@DragonTrainor I'm a senior lecturer/programme lead. I’m on a teaching only contract, though expected to do around 200 hours of scholarly activity a year. I moved from industry to HE in my late 30s.
i think the thing I found hardest was how demanding and sometimes needy the students can be. I feel like 10% of the students take up 90% of my time sometimes! I’m continually trying to lower their expectations 😁. Ive had students complain because they emailed on a Thurs evening and by Friday lunchtime I haven’t responded, no thought that I may be teaching, etc.
I think last year on paper my teaching commitments were 170 hours for the year of face to face teaching. I suspect this coming year it’s going to be more due to redundancies in the team.
I have never worked at a weekend, I always take my annual leave, i normally manage to turn my laptop off at 5pm, though I admit I do some very early starts. And will sometimes check emails again about 9pm.
I do love the variety of the job, I love that it stretches me. My subject is always changing so I’m always having to update teaching materials and I enjoy that. I like watching the students develop. I feel I’m making a difference and really love that. I’m passionate about supporting them.
i have no clue about how financially stable private universities are. Tread carefully and see if you can find their financial statements, etc. especially if they have a lot of overseas students as numbers of these students has dropped dramatically. I do know people in the sector who have got new jobs and within a few weeks of starting been put at risk of redundancy.