Fifty to 80% of undergraduate teaching in Australia is done by casual or sessional staff
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Articles on Casual academics
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The problem of insecure employment for academics came to a head during the pandemic. The neglect of this issue is eroding our intellectual capital along with education and employment opportunities.
While the official figures are lower than earlier estimates of job losses, they also show certain types of employees – casual, non-academic and younger staff – bore the brunt of the staff cuts.
Casual staff often miss out on professional development and feel isolated and invisible. Team teaching helps support these staff while improving the continuity and quality of university teaching.
Universities have legitimate reasons for employing some staff on casual contracts, but the impacts of the COVID pandemic have brought long-standing problems to a head. Now is the time to act on these.
More than a dozen Australian universities have been publicly accused of underpaying staff. Some have paid millions in backpay after audits. And a big factor in wage theft is the rise of casualisation.
Universities have financial resources — property, bequests and philanthropic funds, and access to lines of credit — they can access rather than forcing staff to sacrifice their jobs.
The National Tertiary Education Union has agreed to a deal with universities that aims to save at least 12,000 jobs. But universities aren’t obliged to sign up.
Hundreds of casual academics have lost work in the COVID-19 crisis. They make up the majority of the teaching workforce at universities but they don’t quality for any government assistance.
Academics on casual contracts often feel vulnerable and of lower status than “permanent” staff members. They can minimise their exploitation as if it’s part of the authentic academic experience.
The higher education sector may be the the third largest employer of casual staff in Australia. More cuts to universities mean the use of casual academics could increase further.
A crisis of sustainability is building up as universities continue to drift towards a more privatised system. It’s time we started looking at alternative options.
The consensus on the recent A$2.3 billion funding cuts to the tertiary sector is they will do more harm than good. Plenty of commentators foresee diminishing quality of teaching and research, possible…
University students are often in the care of casual staff who have not been inducted into the job, receive no support or professional development, and do not have an office, an inquiry will hear today…
Casual academics are deeply pessimistic about the prospect of ongoing employment, according to a study that shows only one in four are confident of taking on a continuing contract in the next five years…
Top contributors
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Associate Professor in Education, University of Newcastle
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Lecturer, Charles Sturt University
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Associate professor, Queensland University of Technology
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Honorary Principal Fellow, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne
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Lecturer, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University
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Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University
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Associate Professor in Political Economy, University of Sydney
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Honorary Senior Fellow, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor, Critical and Cultural Studies, Macquarie University
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Research Fellow, Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment, University of Tasmania
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Senior Lecturer, Edith Cowan University
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Honorary Senior Fellow, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne
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Adjunct Lecturer, School of Creative Arts and Media, University of Tasmania
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Emeritus Professor, Macquarie University
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Lecturer, Centre for Work and Wellbeing, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University
