The casualisation of VET teaching staff and its impact on teaching quality

RMIT [Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology] University is a dual sector institution with a long involvement in vocational education and training [VET]. The delivery and assessment of programs in the VET sector of RMIT is now being conducted by a substantial number of sessional teachers and those employed as full time equivalent teachers (FTE). People Services data, collated in August 2003, indicated that there were 414 full time and 153 FTE teaching staff while a further 692 staff members worked as sessional teachers at this time. While there are a variety of practical reasons for the employment of part-time and sessional staff in any registered training organization, these teacher employment figures raise questions around how the University is able to ensure continuity in teaching practice and assessment, maintain program quality both in content and delivery, audit compliance and the provision of appropriate professional development for all of its teaching practitioners to ensure a professional and sustainable teacher workforce. The employment of such a large sessional and FTE teacher workforce also highlights potential difficulties across a range of day-to-day administrative issues usually carried out by teachers such as program planning, timetabling, collation of course results and the effective dissemination of National, State and organisational information. At a broader organisational level, casualisation raises issues of 'belonging' to the University, a key factor in team building and the development of strong staff morale. This paper will explore the experiences of sessional and FTE teachers within this organization, the acculturation of staff, their access to professional development opportunities and the overall impact on the quality of programs being delivered to students.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

Collections of papers presented under each theme are indexed from TD/TNC 81.453 to TD/TNC 81.457; selected papers from this theme are indexed from TD/TNC 81.480 to TD/TNC 81.493.

RMIT [Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology] University is a dual sector institution with a long involvement in vocational education and training [VET]. The delivery and assessment of programs in the VET sector of RMIT is now being conducted by a substantial number of sessional teachers and those employed as full time equivalent teachers (FTE). People Services data, collated in August 2003, indicated that there were 414 full time and 153 FTE teaching staff while a further 692 staff members worked as sessional teachers at this time. While there are a variety of practical reasons for ...  [+] Show more