Torpedoes Ahead!

Received an email from the director’s boss at the med school.  The is a MD in charge of education at the teaching hospital.  It seems innocuous and under normal circumstances, it should be.   This has not been a normal year and thus it appears to be a trap.  The email below, redacted.

“Dear English lecturers, 

We hope this message finds you well. Thank you in advance for your excellent English lectures and tutorials throughout 2024.

As we prepare for the upcoming 2025 academic year, we would like to inquire about your intention to continue to teach at XXXXXXXXXX.

To ensure a productive teaching environment, we would appreciate your commitment to the following expectations:

1. Attendance at the Annual Staff Meeting: Attending the annual staff meeting at the beginning of the academic year is essential for aligning our goals.

2. Adherence to Class Schedules: It is essential to adhere to the scheduled start and end times for the classes. While optional extensions are welcome, timely arrivals and departures are crucial.

3. Communication via Email: Please utilize email as the primary means of communication for any course-related matters to facilitate clarity and efficiency.

4. Syllabus Distribution and Compliance: Please distribute the syllabus at the start of the semester and align your class each time you teach our students. Adherence to the syllabus will significantly enhance their learning.

Your commitment to these points will be instrumental in our shared goal of providing quality education. 

We appreciate your understanding.

Please respond to this email to let us know you will accommodate the above requests from the International Communication Education Committee at XXXXXXXXXXX.

We also look forward to hearing from you regarding your intention to continue to teach next academic year of 2025, provided you can meet these expectations.

Thank you for your attention.”

My draft reply follows. Notations are for your further understanding and not intended to be sent.

“Given the realities of this current school year, I am at a loss as how to respond.  With the exception to “1. Attendance at the Annual Staff Meeting: Attending the annual staff meeting at the beginning of the academic year is essential for aligning our goals.”, all should be easily agreeable.  However, that is true only if certain assumptions can be made, which sadly, this year they could not.

First, “1. Attendance at the Annual Staff Meeting: Attending the annual staff meeting at the beginning of the academic year is essential for aligning our goals”.   

As part time faculty, as a group we generally cannot be expected to attend anything outside our assigned and agreed to class schedules.  Using myself as an example, I have had as many as 9 different employers, with several of these not adhering to the university semester cycle, they have classes year round.  I cannot commit to a meeting that may conflict with my obligations to other employers.  Nor, can I commit to a meeting during regular class time when classes are not in session.  One of the traits of part time employment is the ability to fill such periods of time with short term work or personal pursuits.  While I usually do not, many take the time off between school years for overseas travel.  If the date and time for such meetings fit my schedule, then yes, I may then be able to commit once it is known. (1)

I’ll deal with number 4 next, as it greatly affects the other two.  “Syllabus Distribution and Compliance: Please distribute the syllabus at the start of the semester and align your class each time you teach our students. Adherence to the syllabus will significantly enhance their learning.”

Let’s tackle the last sentence, first, “Adherence to the syllabus will significantly enhance their learning.”  A changing syllabus cannot be adhered to.

This year the syllabus was provided to myself and I believe to all the part time teachers right before class began, or at least a changed version of it.  A syllabus that is issued that late cannot not be expected to be followed.  As I have sent earlier, January to February is the time frame for syllabuses to be turned in by teachers.  May is at best three months too late.

Additionally, the syllabus must be reasonable.  Those who taught the textbook last year emphatically stated that one class period was insufficient to adequately cover a full chapter, yet that was what we were forced to achieve in addition to providing level appropriate materials.  The syllabus must also match the level of the classes that are to follow it.  A syllabus also must take into account standard course progression.  Never in any of my secondary education as a student was the first day of class used to cover any course material.  Rather, the materials are introduced along with how to best use them to meet the goals of the course in addition to grading, attendance and other information to set the students up for the course.  Yet, this year, we were given, too late, a syllabus that ignored this and had us dive right in to the course material.  I did not follow as it was counter to my experience as a student, my experience as a teacher and would have greatly handicapped my course plan that was made in absence of the syllabus that was released far too late to be considered.

For a syllabus to be adhered to, teachers must have it months before the beginning of the school year, not days.  It must also allow for at least one full class period at the beginning for introductory activities.  Further, it cannot have mutually exclusive goals to meet nor incorrect information, as was the case this year.  It must also allow for teachers to teach based upon their methods and the flexibility to adapt to the needs of their differing classes.  Lastly, it cannot be changed once classes begin.  If the discrepancies in this year’s syllabus are corrected, then I can state that I will follow the syllabus.

“2. Adherence to Class Schedules: It is essential to adhere to the scheduled start and end times for the classes. While optional extensions are welcome, timely arrivals and departures are crucial.”

Usually should not be a problem.  However, with the repeated, sudden changes in the syllabus this year, going late may have been necessary do deal with these. (2)

The last of these, “3. Communication via Email: Please utilize email as the primary means of communication for any course-related matters to facilitate clarity and efficiency.”

Seems straight forward, and it should be.  However, this too was not the case this year. Sending an email less than 2 full business days before a response is required as has been a feature of communications from the school this school year does not “facilitate clarity and efficiency.”  A bare bones industry standard minimum is one full business week.  Given the nature of the communications received this year and the schedules of the various teachers, this is generally not enough time.  Which is one reason the syllabus of other schools is requested from the teachers in January and February.  That gives ample time smooth out any rough spots long before students are in the classroom.

One of the features of this school year has been a large number of emails from the school greater in number in the first semester alone than all I receive from all my other employers, even when I had 8 others, combined for an entire school year.  Most of these were and remain dealing with problems stemming from the late issuance of a syllabus that ignored all our concerns.  With a syllabus that meets these basic requirements, all these other issues will likely cease to be.”

End.

Given the hostile, adversarial atmosphere this current school year, I do indeed feel they have mined the waters and laying other traps for myself and others.  I welcome your thoughts on this situation and my draft response.

Notes

(1). This is a long standing issue with schools that employ part timers. They love to schedule required meetings with not a moment’s consideration to our schedules outside their classes. This leads to various problems as you can probably easily understand. This school had not engaged in this until this email. I did actually attend this year’s staff meeting, one of only two part timers who did. I had resolved to not attend next year’s as what we were told at this year’s meeting and used for planning for the course was superseded on the eve of the first class. Why waste time learning info that will be rendered inoperative before class starts? But they are now making it mandatory. It also fell when at least one of my coworkers was back in their home country, another harassment trick schools here love to pull.

(2) I am not sure if this was in response to anything I did or not. I certainly have not been late, arriving long before classes are to start. The clock in the classroom is off, though I do not recall if it is fast or slow. It is on the wall above me so I use the clock on my iPad. If there are questions that a student or students have at the end of class, we may run over. I may have run over when I explained how I was going to deal with the insane goals they set for us, which caused complaint by at least some students. OR, it could be the fact that I ignored to testing schedule as I went ahead and ran my standard introductory activities on the first day which meant we I did into cover all the units to be tested, so I gave the test later that the other classes who obviously horsed their students. However, it is true that ALL we part timers are unhappy…and that it is only the American who is speaking out about it.