Transcript The Role, Responsibilities and Remuneration of Graduate

Dee Conference LSE 2011
Valerie Dickie, Kai Dunker and Vibhor Saxena
The Role, Responsibilities and Remuneration of
Graduate Teaching Assistants in the UK.
1
The Project
• Design and distribution of an e-questionnaire to post
graduate students.
• Today a brief summary of the main findings from this
small sample survey.
• Results provide some evidence of a wide variation in
GTA’s terms and conditions of employment.
2
GTA Defined
• A student who assists in the delivery of higher
education programmes.
• Part of a wide group of general teaching assistants.
• This research focuses on the student who teaches.
3
Data Availability
• No official data on this labour market.
“It is something I believe we are
looking at collecting information on
in the next review of the staff data
we collect…” Mark Jones ,Information Analyst,
HESA, May 2011
4
UK data that is available
• Number of Academic Staff
• Number of Students
5
UK HE Academic Staff 2001-2010
6
Academic Staff
2000-01
2009-10
% change
Full Time Eng.
93670
96285
+2.79
Part Time Eng.
20385
56235
+175.86
Full Time NI
2900
2800
-3.5
Part time NI
215
565
+162.79
Full Time Scot
14045
13160
-6.3
Part Time Scot
2115
3695
+74.7
Full Time Wales
5790
5685
-1.81
Part Time Wales
815
3170
+288.96
HE Students 2001-2010 (Scotland)
Student Type
2000-01
2009-10
% Increase
UG First
111,935
145,535
30
PG Taught
28,190
44,165
57
PG Research.
8,085
10,665
32
Degree
Source : Scottish Government Statistics, Lifelong Learning Series
HESA based.
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The Survey
• Questionnaire - Bristol Online Survey system (BOS)
• UK distribution by email and social network to
postgraduates during Oct 2010 - April 2011
• Respondents = 1250 Useable 1085. Majority (89%)
PhD students
• Data transferred to SPSS and STATA for analysis.
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Respondents Who Teach by Subject
• 653 (60%) of respondents assist in the delivery of
education programmes.
• Some subjects make greater use of GTA’s. e. g.
sciences, social sciences, engineering.
• This could partly explain the better response rate from
postgraduates within specific subject areas.
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Survey Respondents who Teach
Role of a GTA
• Assisting in the delivery of small group teaching.
• Helping with assessment and marking.
• Expected to find GTAs assist with year 1 and 2 UG.
• Did not expect to find GTAs assist across all years
including PG.
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Level of Student Taught by GTAs
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Level of Student Taught
Number of GTAs who Teach
Year 1
460
Year 2
377
Year 3
232
Year 4
84
Post Graduate
150
Main GTA Duties
Pay of GTA
• Hourly rate of pay for main duties shows substantial
variation. e.g. £6.00 - £125
• Number of reasons e.g. It could reflect local labour
markets conditions.
•
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Survey evidence showed variation in mean hourly rate
of pay within subject areas for main duties.
Mean Hourly Rate of Pay for Main Duties by Subject Area
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Variation in Hourly Rate of Pay for Main Duties within
Disciplines
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Subject Area
Minimum Rate of Pay Maximum Rate of
Recorded (£’s)
Pay Recorded (£’s)
Biological Sciences
7.5
17.80
Economics
11.22
125.00
Engineering
6.00
30.00
Mathematics
8.00
50.00
Physics
9.00
18.00
Social Science
7.00
42.00
Variation in Hourly Rate of Pay by Main Duty
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Duty
Minimum
Rate of
Payment
Maximum
Rate of
Payment
Mode
Mean
All teaching
6.00
125
9.50
18.35
Lecturing no tutoring
Lecturing
Tutoring
8.80
6.00
6.00
125
125
72
10
10
9.50
26.40
24.50
20.10
Tutoring no Lecturing
7.00
50
9.50
19.23
Demonstrating
6.00
50
9.50
14.40
Demonstrating, no
lecturing or tutoring
Lab Assistance
7.00
43.66
9.50
11.70
6.00
50
9.50
14.70
Lab Assistance, no
lecturing or tutoring
Lab Assistance ,no
lecturing tutoring or
demonstrating.
7.00
43.66
9.50
12.30
8.30
20.00
9.00
11.90
Individual Comments on Pay
“Unsure of exact amount per
hour. It varies from one group
to another.”
“I am not sure I understand
how it is calculated.”
“Demonstrating is unpaid”
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Individual Comments on Duties without Payment
• Approx. 33% reported work undertaken without payment.
“Supervising Masters student”
“Writing of exam papers”
“I get paid 1 hour to prepare new
lecture slides…it takes me 3 days”
19
Formal Training
• Survey results show training is not comprehensively
available.
• Training before teaching 271/653
• Training not available at all 108/653.
• Mostly general training 300/653
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Type of Training
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Support and Feedback
• Good support from staff and colleagues.
• Feedback mostly from course coordinators,
supervisors and students.
• Individual comments suggest that more feedback from
staff would be welcome.
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Conclusion
• GTAs are an essential part of the HE labour market.
• Failure to record GTA statistics is not in the interest of
learning and teaching, post graduate students or HE.
• The role of GTA might be underestimated. Duties often
beyond the supportive role.
• Training and feedback require greater attention.
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Recommendations
•
•
•
•
•
•
Clear the fog surrounding this imperfect market.
National data collection by HESA.
Unambiguous definition of the role of GTA.
Formation of a policy framework for employment.
Market requires attention to limit institutional risk.
Fresh thinking on PhD training, as many unsure about
pursuing an academic career.(40%).
• This labour market requires greater recognition.
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Questions?
Thank you
25