To think academics are seriously entitled??

No research makes a huge difference.

Ive taught in FE and primary (no younger teens) and absolutely teaching adults is better.

However teaching is a small part of most academics workloads so to compare a teaching focussed contract to what others are doing is madness.

Most of my time is spent on PhD research, supporting research officers and managing research staff - all of which I have to find funding for or attract. We essentially bring in our own salaries whilst being employed and not profiting ourselves but facing daily pressure and criticism of our ideas and efforts. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve spent weeks writing grants for one reviewer to misinterpret it (deliberately sometimes) and for us not to get it which puts our jobs at risk.

Sure - many jobs also have similar pressures but they complain it’s hard too. In fact I’ve realised most people are stressed by work, just in different ways which is either reassuring or depressing or both.

Where I work there are loads of staff stacked high with teaching on teaching only contracts. Staff on standard research contracts are not managed robustly with the expectation of research. There are tons of them with precisely zero outputs and doing nothing but getting less workload for teaching and taking research leave as holiday! It's quite unbelievable really.

The teaching only staff feel a bit aggrieved.

There was a good times HE article about the two types of contract this week actually.

No research is a massive reduction on workload and frustration

Sure, but this fundamentally changes the nature and demands of the role.

I'm an academic. I'm constantly expected to work unpaid overtime or do roles that carry no funding. Teaching takes up a LOT of time, from offering pastoral care to students to checking their essays for AI slop. People expect you to answer emails on holiday, at 10pm, on Sundays. There're huge redundancies and lots of uncertainty in the sector. My salary is in the region of 60k and I spent years studying for this job.

It's really not a walk in the park or an easy ride. And if the student numbers fall short, your department faces huge cuts. Every year is stressful. My hours have been cut this year too.

Still workloaded according to contract.

You realise “no research” makes a colossal difference, right?

Senior post 92. No research.

‘Nice pay’? Not so sure about that! And you do know that they work beyond the hours they actually teach? My DD had to interview academics for a research paper and it was a real insight into how they felt about their workload and conditions (they assumed she was a PhD student not the first year she actually was). Put her right off becoming one herself.

This happened to a colleague who is the first to admit being a pushover. This particular student was obsessed with H.P Lovecraft and talked about him for an hour solid in their first meeting. He then sent a manuscript he’d been working on which was essentially like a postmodernist retelling of At the Mountains of Madness and it was indeed around 70k words.

Anyway, that aside. Most of us academics are simply charming and not entitled whatsoever. The worst and rudest academic I have ever met was a classics professor. Nothing against the classics, I’ve met Mary Beard and she’s delightful but this prick was something else.

lol. How convenient. Saying ‘teaching only contract in a Post-92’ or ‘Reader in a red brick’ is hardly outing!

Im going to assume research does not form part of your job, and that you’re in a practitioner based field - nursing or teacher training for example.

They’ve just reduced the hours we get for prep at my place. Doesn’t mean we can do it any faster but it does mean my workload looks like I can take on more duties!

Is your role really that unique? Then perhaps it’s not comparable to most academic roles.
I teach a course that is quite niche but my actual role is pretty standard compared to other academics.

Exactly. I’ve got some new sessions this year and it’s taking me 3 - 4 hours to prepare one hour of teaching and that’s fast going!

Then you clearly have a very unusual academic role that is likely not comparable to most? I could describe my typical week and no one could guess.

I tend to work 50 - 60 hours a week not including all the time I spend thinking about research and teaching whilst doing other things. No idea how that compares to teaching but I’m also not sure why is the only job to compare to.

I like the flexibility though still. Most term days I can try and work 8am - 4 and then 8pm - 10 and just do a 9 - 2 block on the weekends with Sunday night emails.

I do not like the pressure of grant capture etc where you spend so much time on stuff that then comes to nothing.

I agree I’d rather be an academic than other things but it does feel more like pick your poison these days. Doesn’t mean it’s still not tough though.

Giving too much role specific info would be outing.

I’m only teaching 60 hours this academic year - yet I’ll still be working 50 hour weeks!

Oh I much prefer it. It’s a far more interesting and exciting job. It’s a much higher workload though, certainly at my institution.

You were suggesting that it was a walk in the park compared to secondary school teaching which is why people were asking you questions about your role- which you’re avoiding answering for some reason.

You’re still not answering the question though about the other parts of your role outside of teaching.

Being an teacher and being an academic are very different jobs. I enjoy delivering my teaching and if I was comparing just giving lectures to working in a secondary school then sure, university teaching is easier. But time spent giving the lectures is usually a small part of an academic role 🤷🏻‍♀️

I didnt say its a walk in the park but I definitely prefer it.

You’re not answering the question.

I’ve done both and think you can’t really compare the two jobs tbh. Both are very busy and have particular pressures but when I worked in a school I actually got time off work. I might have worked a few days during the holidays but not like I’ve had to as an academic.
I get 37 days annual leave but I carry days over every year and lose days. I work most days I’m on leave too.
I also work a high number of Saturdays (teaching, open days) and travel internationally and never get that time back.

The pressure to publish just doesn’t exist as a teacher. Failure to publish means lack of promotion at best, but redundancy at worst.
As a teacher I was not held to account for the number of students in my class. As an academic I most certainly am, low numbers on my course means I don’t have a job.

Then the pressures around NSS, graduate outcomes, rankings etc. I’m not saying schools don’t have pressures around exam results but there are more pressures related to multiple difference performance indicators at universities.

I teach in an education faculty and I don’t know any ex-teacher who considers academia a walk in the park compared to teaching.

I am still busy but its way more manageable than teaching in school. Have you done both?

What’s your workload like outside the 3 days of teaching though? How many hours on writing / updating lectures, how many PhD students, what’s your grant submission and capture, how many 3 or 4* papers do you publish each year, impact case studies, line management, committees, roles, personal tutees, conferences, dissertation students etc?

I’d be intrigued to know what contract you’re on eg lecturer, senior lecturer and at what type of uni.

I’m confused at this idea of supposed hours and holidays for an academic. Just like any field there are academics who work hard and those who coast or let others pick up the slack. There is a vast array of input and output and expectation - universities generally are poor at workload management. I have colleagues who get away with a fraction of others work - I’d definitely find their job easy.

I’m fairly senior and average 50 - 60 hours every week and have a week off in the summer and at Christmas with some occasional days thrown in. It’s very rare to have a full weekend off and during teaching terms I work both days on the weekend. I answer emails almost every evening.

My work is intense (mentally not physically) and the requests constant. However I certainly think there are tougher jobs but there are certainly far easier ones too. I do have a lot of flexibility over those hours though ie I can work at 3 am if I want to. I’m also not doing heavy manual labour or having to save lives.

I’m more likely to complain about colleagues who slack off though than compare across jobs as I don’t think anyone can reliably do that.

I think a big problem is academia used to be relatively poorly paid for skill level but rewarding and respected with more time to focus on the parts that drew people in. Now I spend a lot of time doing admin and managing requests and very little time actually researching and supporting students to learn. Workloads have grown hugely for many in a short space of time. I haven’t had a pay increase in years despite bringing in lots of money. We’re allowed to moan after work to colleagues!

Yes, there is more autonomy to an extent but you’re still tied to a timetable.
At my institution we have a hard 3 week deadline for marking and moderation. So the reality is it’s 2 weeks for marking to allow the internal moderation to take place. And the assignments you’re marking are much larger than the work you mark in school. So again, apples and oranges 🤷‍♀️