Professional Issues: Bucking the Trend - Hiring Full-time Teachers

As more and more colleges and universities hire fewer and fewer full-time teachers, especially in the liberal arts, Harvard University’s Division of Continuing Education seems to be resisting the trend.

In the Fall of 1998, Dean Michael Shinagel sent out letters to the teaching staff at the Institute for English Language programs (IEL) all of whom were part-timers. He announced that in the following year, IEL would begin hiring full-time instructors for its ESL courses. IEL was moving towards a more academic focus, and consequently, he explained, required a different kind of staff.
Many of the instructors had worked in the program for years, teaching whatever courses were offered. No one knew from term to term what courses they’d be teaching, or whether they’d be teaching at all until a few days before classes began, so they were initially pleased by the new plan. They just assumed they would be a significant part of the new staffing structure. Over the following three years, IEL would commit to hiring ten to 12 full-time ESL instructors so the program could maintain "more stability in staffing," and the students could move through ESL courses with some "uniformity across a range of classes."

The Contracts
The new full-time positions, modeled after Harvard’s "preceptors," seemed very attractive. They came with three-year contracts and an option of one three-year renewal, to a maximum of six years. They included benefits, office space, and participation on curriculum and book committees. Salaries were in the mid-$30,000 range for an 11-month contract. The teaching load was 16 hours a week during the year and 18 hours during the summer. (The major contractual difference between preceptors and IEL instructors is that preceptors usually teach half-time and do research half-time, while IEL instructors teach full time and do no research.)
As Harvard’s Peter Buck, Dean of Summer School, explained, the move towards using full-time teachers arose out of a general dissatisfaction among staff that were "spread thin" because of the multiple part-time jobs many were forced to take in order to make ends meet.

But Buck also says that he found that too many part-time instructors in the existing pool at the time were reluctant or unable to change to a more academic focus, which he notes is now a priority. IEL had already been reorganizing for several years towards more professional development classes including academic reading and presentation skills. Offering fewer traditional, lower-level ESL classes represented "a different direction than many teachers wanted to be pulled," said Buck.
Dr. Lilith Haynes, Director of IEL, began implementing the new staffing and program directions by conducting a review of the previous five years of the program courses. She calculated a core of approximately 50 courses that ran every semester. From that core, Haynes and her office staff built a class schedule for Fall, 1999. In the first year of the new staff initiative, about a quarter of the courses were taught by full-timers. Within three years, the bulk of the courses would be taught by ten to 12 full-time instructors, although Haynes foresees continual "work on the edges" for part-timers depending on the ebb and flow of enrollments.

The New Hires
After extensive and international advertising, Haynes received about 200 applications that she considered serious, and then interviewed about 15 people. She says she looked for strong commitment to an academic program as well as extensive teaching experience. A large number of the part-timers applied but only one, Jilani Warsi, was hired as a full-timer. He had taught in the program for a year. Another teacher who had previously taught at Harvard, Kimberly McGrath, was offered a position after returning from two years teaching in Hong Kong.

Haynes also hired non-Harvard instructors Dr. Jennifer Robinson-Sharapi, who had eight years of ESL experience, and Cheryl Ernst, who had taught English to college students in Ohio, Arizona, Finland, and Japan. The credentials of these four instructors included one doctorate, one ABD, and five master’s degrees.

Reactions
Reactions of the part-time staff to the hiring decisions ranged from anger to resignation. Most were disappointed that IEL "wasn’t more rewarding of people who had committed to the program over many years." It seemed to them that IEL ignored highly qualified people with years of superior evaluations, several awards for teaching excellence from the program itself, and proven reliability to cover a great variety of courses. None of the part-timers interviewed for this article applied for the second round of positions because, they said, it was made clear to them that they wouldn’t be given serious consideration.

Nevertheless, many of the part-timers have decided to stick with program until "something better comes up." They say that the caliber of the students which made teaching at IEL worthwhile hasn’t changed. They even admit that the field of ESL as a whole has been strengthened by the move toward full-time status, despite any personal disappointments.
Jilani Warsi claims he hasn’t felt any resentment from the part-timers who didn’t get full-time positions. In fact, he says, he continues to see the other part-time instructors socially. Kim McGrath agrees, insisting that the other teachers have treated her very well. "They have actively congratulated me, saying ‘nice to see you back,’" reports McGrath.

Most agree with Buck’s predictions that the teachers will be "hot commodities" after their time at Harvard is up. Warsi, for example, is sure that six years full-time at Harvard University will be a "shot in the arm" for his career.

Robinson-Sharapi thinks "a stint doing teacher-training overseas, or doing some research" are possible areas she would pursue after Harvard, and Ernst sees a doctoral program in her future. McGrath says she hasn’t thought about what she’ll do in six years because "so much can happen in this field. It’s just part of life in the ESL world, and not necessarily the most positive part, to move around a lot."

The Major Snag
Everyone in the administration and staff admits there are many small kinks to be worked out in this pilot effort. So far the most difficult problem concerns schedules and hours. Full-timers teach only four hours daily, but their classes are spread over the entire day from morning until 9:30 at night Monday through Thursday. In addition, they are encouraged to be available to students and administrators on Fridays. Although full-timers seem reluctant to complain, one admits that "the schedule is really tiring" and another points out that "some days [managing the seven and half hour gap between classes] is easy, and some days it’s not so easy." Dean Shinagel is optimistic, however, that as more full-timers are hired, the scheduling will become "less Draconian."

Good Traffic/Bad Traffic: The Administration Perspective
The administration is clearly the most enthusiastic partner in this endeavor. In addition to creating a stable and professional atmosphere for the IEL, Dean Buck describes "an unexpected positive by-product for the office staff." In the past, most student traffic to the office was about problems or complaints. Now the students can go directly to the teachers who are available with office hours and space, so that "most of the static has been drowned out."

Haynes agrees that she has had to field significantly fewer complaints during the Fall registration that she attributes to the greater access students now have to their teachers. For Dean Shinagel, however, the primary beneficiaries always must be the students. Any change at IEL must enhance Harvard’s ability "to attract the enormously motivated and intelligent group of international students" who come through the Boston area each year. "These students expect the best from Harvard, and Harvard, in turn, must do its utmost to provide the best for them," says Shinagel.

Christy M. Newman, Ed. D., is President of CMN Associates, Weston, Massachusetts, specializing in materials development for ESL and adult education. Dr. Newman is the author of numerous texts on ESL literacy, workplace ESL, and writing skills for the GED.