing a textbook, and handling communications for a medical office. “I have to make ends meet.”
Algonquin is a lovely community and his colleagues are great, says Smith. He considers himself “incredibly lucky” to have his current position, considering he started five years ago as a “part time” professor, another category lower down on the salary scale at $55 an hour.
“But I’m champing at the bit for a full-time position,” he said. “I love it. It’s my calling — seeing students succeed, fostering learning.”
The faculty union maintains that students suffer when the majority of teachers are contract staff. There is less consistency in course material and delivery. And faculty can’t spend as much time with students when they are rushing between several jobs, says JP Hornick, chief bargainer for faculty represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.
College president Cheryl Jensen says Algonquin needs a balance of full- and part-time teachers. The advantage of employing part-time professors drawn from industry is they have real-time knowledge, she points out.
Some professors prefer to work part-time, such as dentists, veterinarians and lawyers who have their own practices to maintain, says Sonia del Missier, chief bargainer for the colleges.
At Algonquin, contracts for part-time staff are renewed each semester because preference for workload assignments is given to full-time faculty, as specified in the collective agreement, said spokesman Scott Anderson. Full-time staff receive their workload six weeks in advance, and the remaining teacher hours are assigned to part-time staff, he said.
Algonquin faculty union president Pat Kennedy says he doesn’t understand why part-timers like Smith aren’t given permanent jobs. “The work is there, that’s the thing. Clearly they’ve been in the system for years, and they are just manipulated around different classifications to keep them out of the bargaining unit and deny them a full-time job.”
How many contract and part-time faculty are there at Ontario colleges?
There is no agreement on the numbers and the best way to calculate them. The College Employer Council, which represents Ontario’s 24 colleges, says full-time faculty cover 49 per cent of all “teaching contact hours,” or time spent in the classroom.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union estimates that “more than 70 per cent” of the total number of faculty at Ontario colleges are not permanent full-time staff.
The union represents 12,000 professors, instructors, librarians and counsellors, of whom 60 per cent are full time; the rest are “partial load” staff who work seven to 12 hours a week. However, the union does not represent part-time faculty, who work less than six hours a week, or sessional teachers, who work more than 12 hours a week, and can work full time, but are restricted to contracts of no more than 12 months in a 24-month period. The part-time and sessional teachers have just voted on whether to join the faculty union, but no results have been decided.
What was the union proposal?
The union proposes a 50-50 ratio between all full-time and non full-time staff at Ontario colleges, and enhanced job security for partial-load teachers, who currently work on one-semester contracts.
What was the management response?
The Employer Council says the staffing ratios proposed by the union would add hundreds of millions of dollars in costs, reduce program flexibility, and result in a net reduction of 3,350 contract jobs.
How much do union faculty members get paid?
Full-time professors: A maximum of $106,800
Partial-load professors working seven to 12 hours a week: An average of $104 an hour
jmiller@postmedia.com
jmiller@postmedia.com
查看原文...
