As a teacher I sometimes feel like there is a mismatch between the amount of work I do and how that work is counted towards meeting my job requirements.
Like most teachers I'm expected to teach a certain number of courses. But it doesn't matter if it's a course I've taught before, or a totally new course I've developing it's all counted the same.
Designing a new course is much harder and takes much more time than teaching the same thing I taught last year to new students.
So there is a subtile pressure to just teach the same things over and over. Because I've created all of the material, I know how it will work. In terms of time? I'm talking three times more prep to teach something new vs. teaching something old.
Of course I still take on new courses and develop new worksheets, lessons, test, tons of material. But this isn't officially part of my job, I just like teaching. I do the work for the love of the game and because it's more fun being good at your job.
There are "summer curriculum development grants" and this helps a little, but it's not always work done during the summer.
Right now I'm organizing my old worksheets and tests so they will be easier for other teachers to use. I know the department head will be pleased with this, and the other teachers will like it, but it's extra work and "not counted"
I think most jobs can look like this. And I don't have a great solution. I just wish teachers were recognized more for this kind of work.
To put it more succinctly: the way my job is structured "teaching" is thought of as something I do in a classroom with students. Maybe "teaching" is also grading papers and writing comments about how students are doing.
But teaching is also developing materials, deciding what to teach, how to teach it. Research, testing lesson ideas, refining them, tailoring the lessons to particular groups of students, or individual students.
@futurebird it’s very discouraging at times because it encourages /incentivizes instructors to just recycle assessment materials with new numbers rather than thinking through alternative and better ways to challenge students to understand and master the material. Then, there’s also excessive use of computer scored multiple choice components to exams.
At one place I taught, instructors were paid a seemingly very generous hourly rate under their collective agreement. However, this was completely misleading as it only counted classroom hours of instruction. It didn’t even include mandatory weekly office hours during the semester let alone hours to supervise exams during exam weeks or the preparation and marking/grading of assignments and exams.
myrmepropagandist
AlsoPaisleyCat 🇨🇦