Lecturing, work-life balance, motherhood

[EllenSpark]

Hi,
First time posting on here so please forgive me if I don't adhere to the etiquette!
I have an interview for a full time lecturing role at a University. I want to be sure the role is right for me and my life at the moment so if offered the role I can confidently accept. I have a PhD and teaching experience and the lecturing role is exactly what I would have wanted pre-baby. Now that I have a 9 month old, my priorities have shifted and I want to ensure any new job I take has a good work-life balance that it doesn't overwhelm me or cause me to feel like I'm neglecting my baby for work! I have heard and read that lecturing can be intense in terms of hours and workload. I currently work for my local council and they have an excellent flexible/hybrid working policy which really suits at the moment. It's just not what I want to do long term (low pay and not much progression) so I don't want to miss this opportunity.
My potential manager in the new role works 9-5, and has said that whilst I'll teach two full days, I can work from home when not required in meetings etc. This sounds promising but what I suppose I'm asking is, is this the reality? Is he trying to sell the role or is it possible to lecture/work in academia and have a life? I just don't want to miss my baby growing up!
Thanks in advance.

What's your current role at the council . Is this a pay increase?

Lecturing is exhausting. But if its just 2 days that's amazing.

I work in public protection/ environmental health at the moment and at £28k ish. It was only meant to be a stop-gap until I found something in academia/higher ed teaching, but then we bought a house and had a baby! The lecturing job is £35k so a nice pay rise. It's approx two full days teaching (sessions 9-4 I think) but the job itself is full time Mon-Fri. There is scope for research activity but they have said the time for that will be minimal at first.

Depends what sort of institution it is, whether you have loads of tutees and constant emails, Moodle shells to prepare etc. Lots of that can be done from home but it still takes time, which is time away from other thjngs.

That does look very tempting. Especially if your hours are mainly over the 2 days!

Can you definitely wfh wed- Fri or are you expected to be around for student contact?

It is actually possible to have a good work life balance in academia, it depends so much on the institution. My department sounds like this, you only have to come in on teaching days, which for most people is 2-3 days a week, October through March. Those months are a bit more intense it's true. But right now everyone is disappearing on their 4 week holidays. As long as all your work gets done you can kind of do as you like.

If you are really ambitious and want to get to Reader or Professor then it's different. I notice women usually wait till their kids are older to do that.

If they are saying the right things I would go for it. If it turns out to be too much you could always try a sideways move into professional services at the University, eg a research manager.

It's definitely possible.
I moved into academia when DS was 2 and found the lecturer role manageable and I always had a good work life balance.

If you move into a leadership role or start working towards reader or professor then it gets tricky.

I'm a lecturer on a teaching only contract and it works really well for me. I go into work if I'm teaching that day, but otherwise it's fine to wfh. It's busy at some times of year (eg January - marking plus the start of the new term) but the bonus is that it's very quiet over the summer, which is great for me as I have school age kids.

Sounds brilliant. And far better than teaching school/6th form!

We're only allowed one wfh day per week. Think about who will do school runs in future too - my childminder went out of business during covid and I have not been able to find anyone else so juggling things is a nightmare, fortunately I have a really supportive employer. Other than that go for it!

I'm what used to be called a teaching fellow, moved from the financial services off the back of my professional qualifications. I don't have a PhD. I do have two young DC, and moved job a couple of years before I had them.

I find it a very flexible job. Obviously my teaching hours are nailed on, but DH is also an academic so we try to sync our diaries so that only one of us is teaching or in unmissable meetings on a given day so we can cover the inevitable sickness without too much hassle. Will your partner be on board with pulling his weight in that respect? Reorganising teaching can be done but it's a complete pain so you really only want to be doing that when you really have to - like the time I lost my voice and could only whisper.

I and the majority of my colleagues WFH unless we are physically in a classroom.

The pressure will depend on your ambitions - I'm trying to do a PhD ATM so I can progress and it is quite frankly killing me, I'm currently on a long leave of absence from it. But I enjoy the teaching and don't mind the admin, citizenship type stuff.

The thing Id be cautious about is that expectations of being on campus can vary over time. At my place there used to be much less micromanagement about presence on campus - as long as you fulfilled obligations and kept students reasonably satisfied all was well. Now there's a fixed expectation for teaching academics of a 60% minimum presence regardless of actual need to be on campus. (I think this is probably an over correction from Covid era completely remote patterns)

Having said that no one seems to be enforcing the expectation

Thanks for all the responses. It sounds like it might be a good opportunity after all.
Just a little more info. So the staff to student ratio is about 1:20 and due to the vocational nature of the course, teaching is Sept-July. Sounds like I would be required on campus, more than the two teaching days, for tutorials, face to face assessments, meetings etc.

Given the above, two full days teaching is a lot then. It's fine for two term teaching but three term - no. Can you ask how many actual contact hours that is, and whether your office hours can be contained within those two days. Rough rule of thumb, a third annual hours on admin (personal tutor hours, meetings etc), a third research, a third teaching. The teaching hours (approx 550 a year) should equally be split with 1.5 hours prep/marking for every hour of teaching). Each institution will have its own ballparks - and workload planning is a very contentious issue wherever you go, but try and see how this role matches the above. It doesn't sound like you'd have any research time at all - even if you're vocational you will still need time to do some research, keep up with best practice etc.

If there's anyone you know who works at that place and whom you feel confident approaching, I would do just that to check how flexible the work is in reality - do students need enough support outside core teaching days that you will need to be on campus more often than not? Is it frowned upon that you ring-fence one day or two per week to work from home? Sometimes there can be a bit of a gap between what the official expectations are and what the culture is on the ground.

Thanks for all your responses.
Just an update. I have actually withdrawn my application and won't attend the interview. I realised the job will be quite intense whether or not it has a higher workload than other lecturing jobs. My current job at the Council does actually allow me to teach part-time (4-6 hours a week) at another university so my situation at the moment has the best of both worlds. I think until my baby is older I will just stick where I am as I'm definitely not ready to take on any more challenges. I don't think the grass would have been greener anyway!

Just another update. I did actually end up interviewing for the job as I thought it would allow me to ask questions and clarify whether it would suit me. They actually offered me the job, and then I declined!
I asked about workload, flexibility, teaching hours etc. Teaching was at least two full days (6 hours per day) which sounded OK. There was little to no scope for research. It sounded like annual leave had constraints when it could be taken (summer, Christmas, easter) as there was no half term and teaching was Sept to mid July. I also got the impression there was limited agency in terms of planning your own time, working from home, flexible working etc. All of this, plus having a 9 month old baby and worrying I'll miss out on him, led me to decline.
I've been yo-yoing since in how I feel. Some regret, some relief, wondering if another opportunity like that will ever come along again.
I suppose I just need someone to tell me I've made the right decision.

I think you made the right decisions throughout - you got the full picture to make the choice. I was very much in your shoes when might daughter was young. The key piece of information for me personally would be that this is basically teaching only and no research - so in that respect there is nothing to gain compared to your very much more flexible and suitable position now. Yes it's a bit more money - but in terms of career progression is doesn't have mush to offer for such a sacrifice. I'm actually teaching only now myself but where I am there is actually a research expectation - just much smaller and no grant pressure which suits me well. If you are teaching at a uni regularly no you are keeping your hand in and can move to other opportunities later if appropriate. I took my current post when dd was an older teen - it's FT and VERY intense during term time. Personally I didn't want dd in FT childcare when she was young - that was my personal preference and sounds like it's yours too. It's really hard knowing how to navigate these decisions for the best.

Thank you so much for your reply. It's reassuring to know others have been in similar situations and had similar decisions to make. You are right in that I don't want my little one in FT childcare. It's such a crucial time and, for me, the extra money would not be worth the time lost. I will keep an eye out for more opportunities, but maybe not just yet. Thanks again.