Guidelines for the Development of an Academic Workload Allocation System
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Part A |
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A - 11 Guidelines for the Development of an Academic Workload Allocation System
- to ensure the fair and reasonable treatment of all academic staff within a workplace;
- to ensure that discussions about proposed academic and other developments within a School can be informed about their workload implications; and
- to support the pursuit of strategic priorities.
- Equity: to distribute workloads in an equitable manner across all academics within a School.
- Inclusivity: to recognise and credit a broad range of academic activities, preferably all those activities to which a School expresses a commitment in its strategic plan.
- Diversity: to permit the distribution of a variable profile of workload responsibilities to each staff member, enabling each individual to make an academic contribution that best builds on his or her particular experience, abilities and interests.
- be tuned to the needs and aspirations of staff;
- receive support from the staff it affects; and
- builds on the nexus between system development and strategic planning.
- ensuring staff familiarity with pertinent issues;
- determining the breadth of factors for inclusion;
- determining the quantification of the workload elements;
- determining the framework employed to compute total loads;
- finalising the specific system deemed acceptable by staff; and
- identifying an annual review process.
- Transparency: it should be clearly documented in writing and described in sufficient detail to permit full understanding of supporting workload computations.
- Accessibility: the document is readily available to all current staff members and brought to the attention of new staff.
- the workload allocation system operates in a manner that obtains a reasonable floor level of teaching from all academics appointed to teaching and research positions in order to assure students of continued access to their expertise;
- responsibility for the re-allocation of any teaching duties relinquished as a result of such arrangements is assigned to the School, rather than to the staff member concerned, in order to preserve appropriate School control of teaching quality; and
- the outcomes of this practice be closely monitored through quality audit procedures.
During 2000-2001 a Working Party examined the issue of academic workloads in the University. The full report of the Working Party can be found at http://www.admin.uwa.edu.au/discuss/workload/. The University has determined that it is to the benefit of individual staff and the institution as a whole if each School has in place a clear and transparent workload allocation system. It is the responsibility of each Head of School to ensure that a formal workload allocation system is developed, within which workload elements are quantified and credited towards the computation of total academic workloads, and procedures are employed to establish fairness in the distribution of these workloads. Following are guidelines to assist Heads of School in developing and managing such a system.
Benefits of a Workload Allocation SystemThe advantages of a workload allocation system are three-fold:
Principles of a Workload Allocation SystemIt is recommended that development of a workload allocation system be guided by three principles:
Process to Develop a Workload Allocation SystemAn effective workload allocation system is best developed through a process of collegial discussion. In this way it is most likely that the system will: It is suggested that an iterative and inclusive planning process to develop a workload allocation system incorporate the following steps: Heads of School who are developing a workload allocation system can consult the Report of the Academic Workloads Working Party for practical examples (http://www.admin.uwa.edu.au/discuss/workload/).
Elements of a Formal Workload Allocation SystemAny workload allocation system should meet the following criteria: A copy of the system should be lodged with the faculty office and made available to any Head of School on request. In addition, an annual summary of actual distributions distinguishing the various workload elements and mean load should also be available to staff members to convey the range and patterns of the workloads within each School.
Special ConditionsThe University is aware that some Schools permit individuals to 'buy out' certain workload components, most usually teaching. In order to protect the quality of teaching and learning Heads of School are required to ensure that practices of this nature are guided by clear policy. Specifically, if such arrangements are permitted the Head must ensure that:
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