College of New Rochelle Department of Social Work November 2, 2013 Goals • Encourage you to considered your program’s practices
• Hopefully you can make one change
Adjuncts in Social Work • Increasing students enrolled in SW programs (up 51%)
• Decreasing number of FT faculty
(decrease of 8%)
• As of 1993, SW programs have more
part-time faculty than tenured Existing Research • FT faculty are more than 4 times more likely to have doctoral degree than adjuncts
• Only about half of adjuncts have an office space for
private meetings
• Adjuncts teach more students on average
(FT have responsibilities for research, service, advising)
• Large salary discrepancy even if one accounts for
other duties
• Limited access to benefits
Why Adjuncts Teach • University environment
• Keep fresh with growing trends
• Enjoy being with students
Benefits of Using an Adjunct Benefits for Students
• Current Practice and field experience
• Conscientiousness • Students exposed to specialty practice • Knowledge of workforce trends, job availability, etc Benefits of Using an Adjunct For Tenured and the University:
• Tenured teach fewer courses
• Focus on Research and service • Time to write grants and increase money and prestige • Better teaching times • Cost Savings The Downside of using Adjuncts • Less likely to attend conferences or engage in research
• Little advance notice of assignments
• No job security The Issues continued • Lack of availability to students
• Adjuncts try to do same job without
comparable resources
• Graduate rates decline with increase of use
of part-time faculty Is this more of an ethical issue in social work? SW profession built: • Moral code: Right and wrong, • Duty and obligation to vulnerable people • Code of Ethics Ethical Issues Social Justice • Social workers strive for equality, • Advocate on behalf of the oppressed, and • Work to eradicate discrimination
How is this relevant to the discussion of Adjuncts?
Ethics • Adjuncts mostly women, older, or retired • Buyers market • Adjuncts subsidize full-time faculty • Utilitarianism – not the greatest good for greatest number Ethics • Make significantly less money with same job expectations
• Same expectations, unequal resources
Unethical Treatment of Students • Nontraditional Students with higher percentage of adjuncts o Less time to prepare for classes o Less access to basic supports o Less available for student communication o Lower educational attainment of instructor o Possible lower graduation rates How to improve: • Distribute courses more evenly
• Increase salary
• Provide benefits, even if higher buy in
• Access to retirement plans
• Improve job security for adjuncts depending
on years of connection
• Early notification of course to allow for
proper prep and consultation How to Improve • Integrate adjuncts into program o Orientation and tour o Office space o Access to copier and support services o Information on how to get security, maintenance, tech support o Mentoring o Curriculum development input Thank you for your interest