Experiences of part time as lecturer?

[user1499609760]

I am currently a fulltime Education & Research lecturer (humanities). I'm not long back to work after my first child. I took c. 9 months of mat leave, DH took shared parental leave for the rest.

I find myself wondering about what it would be like to go part time (say 0.8 FTE) and have one day a week with DC, who otherwise will be in childcare fulltime. That's all been arranged for when the SPL ends, and DH goes back to work. I look at other mums (such as in our NCT group) who are all back doing 3 days only for example, and then start thinking whether I want to do that, and what it might look like.

However, I feel with academic work, the nature of the job would mean that going down to, say, 0.8 FTE wouldn't actually make that much difference to my life? At the moment I have my teaching organised over two days a week, but I can't see how if I was part-time, that would actually be different? There likely wouldn't be enough time to fit everything into one day, or it would be a day of absolute hell if it were possible. So that would likely mean the day I would 'gain' by being part-time would be a day I could WFH generally. And with the flexibility of academic work, is it 'worth it' to take a salary hit to be formally part-time, when I can often flex things to, for instance, pick up DC a bit earlier, or even have an occasional morning at home with them before dropping to childcare and working the afternoon/evening. I wonder if the main thing to take a hit would be my research: I'd still have teaching prep etc. to fit into the week, meetings etc., but with one fewer day, formally speaking, to get everything done.

I look at colleagues and I don't think any of them are part-time: they seem to juggle things while FTE, I assume using the flexibility of the role as they can. Some I know quietly work a half-day one day a week to have time with DC, juggling the rest of the week to fit it all in. So it's interesting to me that hardly anyone seems to formally go part-time? The only ones I can think of are older colleagues, but I think the demands of teaching especially were less when their children were small, and the teaching timetable not quite the mess it is now: our expected teaching hours have increased quite a bit over the last decade, and we have practically no autonomy over the scheduling.

Has anyone done part-time as an E&R lecturer, and how did you find it? How did you organise your teaching, and balance other commitments?

Just to say, this is really only an idle thought at the moment. I haven't worked out the full salary implications for example (though as I'm in the higher tax bracket it may not be as much of a hit as I first think), nor have I even discussed it with DH! I'm just pondering, and part of that includes hearing from others who may have done it.

TYIA!

Honestly I think you will end up either doing pretty much the same amount of work for 20% less pay - or you will end up dropping the least pressing part of your job, which is nearly always research.

How is your work arranged at the moment? Do you have a workload allocation model? Could you have a chat with your HoD to see what things would be reduced?

I went to 0.6 after my first mat leave. My marking got reduced but nothing else and we didn't have a workload model so it was really hard to fight against it. Research went to the wayside.

I then did full time but compressed into 4 days, it meant that I still had full salary and didn't have to worry about what was reduced or not. It meant I had to work every evening though so took its toll after a few years. But was better than what 0.8 would have been.

I'm now a proper 0.6 and it's bliss! Although research is still not really getting done. But it's much less stressful.

With all the jobs I've had though, timetabling would never organise teaching over particular days unless you were actually not working, so I guess if you have a guarantee that teaching will only ever be those two days it might be less worth it.

But even in your current role, if you can do pick up a bit early, you'll be making the time up, so it's totally different from having a guaranteed, guilt free day with DC per week.

This is my concern. And anecdotally from colleagues who did do it, this what they have near-universally said was their experience.

We have a workload allocation model, overwhelmingly for teaching hours. We're expected to do 120-140 hours per year if FTE. Some of that will be things like MA and PhD supervision, so it's not exclusively classroom-based hours. If I went 0.8 for example, that would mean c. 112 hours, or a reduction of maybe one module a year (ours are generally in 20-40 hour blocks). Doesn't seem especially worth it tbh. Things like marking are allocated using a wordcount formula which takes into account how many modules we have and how many students per module, with things like moderating then allocated to try and spread the load as evenly as possible: I imagine my moderation load would be reduced by 20% if I was 0.8.

At present, my teaching is scheduled over two days: I have this agreed via a Flexible Work Agreement. We are allocated one 'research day' a week, during termtime, which is free of teaching commitments. One day a week is generally for meetings. In a 0.8 arrangement for instance, I don't see how I'd be able to keep the research day, keep time for meetings, and have time for teaching prep? Leading me back to my earlier conclusion that it would be a salary hit for likely a very similar amount of work, and/or working in the evenings, which would rather defeat the object of being part-time, even if it allowed me to have DC one day.

How did a compressed week look for you, out of interest?

Hello - I’ve been 0.8FTE for various stretches of my career since having kids. I appreciate why people tend to advise against it, but for me it has been fine, and hasn’t held back my career (any more than having kids did anyway). I’d do the same again. It feels pretty outing to say more, but would be happy to discuss by DM if useful. I probably could plausibly earn 20% more for the same hours by compressing, but I really value work-life balance.
I’d also say, I think those of us working 0.8 don’t really talk about it, so it often isn’t known widely. Doesn’t mean it isn’t working fine for them.

I'm 0.8FTE and I do often feel I work full time for 20% less pay. I certainly couldn't work four days a week and keep up. The benefit it gives me, I guess, is that I feel I can say 'no' with some confidence when I'm asked to take on admin/leadership roles that are too much. I can remind senior staff that I am still part time and they will tend to accept that and not push (because they know I'm already doing a lot). I also try to keep my weekends work free and am (mostly, not always) able to do that. I don't think being part time has held back my career though. I've been promoted to SL at roughly the same point as full time colleagues with equivalent experience and I've had plenty of opportunities. For me, it's worth it because it gives me a certain degree of flexibility. However, my children are both at school now, and if I had a small child at home that I wanted to spend one day a week with I'm not sure if being 0.8FTE would deliver that.

Oh it very much is possible to go PT as a lecturer without working the same for less. (You're right that for tax reasons the salary hit is less than it appears at first sight). But it requires clarity about boundaries, and a change of mindset, which may be why some academics don't manage it well as they are too stuck in over-achieving mode. 120-140 hours per year teaching FTE is relatively low for the sector as a whole and you are in the higher tax bracket, so I guess you are at a research-intensive university and have produced a lot of research already. Therefore, if you go part time, you can just do 20% less research and that's fine. You can still do research of the same quality - or better as you'll be less stressed - just a bit less of it, and the world will not end. After all, teaching fellows are also paid 0.8 and they aren't contracted to do any research at all, so how could someone on 0.8 be expected to produce the same amount as someone FT? And rather than thinking of it in terms of 'keep the research day, keep the meeting day, and have time for teaching prep', you need to be clear with your managers, and most of all with yourself, that you will be doing 20% less research, 20% less teaching prep and going to 20% less meetings. Rather than 'get everything done', 20% of everything will not get done - at least not by you! You should be allocated 20% less of everything, with a formal agreement of which are the 20% of your commitments that you are dropping. You have every right to do this - the best thing about going PT is that each time anyone suggests an extra that would take you over your contracted hours or happen on your day off being able to just say no without guilt!

The only note of caution is that for financial reasons universities are generally much happier for people to move from FT to PT than vice versa, so it's best to assume your change as a permanent, healthy, positive move for the rest of your working life, rather than a temporary thing for a few years while your children are very young. I think the main reason more academics (unlike, say, GPs) don't go PT is salary erosion in our profession: you generally have to have climbed a fair way up the salary scale for PT working to be affordable, hence why it tends to be older colleagues that do. And to feel more benefit in your work-life balance, it's probably best to go lower than 0.8, which again limits the number of people who can afford it. But if you can, definitely go for it - it is a great way of reclaiming some autonomy and making life in an increasingly unsustainable industry liveable again for the long term.

Thank you for your perspective, it's very valuable. The point about being able to say 'no' to things is an important one (and one @Whyisthemoonmadeofgreencheese made too, interestingly). Can I ask you say why you think being 0.8 wouldn't lend itself to more time with DC though? Is it because of the feeling you're still doing more than your official hours?

I will return to the thread, thank you for all the perspectives so far: it's dinnertime, followed by bath & bed

Yes, it's mainly the feeling that I can't fit everything I need to do into four days. When my children were smaller, I was on 0.6FTE, and I was definitely able to have proper days off, but 0.8 is so close to full time I find it's more difficult to set the boundary (and I would struggle to keep up any research if I stuck strictly to only four days per week). But you might well be more disciplined than I am about protecting your time, so this is purely my personal experience.

I know one colleague who does 0.6 time very successfully. Another does 0.8 and is v strict about keeping her home day with no work.

I know I'd just end up working on the extra day so I've always stayed at officially full time but make ample use of flexibility to be at home if needed.

This is very useful, thank you, and lots to consider.

I am at a research-intensive uni. I wouldn’t have said I’m super-productive research-wise, but I have done enough to be promoted in recent years, and I have things in the pipeline. A plan for the next few years at least.

The point about shifting mindset is important I think: thinking about it as a reduction across the board, rather than in terms of days etc. I think one thing influencing my thoughts is that on days I’m on campus, I do have a fairly lengthy commute. So in an ideal world I’d love to compress teaching into a single day (some colleagues have managed it in the past), which would help with the balance over the rest of the week. But I know that’s probably unrealistic. Plus the teaching term is only part of the year: we are on the lower end of overall teaching weeks, at least compared to many I know, so I’m fortunate in that regard. The rest of my year thus looks quite different to those two teaching semesters.

This is what I’m thinking too. It’s a real perk of our work to have so much flexibility. And thus whether a formal drop down to part time really makes sense.

For me, I did about 8:30-5 on my working days ,(sometimes staying earlier if I could). Theoretically I only really needed to do one long evening to make up to full time, but ended up working for several hours each evening and often at weekends. And still feeling like I wasn't doing lots of stuff I wanted to. I found it hard to stop once I started really, so as PP said it depends on how good you are at boundaries.

I was 0.8fte until mine started school. Yes I worked more like 100% but those on full time contracts (and me now) work way more than their 35 hours, so it’s kind of pro rata . And it allowed me to always say no to meetings and events scheduled during non working time and prioritise the day for family. Also a couple of years where I didn’t have many committee etc roles and fewer dissertation students. For me that was worth a 20% salary drop for a few years.

When I was considering this (20 years ago) I spoke to two more senior (male) colleagues about it. Both told me not to do it, but stick to 100% and use the flexibility of our work schedules to get through the difficult few years of primary school. I was glad I did it, and of course it meant working evenings and weekends to catch up. But its complicated because I was very careful not to be seen to be taking the piss... and have had younger colleagues who have taken the working flexibly to extreme (esp post-covid) and I fear this can cause resentments to build.

Thank you everyone for your perspectives, I’m taking it all on board and thinking through the points raised.

I’m wondering what you mean @Dealingwithredundancy when talking of your younger colleagues? Not taking the piss is something I’m hyper-aware of myself: I try to make sure I’m present and visible at key occasions, I volunteer for things strategically… But I still worry!

I did it very successfully, but gave up on having a whole day off. Instead I finished at 2pm three times a week. This worked as I got the baby from nursery at 2.30 and then we got the older dc from school and spent the afternoons in the park. I could cook something proper and we were never rushed

it was great as I kept on top of admin, my phd students and research etc. I had two long days, one for meetings specifically.

HOWEVER I was research track and only did one module of teaching so it worked ok, my teaching time was so infrequent I just sorted it out like I would a conference.

@user1499609760 it sounds like you are doing all the right things, and being aware of it is the main thing. I have some younger colleagues who are simply never available for anything in person besides actual teaching (and, as I say, worse since Covid). There is always a reason why they can't come to meetings, student events etc etc... When mine were primary age I expected my kids to do some days of after-school club as both me and DH worked full time - but that doesn't seem to be the case with some of my colleagues.

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned is re how much your DH does. Mine is also an academic, so we shared it completely equally.. so would your Dh be able to do compressed hours or whatever so they could do some of the drop-offs etc?

Good luck with it!

I realise this is an old thread but to add a positive experience- I’m part time (0.7) and I’ve found it’s drastically improved my quality of life. I was full time for 15 years or so. You do have to be strict and boundaried - and have a manager who genuinely reduces your workload. There is this very strong narrative around that it’s not possible for academics to work part time as we just do the work anyway. But my view that is a decision and not inevitable - you have to accept doing less research overall or doing it more slowly. But I’ve actually found it beneficial to have to be more picky with my more limited time, it’s helped me focus on what I actually want to do and not overcommit on loads of projects. We do have so much flexibility even full time but it’s just such a different ballgame to be able to put the out of office on and escape the email guilt on those non working days.

The sector is in a lot of trouble and workloads will be increased and be less flexible. I think juggling a full time job will be much harder in the next few years.