November 2020 Advocate: Initial snapshots of part-time faculty survey

PART-TIMERS

AFT survey reveals some snapshots of working conditions for part-time faculty in our district

AFT 1493 surveyed district part-time faculty the week of October 12 – 16 to find out more about the working conditions and contexts for SMCCD adjunct faculty and their experiences and concerns regarding their work. We also asked full-time faculty who had previously worked as part-timers to complete a separate survey that compared their experiences of full-time and part-time work. We received responses from 179 part-time faculty members and 98 full-timers. We are currently analyzing the data and plan to publish a full report from both surveys in the next issue of The Advocate, but we want to give readers some initial snapshots of part-timers’ responses to key questions in the survey here.

Number of courses adjuncts teach inside SMCCD

Almost a third of the part-timers who responded to the survey are currently teaching two classes in SMCCD. A slightly smaller percentage—29%–are teaching one class in the district and almost 20% are teaching three classes. A little over 3% are teaching four or more classes while 17.5% are not teaching this semester.

How many courses are you currently teaching at SMCCD colleges?

 

About 45% of SMCCD adjuncts teach classes outside the district

About 55% (98) of the part-time faculty respondents are only teaching at SMCCD this semester while 45% (79) are teaching at least one class outside the district. Of the 45% who are teaching outside our district, about 28% (22) are teaching one outside class, 24% (19) are teaching two outside classes, about 20% (16) are teaching three outside classes, 10% (8) are teaching four classes outside SMCCD and almost 18% (14) are teaching five or more courses outside of those they teach in our district!

How many courses are you teaching outside SMCCD?

About 63% of SMCCD adjuncts do NOT have a regular, permanent job outside of faculty work

While many administrators and community members assume that most adjuncts have stable employment with benefits outside of education, about 63% of the part-time faculty survey respondents do not have a regular permanent job outside of their faculty employment and only about 16% actually have full-time jobs outside of their academic work.

Do you have a regular, permanent job outside your faculty employment?

Over 60% of SMCCD adjuncts will look for work elsewhere if pay is not significantly increased soon

In response to the question: “How likely would you be to seek employment at other districts instead of SMCCD if your pay does not change significantly over the next five years?”, over 60% said that it was very likely or somewhat likely they would look to leave the district unless there is a significant improvement in their pay from SMCCD.

How likely would you be to seek employment at other districts instead of SMCCD if your pay does not change significantly over the next five years?

Look for a more complete report of all of the data and comments from both the part-time and full-time working conditions survey in the next issue.