Sally Hunt
Policy briefing
Reducing workload
Key points
Staff/student ratios (SSRs) are deteriorating and the administrative burden increasing in both HE and FE
Surveys indicate a major impact on both staff morale and health
UCU should consider negotiating agreements for a minimum period of “self directed time” for academic staff, maximum SSRs and an increased in academic related staff to reduce the administrative burden on faculty
In FE, UCU should continue to pursue a national agreement on workload but recognise that local negotiations will be required in many colleges around increasing support staff, streamlining admin procedures, maximum staff/learner ratios and paid time for professional development
Background
The new union was created to do better for members and reducing workloads will be a key test. Workload pressures are being driven by rising staff/student rations (SSRs), greater teaching loads, the impact of casualisation on pastoral care and the audit and inspection culture which now dominates across both sectors.
Universities
In our universities, a 2005 survey of members found that lecturers work on average eleven hours unpaid a week, with around one-third working 12 hours or more over and above. Unpaid overtime is also prevalent among academic related members such as administrative, library and computing staff on whose goodwill university infrastructures and services depend.
This year, I commissioned a UCU YouGov survey of university lecturers to try to get behind these figures and understand the true nature of the problem. The survey showed that one-third of lecturers now spent 16 hours or more a week on administration tasks which leaves little time for research or interaction with students. Morale as a result was low with just 36% of staff describing their morale as good or better while even more worryingly 47% stated that their health had suffered because of their job.
Despite the existence of the National Contract in post-92 institutions, there was little evidence that workload was any better or worse managed there than in the old universities. In fact where teaching and research time was stipulated it seemed to range significantly between institutions and many post-92 members tell me that it bears little or no relation to their day to day reality as an academic.
FE Colleges
In FE members tell me that it is not uncommon for administration, marking and talking to students and parents to add up to twenty hours a week to paid hours while staff workloads increase in both sectors before and during quality assurance processes and inspections.
Last year’s survey by the Learning and Skills Development agency into teaching workload confirms this. Annual teaching hours range enormously between institutions with some as high as 900 and others as low as 800.
The problem is made worse by the frontloading of the curriculum so that staff are often working very long hours at certain time of the year without any recompense. The survey showed that, just as in HE, despite government initiatives to reduce admin overload, the number of management and administration tasks required of teachers had increased in 2005 and now took up an average of 15% of full time lecturers’ working week, while preparation and assessment took a further 23%.
There are wider issues here than simply enforced excessive workload. As education professionals you choose your work because we want to research, or teach or support those processes. The proliferation of administrative work takes us away from that.
It is often either those at the beginning or the end of their careers who are given the extra administrative and this means– in the case of universities – that both young and old academics do not always have fair access to research time.
Elsewhere in the public realm, awareness of the consequences of excessive workloads has increased. In recent years both doctors and school teachers have negotiated agreements that sought to reduce over-work.
What I believe
I believe that the new union can tackle the issue of workloads. In our universities I would seek agreements with the employers that:
Provide a minimum right for a proportion of the working year to be designated as “self directed time” (SDT) for all academic staff as well as maximums for teaching and administration. In Australia, some universities allow a minimum 40% SDT.
Increase the number of professional support staff available so that academic staff spend less time on administration and managerial tasks and more on research and teaching.
Agree a maximum staff/student ratio to apply across our institutions so that the teaching workload of staff can be more effectively managed
This approach balances the traditional concerns that workload agreements lead to a loss of autonomy by creating minimum rather than maximum thresholds. It also acts as a powerful lever for equality of opportunity on campus by providing minimum rights for all academic staff to research if they choose or use their self directed time for other university activities as agreed.
In FE I support the former NATFHE policy of seeking a national workload agreement with the Association of Colleges, but we have to be realistic about the extent to which colleges are prepared to implement agreements.
In addition to that, we need to be increasing the union’s professional support to local negotiators to conclude workload agreements that:
Increase the number of support staff available to assist with managerial and administrative tasks to allow teachers to focus on the classroom
Agree, where appropriate, a minimum staff/learner ratio
Seek the “re-engineering” of administration processes to make them simpler
Monitor the working hours of full and part-time staff
Provide paid time for professional development
No one says this will be easy, but the new union has the opportunity to be better, stronger and more credible and one test is how we tackle the issue of workloads and since government has now introduced new workload agreements for doctors and teachers, we have an opportunity.
We should campaign for agreements that, while reflecting the different character of our sectors, protect staff from enforced excessive workloads and allow them the opportunity to contribute fully to the work of their institution.
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About me
I am the joint general secretary of the UCU, having been general secretary of the Association of University Teachers since 2002. I have spent the majority of my working life supporting education professionals, and was instrumental in negotiating the merger between AUT and NATFHE to form UCU. If you want to know more about my experience go to my biography.
Join the debate
Nobody has all the answers. I believe that if we are to move forward together we have to listen to each other to establish common ground. If you have any comments about this paper or want to suggest ways of improving our union go to http://sallyhuntucu.blogspot.com/ and join the debate.
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