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[nomad soul]

Teach in a University
By Hannah Alexander-Wright, EL Gazette | May 2017
Source: http://www.elgazette.com/

The Gazette asked five university tutors, based both in the UK and the US, what it’s really like to teach in academic institutions. All staff had different experiences as each employer has different policies on pay structure, job security and continuing professional development (CPD).

But one uniting experience was the problem of the status of the subject: TEFL at universities can be seen as remedial support by students and staff, something that a student has to do in order to do the subject that they want to. There is frustration that what the students learn in the department is non-credit-bearing, and therefore not as ‘important’. The pay can be better than at private language centres but job security can be problematic as full-time positions are scarce. In the UK, university tutors seem to enjoy a more generous CPD programme, whereas in the US this is more limited.

What are the pros and cons of working at a university, compared to a private language school?

One UK-based tutor told us they find the work ‘more challenging’ because language work is more embedded in degree level content. ‘I get to learn many other subjects by working with students studying these specialisms’, they said. Another working in the UK private sector said the main difference is the fact that academic English at university is high-stakes. Students often need to attain certain proficiency levels to progress to the next stage of their academic career.

And the mindset of students can be different. A US-based tutor said: ‘In the private language setting the student is a “customer,” and more often than not, has a feeling that they are buying language ability instead of buying instruction. The positive side of the private language school is that there is a lot more flexibility with curriculum and content. In the university setting, there are specific curriculum objectives and learning outcomes that constrain the teacher.’

What are the pay and conditions like?

Private institutions may have more flexibility with their pay structures, a US-based tutor said. ‘This means they can increase salaries to attract more qualified faculty, but can also decrease salaries based on the market’ needs, they said.

A UK tutor added: ‘I am on a fractional contract that I can top up when there is extra work, but this cannot be relied upon. Hourly pay rates have not increased in eight years and the grading system means we are not classified as teachers (we’re professional services). There’s no mechanism for promotion unless you move into management. I earned more in my previous job in a private language school than I do now due to profit-related pay and teacher training bonuses, but I enjoy the variety of this work much more.’

“I personally find the work more challenging because language work is more embedded in degree level content ”

Other UK tutors told the Gazette that pay is ‘significantly higher’ than in private language schools they had worked in. ‘There is the option to be part of the pension scheme. The holiday allowance is good for permanent staff’, they said. Although pay is higher, tutors report there is a lack of permanent, full-time positions in the industry, with university departments relying on freelance and fixed-term contracts.

Did you find it easy to get a job teaching at a university?

Tutors have reported it is harder to get a job in the halls of academe. One UK tutor said: ‘It’s not easy to get a secure university job in the current climate, except for summer pre-sessional jobs (that’s how I started) and hourly paid work– though this is getting harder too. Friends in London have to take work at two or three universities to earn enough to live on.’

Do you feel that you are treated like other university academics?

A US tutor said they are ‘absolutely treated differently’. ‘Often our programmes are housed in continuing and professional studies or non-degree departments. We are also usually referred to as instructors rather than professors. This is reflected in both pay and collegiality.’

UK tutors complained that they thought other university departments were unclear as to their role. One said that in terms of conditions, benefits and opportunities staff were treated the same, but they did not have the same ability to progress in their career as others. One said: ‘There is no way to reach the next pay grade without taking on a management role when you are a pre-sessional/in-sessional tutor. The structure lacks a senior tutor position for us.’ One tutor said that EAP staff were ‘often treated as less essential to or on the periphery of the university.’

Qualifications needed to teach English at university in the UK and US:

US (depends on university):
• Full-time teachers often require an MA, but there are many part-time and on-and-off positions for teachers with BA degrees or with TESOL certificates.
• No federal standard and even accrediting agencies don’t hold one standard for all programs.
• There are schools that require not only an MA but also a certain number of years teaching, and even a certain number of years teaching in a specific context.

UK (depends on university):
• Most universities require at least a Level 7 qualification (Delta or masters)
• CELTA is the basic requirement to teach at most universities but a BC/Baleap – recognised centres often request a diploma as the minimum requirement.

(End of article)

* * * * * * * * * * *

BTW, I disagree with the quals indicated for US universities. I doubt there's a vocational school, college, or university that accepts a BA for ESL teaching positions; related MAs tend to be the minimum.
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[lagringalindissima]

The pay was dreadful, resources were average (but they really should be better than average in the USA..we are still a very wealthy country, after all), and the students ranged from already wonderfully fluent and delightful human beings to students who couldn't write or say a coherent sentence and threw tantrums when others got extra credit and they didn't...because they didn't do the extra credit work. My schedule was nice, other staff did treat me as a "real" teacher and I got to pretty much teach exactly how I wanted to..which was good because my textbook was barely usable. All in all it was fine (but I had other income). But here's the thing.. most university ESL teachers do it part time; they either have other jobs or they only want to work part time. And if you think people without the legal right to work here (in the USA) can get hired for these jobs.. I can help you learn to "flip" houses and make an average of 65, 000 dollars per flipped house. Most people can flip three houses a year!

[HeidiHector]

I had a very different experience in the US. I was working in Boston and NYC before I left for East Asia, both cities with tons of universities, many of which pay OK (from an average of $6,000-$7,000 to even an eye-popping $10,000 [they eventually cancelled that one] per class), so I had been able to teach four/five classes per semester and have summers off (or off to other countries to teach summers, which is itself a vacation anyway). Oftentimes, if even one of your schools is unionized (many in NYC and Boston are), you are even able to get healthcare (albeit pricey) and open a 403b/401k through the employer, who might even match your contributions. So for most of my adjunct career, my income has consistently hovered between the mid to high sixties.

Certainly, the schedule could be hell at times, with sometimes 25-30 contact hours per week (plus another 10 hours for grading and prepping, of course), but I have the option to not do so many during the regular semesters and teach summers (and sometimes even winters), though I usually prefer a packed schedule in the fall and spring so that I have an extra long summer. And there is definitely no guarantee that you will be able to fill up your week semester in and semester out (sometimes you only have classes in the morning and the evening with a big gap in between), but I do notice that the ones who have a relatively easier time finding work are the ones who network, which is key in any field. (This is from personal experience. When I started out, it was very, very tough, but things get easier once you have built a reputation. Be kind and be helpful and your co-workers will send job leads [and tutoring] your way. Be involved and your boss(es) will refer you to other people.)

The landscape has changed dramatically, of course, esp. in the past year or two, with the American dollar being very strong and American universities opening up partnership schools around the world, esp. in China. But I know people who do adjunct work and have made similar incomes. They like it very much for another reason, too. As the previous poster said, many of us do have side jobs and the flexibility this career affords us is, frankly, addicting.

Note: This also highlights the importance of organized labor. In NYC, which is arguably the last stronghold of unions, the wages tend to be higher not only because it's an expensive city, but also because the wage levels need to be competitive even at non-unionized schools because rates at unionized ones are high enough (from over $100/hr at NYU to ~$70 at CUNY) that they pull the rest of the city up, too. As Republicans are wont to say, "A rising tide lifts all boats." (That's why it's an encouraging development that many working in higher ed are getting together to fight for better pay and working conditions.)

Say what you will about unions (I also have a list of complaints against them), but it's undeniable that they have made work a lot more dignified.

[twowheel]

HH,

Many thanks for your insightful post.

I worked in the NYCDOE and I have to agree with your statement:

[ntropy]

Not the USA or UK, but here's a recent article form TESL Canada about Teaching EAP in Cdn unis.

http://www.teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl/article/view/1258

TESL Canada Journal, Vol 34, No 1 (2016)

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The Margins as Third Space: EAP Teacher Professionalism in Canadian Universities
Jennifer MacDonald

Abstract

Teachers of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in the Canadian university setting often experience professional marginalization in terms of lack of status, clarity of mandate, or administrative home within their institutions. Despite having broadly benefitted the ESL/EAL sector in Canada, traditional trait-focused professionalization efforts have been less effective at countering this marginalization of EAP teachers within our universities. However, these margins could be reimagined as a pedagogically innovative space for some university EAP teachers to define their professionalism in terms not of what they are, but what they do. Recharacterizing the margins as a third space (Whitchurch, 2008) could allow a degree of freedom for EAP teachers to best exercise their professionalism on their own terms: a postmodern professionalism focused on engagement, service, and collaboration.

Les enseignants d’anglais académique en milieu universitaire canadien se retrouvent souvent marginalisés sur le plan professionnel quant à leur statut, à la clarté de leur mandat ou à leur niche administrative au sein de leur établissement. Les efforts traditionnels relatifs aux développement professionnel des enseignants visent des traits et, si leurs bienfaits se sont fait largement ressentir dans le secteur canadien de l’ALS/ALA, ils ont moins bien réussi à contrer cette marginalisation des enseignants d’anglais académique dans nos universités. Toutefois, ces frontières pourraient être repensées comme des espaces pédagogiques novateurs où des enseignants d’anglais académique à l’université définissent leur professionnalisme, pas en termes de ce qu’ils sont, mais en termes de ce qu’ils font. La requalification des frontières comme un troisième espace (Whitchurch, 2008) pourrait créer un niveau de liberté permettant aux enseignants d’anglais académique de mettre en pratique leur professionnalisme à leur manière : un professionnalisme postmoderne axé sur l’engagement, le service et la collaboration.