Lecturer position - should I apply?

[Highgateyurt101]

I'd really appreciate some advice. NC as potentially quite outing!

I've recently seen a part time (0.5) lecturer position that really interests me. It's an arts subject but with focus on a vocational industry that I have extensive career experience in. As I'm not an academic, I contacted the Division Head to see if I'd be in with a chance, and he said yes, he'd encourage me to apply...

However, I'm now having some doubts. After my third maternity leave several years ago I began working freelance, which led to my current creative work in a field that is brutally competitive and tough to break. I've had some success, but I'm at the early stages of it - it's a new career path for me. While I'm loving it, it's a very slow burn and income is unstable to say the least.

I would love something part time to balance my creative work, and this position really interests me, but I'm concerned that an 0.5 position might be more consuming than it sounds. Would I really have half the week left for my other work? Or realistically, would the time I'm not on campus be swallowed up by prep and marking?

Another consideration, the commute to campus is a bit of a bitch - an hour's drive across a city each way. I've also got 3 school age kids, though DH's work is flexible which is helpful.

I've love anyone's thoughts as to whether I should go for it or not? Many thanks.

Would connections within this university be beneficial for your freelance work? If so I’d apply - not necessarily to get the job but simply to put your CV in front of them. Think of it as a networking opportunity ...

In my experience a 0.5 post is likely to be more like 0.7/8.
Perhaps only consider taking if
a) you really want a career in academia, or the kudos of being ‘attached’ to an institution would be of value to you in your line of work broadly
b) you don’t mind doing more work for free
c) you need the money :-)

However, myself and a few other female academics I know kind of suck up the ‘part time pay for full time work’ because oftentimes if you have children, there can be massive flexibility and autonomy with some academic roles.....

Would I really have half the week left for my other work? Or realistically, would the time I'm not on campus be swallowed up by prep and marking?

During term time it is likely that you would be working 4 days a week. That's generally 30 weeks of the year. But on a 0.5FTE post, it's likely that you could organise things so that the other 18 weeks, you wouldn't be working on the job, but you would be paid (and 4 weeks' paid holiday).

You might also be able to negotiate working full-time in the post for half the year, and not at all in the post for the other half - although that's harder in a termly system.

But it is likely that during the teaching terms, you will be spending more than half your time on the job. Because during the vacations, there's generally far less for fractional/part-time people , who are not on research contracts, to do.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback and sorry for the delay in reply - we had a bit of a family drama which rather overtook everything...

I'm still in two minds about this. The position wouldn't benefit my other work as such, but yes, I could certainly do with the money. It's really a matter of whether or not I can juggle it with my other work...

Beans and Rice - I'm curious as to what you mean by 'it's likely you'll be working four days a week in term time'? Do you mean that it's likely I'd need to be on campus four days a week, or that there's likely to be extra work beyond the 2.5 days required for the role?

Any other thoughts much appreciated, thanks.

You need to have an informal chat with them about what the likely term time and non-term time hours and days look like- is there a contact person on the advert? It may be that you would do more hours or on campus more in term time and less as you wouldn't have research during non-term time. You can't really know what they would have in mind for 0.5 unless you ask, but it may well not be 2.5 days a week, it may be 17/18 hours spread out over several days. Just ask and then you will know.

Thanks Nearlyalmost - good advice. I will ask!

I'm curious as to what you mean by 'it's likely you'll be working four days a week in term time'? Do you mean that it's likely I'd need to be on campus four days a week, or that there's likely to be extra work beyond the 2.5 days required for the role?

I think the fact that you don't understand the way that university teaching terms/vacations work, and the way the workload differs between term time & vacations, means that you really do need to do a bit more research about this post.

As others have suggested, if there's an "Informal enquiries" phone number or email, do use it, to ask about the spread of work.

Basically, in my experience (over 3o years & several institutions), am 0.5fte post is rarely 2.5 days a week throughout the year.

But before I can answer your question, I'd need to know whether the post you're thinking of is a teaching & research post, or just teaching only? (it's often called "teaching & scholarship," rather than "teaching & research").

If it's a Teaching Fellow or Teaching only post, then you will be expected to take a proportionately heavier teaching load than your teaching & research colleagues, who have a third of their time allocated to research - I'm about to go into a regime of 1,000 words a day to get a book finished by the end pf August (no holiday for me!).

But my 'Teaching & Scholarship" colleagues have very little to do over the next couple of months, bar the usual teaching admin & prep - which I do as well. However, during term-time, they teach more hours per week than I do.

As I said in my first post ...

Think about it this way: most university teaching terms total around 24 weeks per year. Then there's the exam period, so say 30-32 weeks per year. Then there's 4 weeks annual leave (ha ha, as if we get to take that, but anyway)

So if you're not doing research full-time (or to the time of your contract) in the other 16 weeks of the year, then your work load in the actual teaching terms is necessarily higher.

So that your workload over the entire working year averages out to 18 hours per week.

This will necessarily mean you do more than 2.5 days per week in the teaching term, because during vacations, it is unlikely you would be doing anywhere near that much, apart from marking and any administrative work you're allocated.

Beans and Rice - thank you so much for your very detailed and helpful reply. It's a lecturer role, though the job spec outlines the post holder - 'will be expected to allocate a half a day a week of their time to aligning, contributing and sharing research and practice of teaching'. So, in answer to your question, I'm not entirely sure!

I'll investigate further and thanks again for the helpful response x

Also bear in mind that lectures often run from 9am to 6pm and in an Arts subject you might be expected to stay even later if there is an event related to your faculty. I generally don’t finish until 6pm and I have had to stay until 11pm for special events associated with the Arts course I teach on.

contributing and sharing research and practice of teaching

This sounds like an"Education & Scholarship" post (teaching-only) rather than "Education & Research" which is the standard "3-legged contract" - teaching, admin & research.

Basically - long story short: a 0.5FTE post will be half the hours of a 1.0 FTE post, so around 835 per annum ( I think full time is 1670 hors pa).

But those hours will not be regular each week 18.5 hours (we are paid for a 37 hour week, har bloody har to that - for me it's more like 50-60). Anyway.

So during term time, you may be doing nearer to 37 hours per week, because during the vacations, in a teaching-only post, you're not doing anything bar a bit of admin, and marking.

The job will be calculated on an annual average of hours, not a set weekly clock-in/clock-out system.

And a warning: If you apply the strict "I'm only doing 18.5 hours each week" your colleagues will totally resent you. And rightly so, frankly. But I may be bitter here - I work with a teaching fellow who is there supposedly to take away some of the overload of teaching I have. But I inevitably end up doing his work for him, because he's actually incompetent in one particular & crucial area of the job. Don't be that person!