Dee Conference LSE 2011

Valerie Dickie, Kai Dunker and Vibhor Saxena

The Role, Responsibilities and Remuneration of Graduate Teaching Assistants in the UK.

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The Project

• Design and distribution of an e-questionnaire to post graduate students.

• Today a brief summary of the main findings from this small sample survey.

• Results provide some evidence of a wide variation in GTA’s terms and conditions of employment.

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GTA Defined

• A student who assists in the delivery of higher education programmes.

• Part of a wide group of general teaching assistants.

• This research focuses on the student who teaches.

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Data Availability

• No official data on this labour market.

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“It is something I believe we are looking at collecting information on in the next review of the staff data we collect…” Mark Jones ,Information Analyst, HESA, May 2011

UK data that is available

• Number of Academic Staff

• Number of Students

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UK HE Academic Staff 2001-2010

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Academic Staff 2000-01 2009-10 % change

Full Time Eng. 93670 96285 +2.79

Part Time Eng. 20385 56235 +175.86

Full Time NI 2900 2800 -3.5

Part time NI 215 565 +162.79

Full Time Scot 14045 13160 -6.3

Part Time Scot 2115 3695 +74.7

Full Time Wales 5790 5685 -1.81

Part Time Wales 815 3170 +288.96

HE Students 2001-2010 (Scotland)

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Student Type 2000-01 2009-10 % Increase

UG First

Degree

111,935 145,535 30

PG Taught 28,190 44,165 57

PG Research. 8,085 10,665

 

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Source : Scottish Government Statistics, Lifelong Learning Series HESA based.

The Survey

• Questionnaire - Bristol Online Survey system (BOS)

• UK distribution by email and social network to postgraduates during Oct 2010 - April 2011

• Respondents = 1250 Useable 1085. Majority (89%) PhD students

• Data transferred to SPSS and STATA for analysis.

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Respondents Who Teach by Subject

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• 653 (60%) of respondents assist in the delivery of education programmes.

• Some subjects make greater use of GTA’s. e. g. sciences, social sciences, engineering.

• This could partly explain the better response rate from postgraduates within specific subject areas.

Survey Respondents who Teach

Role of a GTA

• Assisting in the delivery of small group teaching.

• Helping with assessment and marking.

• Expected to find GTAs assist with year 1 and 2 UG.

• Did not expect to find GTAs assist across all years including PG.

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Level of Student Taught by GTAs

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Level of Student Taught Number of GTAs who Teach

Year 1 460

Year 2 377

Year 3 232

Year 4 84

Post Graduate 150

Main GTA Duties

Pay of GTA

• Hourly rate of pay for main duties shows substantial variation. e.g. £6.00 - £125

• Number of reasons e.g. It could reflect local labour markets conditions.

• Survey evidence showed variation in mean hourly rate of pay within subject areas for main duties.

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Mean Hourly Rate of Pay for Main Duties by Subject Area

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Variation in Hourly Rate of Pay for Main Duties within Disciplines

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Subject Area Minimum Rate of Pay Recorded (£’s)

Maximum Rate of Pay Recorded (£’s)

Biological Sciences 7.5 17.80

Economics 11.22 125.00

Engineering 6.00 30.00

Mathematics 8.00 50.00

Physics 9.00 18.00

Social Science 7.00 42.00

Variation in Hourly Rate of Pay by Main Duty

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Duty Minimum Rate of Payment

Maximum Rate of Payment

Mode Mean

All teaching 6.00 125 9.50 18.35

Lecturing no tutoring 8.80 125 10 26.40Lecturing 6.00 125 10 24.50Tutoring 6.00 72 9.50 20.10

Tutoring no Lecturing

7.00 50 9.50 19.23

Demonstrating 6.00 50 9.50 14.40

Demonstrating, no lecturing or tutoring

7.00 43.66 9.50 11.70

Lab Assistance 6.00 50 9.50 14.70

Lab Assistance, no lecturing or tutoring

7.00 43.66 9.50 12.30

Lab Assistance ,no lecturing tutoring or demonstrating.

8.30 20.00 9.00 11.90

Individual Comments on Pay

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“Unsure of exact amount per hour. It varies from one group to another.”

“I am not sure I understand how it is calculated.”

“Demonstrating is unpaid”

Individual Comments on Duties without Payment

• Approx. 33% reported work undertaken without payment.

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“Supervising Masters student”

“Writing of exam papers”

“I get paid 1 hour to prepare new lecture slides…it takes me 3 days”

Formal Training

• Survey results show training is not comprehensively available.

• Training before teaching 271/653

• Training not available at all 108/653.

• Mostly general training 300/653

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Type of Training

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Support and Feedback

• Good support from staff and colleagues.

• Feedback mostly from course coordinators, supervisors and students.

• Individual comments suggest that more feedback from staff would be welcome.

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Conclusion

• GTAs are an essential part of the HE labour market.

• Failure to record GTA statistics is not in the interest of learning and teaching, post graduate students or HE.

• The role of GTA might be underestimated. Duties often beyond the supportive role.

• Training and feedback require greater attention.

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Recommendations

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• Clear the fog surrounding this imperfect market.• National data collection by HESA.• Unambiguous definition of the role of GTA. • Formation of a policy framework for employment.• Market requires attention to limit institutional risk.• Fresh thinking on PhD training, as many unsure about

pursuing an academic career.(40%).• This labour market requires greater recognition.

Questions?

Thank you

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