Profile and problems of part time faculty in selected B.C. community colleges
Creators: name: Naismith, Earl George
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: This study attempts to determine the Profile and Problems of Part-time Faculty in British Columbia Community Colleges, based on a sampling from six of the fourteen colleges in the province. These institutions were British Columbia Institute of Technology, Capilano College, Douglas College, East Kootenay College, Fraser Valley College, and Vancouver Community College. Each of the six institutions represented a unique combination of characteristics such as age of the college, geographical area covered, multi-campus or single campus, melded or unmelded (i.e. amalgamation of the college with local provincial vocational institutes), and historical usage of part-time faculty. Data for a time analysis were collected from college records which gave the distribution of part-time faculty by semester and by curriculum area for the last three to five years. This helped to determine trends in the use of part-time faculty. A questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument for establishing the profile and problems. It was sent to every part-time faculty member who had taught in the selected colleges for the past two years. The ratio of part-time to full-time faculty in the colleges varied from approximately 0.3:1 to 1.8:1 with an average ratio of 0.7:1. The ratios are highest in the vocational training area (approximately 2:1) followed by the university transfer area (approximately 0.7:1) and the career/technical area, (approximately 0.6:1). There is a significant difference in the ratio of part-time to full-time faculty members among the colleges in the study. Furthermore in almost all other categories differences were significant. This could reflect the autonomy and varying needs of individual colleges. Based on the data gathered in the study the'typical' part-time college faculty member is male; lives within an hour's drive of the college; works in business and commerce as a managerial employee; makes about $24,000 a year from all sources; or makes about $15,000 a year if his principal source of income was from teaching in colleges; would accept an offer of full-time employment in a college if he were given suitable credit for his work experience and academic credentials; is willing to take an appreciable salary cut to teach at a community college to satisfy a career choice; is not now actively looking around for a new job; teaches at only one subject and that one usually repeated while he is at the college; teaches after 4 p.m., but would prefer to teach before 4 p.m.; has at least 8 years of work experience; has at least one teaching credential and a Master's degree; has taught courses at the secondary school level and in adult education programs; teaches a non-laboratory-oriented course with technician assistance available but no marking assistance; is apt to be invited to college professional development programs, but does not attend; is not sure how much non-teaching activities are expected of him; is a member of the college's faculty association but not a voting member unless he teaches at least one-half a load; is paid proportionately less than full-time faculty; is not represented in the college faculty's bargaining unit; usually has a mail box; is as likely as not to have a desk to work at; has his teaching evaluated; and, finally, can be released without cause at the end of his contract or employment period. Officially, the colleges extend the same administration - support services to part-time faculty as to full-time faculty except that they usually do not grant the former the privilege of taking free credit courses. Salaries for part-time faculty are less than for full-time faculty. Credit is seldom given for academic and teaching credentials or for work experience. Pay rates are usually based on the lowest rate of the full-time faculty scale. Among the colleges, there is a significant difference in these pay rates. Increments are not usually given and when they are they plateau at a level below that attainable by full-time faculty. Faculty agreements say very little about part-time faculty beyond defining their category as a teacher. Generally part-time faculty are not officially represented by faculty associations. The recently enacted "British Columbia Colleges and Provincial Institutes Act" may resolve this restriction with some form of province-wide representation. There was no agreement among the colleges on the criteria - for transition from part-time to full-time status. College administrations reported that generally part-time faculty have the same right, if not as ready access to, administrative support services. Part-time faculty at all colleges, are usually unorganized. They do not have positions on faculty association executives and are not members of bargaining committees. Faculty associations seem quite ambivalent about the interests of part-time faculty. There is an obvious community of interest between full-time and part-time faculty but there are equally obvious problems in granting part-time faculty more representation on faculty associations. Part-time faculty are generally defined in terms of full-time faculty. College faculty agreements deal mainly with the interests of full-time faculty.