Postgrad Job Question - Teaching Fellowships

5

Hi there,

What thoughts do current postgrads have on the proliferation of teaching fellowships in UK universities? I know what they are and what career prospects they offer, just want to know how postgrads about to enter the academic job market feel about them. What kind of experience do you think you'll need to score one? The positions feel like early career options for those keen to teach, but is this really the case?

Thanks!

Reply 1

gutenberg

14

I think teaching fellowships can be extremely exploitative of young academics: often they're not fulltime in regards to salary, but demand practically fulltime commitment in terms of preparation, pastoral duties, etc. The piece-work nature of them and the emerging practice of paying just per course is bad news for young academics, not to mention that they're often only for a year or two and so require constant mobility. Holders of such posts often don't qualify for any of the additional perks and benefits that fulltime permanent staff enjoy, such as research expenses or even help with moving costs, which makes them even more exploitative. The problem is that there are so many people who want to remain in academia, and so few jobs, that people will apply for these positions just to keep their foot in the door in the hope of eventually gaining a permanent post.
Of course, there are some teaching positions which are fairly paid and demand a reasonable level of work in relation to the salary offered, but these seem to be less common than the barefaced cost-saving exercises that many teaching posts represent.
In terms of the experience required, the great majority of applicants that I know or have heard of going for these types of jobs will already have their PhD, or will be very close to completion. I have heard of some people applying for one-year, poorly-paid positions even with several years of postdoctoral experience under their belt. Of course, who is shortlisted for the job (and ultimately gets it) will reflect the interests and personal preferences (and often contacts) of the people on the selection committee, so sometimes people with relatively little experience, or even someone without a completed doctorate will be interviewed because of a connection with someone on the interview panel. I think these posts are supposedly designed with those who have just finished a PhD, or are close to completion, in mind as a way to gain experience. In practice, many of those applying even for short-term work will have a PhD and sometimes-extensive experience, due to the nature of the jobs market, and so the 'level' required to get one often goes up & up.

Reply 2

hopefulscribbler

OP

5

Thanks! Those are my feelings about it too. I'm experiencing some issues transitioning from the US system to the UK system. Got two masters plus five years undergrad teaching under my belt, and will start my funded PhD in the UK this autumn. I'd really like to return to teaching in HE soon, but it's almost impossible here without my PhD, despite my experience. I feel like a teaching fellowship would be advantageous (if impossible to attain) at this stage, but not necessarily postdoc! Oh well.

Reply 3

gutenberg

14

If you are keen to continue teaching while doing your PhD, then I would speak to your supervisor in the first instance about getting a TA job on one of the undergrad courses in your department. Many first and second year course seminars are led by postgraduate TAs, and since it's your own department you will probably stand a chance of getting something. Some supervisors are wary of first-year PhDs teaching, preferring that you focus on really deciding what the PhD will be on, and doing substantial lit reviews etc. But in the second and third years I imagine you would have a shot. One thing however that I have noticed in the past 5-10 years is that often completed PhD students will 'hang around' their old department in the hope of getting teaching to keep them going financially while they search for postdocs or jobs, and so you may find yourself in competition with them for teaching hours. Since you have lots of experience however, your department might be keen to have you teach. So just ask! :smile:

Reply 4

poohat

18

Teaching fellowships can be decent if the teaching load is fairly light (no more than 2-3 modules per year, with complete notes for all modules) - the main advantage is that you get to work on your own research rather than the research topics of your PI, which gives you a great opportunity to show that you are an independent researcher rather than just someone's code/data/lab monkey.

However teaching fellowships with high teaching loads can be a career deadend - you won't have much time to do research, which means that your publications will suffer, and you will become less competitive for permanent jobs compared to people who are doing research postdocs. Assuming that you are in a field with good private sector prospects, I would say that you should seriously start to consider industry jobs instead.

Postgrad Job Question - Teaching Fellowships

Related discussions

Articles for you

How The Student Room is moderated