An “Englishman in New York”?
7.4 Individual Perceptions of Roles .1 The Half-Academics?
A qualitative study with FTAs and PTAs in a private university in Jakarta provides an in-depth understanding of their perceptions of their own roles and the other group’s.
Through interviews with 14 PTAs and 11 FTAs, we can explore their academic role enactment using the approximate times spent in each role: academic and non- academic allocation. McCall and Simmons (1978) suggest that everybody has a unique hierarchy of prominence or an ideal hierarchy of identities. According to McCall and Simmons (1978), prominence hierarchy reflects the subjective impor- tance of identities to an individual and represents his/her ideal self (Burke & Stets, 2009). These sets of hierarchies are purely subjective and plastic, and the relations between roles inside them may be intermingling or compartmentalized (McCall &
Simmons, 1978). McCall and Simmons argue that enacting behavior can be influ- enced by other factors, and is not only based on the importance of that particular identity to oneself (Burke & Stets, 2009). Therefore, there is a salience hierarchy, which is “the self that responds to the expectations of the situation rather than to the desires of the self” (Burke & Stets, 2009, p. 41). However, the more prominent an identity, the more likely it is to be enacted. It is thus argued that prominence precedes salience (Brenner et al., 2014).
As the aim of the question is not to calculate the exact time spent as a work- load but merely as an indication of the prominent roles and ranking, the perceived percentage of time spent in a week is sufficient. The data is small (25 participants) and contains wide variation, therefore it is appropriate to look at the comparison based on the median instead of the average. As individuals have a hierarchy of salience and prominence, the data is provided as a comparison between actual (to indicate a hierarchy of salience) and ideal (to indicate a hierarchy of prominence). Table 7.1 displays the comparison of the perceived percentage of time spent in different roles in a week, both actual and ideal. The “ideal” time allocation for each role signifies the changes they want to make should they have the power to reallocate their time.
This exploratory study shows that the PTAs spent a little bit more than a quarter of their time doing academic work, and ideally this can be increased to 32.5%. Their time spent on non-academic work was only 17.5%, which is less than the academic work allocation. This supports the demography of PTAs from other countries, in that only half or less of PTAs are employed full-time elsewhere (e.g., Monks, 2009) and only a fraction prefers to have full-time academic employment (Brown & Gold, 2007;
Junor, 2004; Monks, 2009). The compositions between both groups have similar
7 The Part-Time Academic Identity: An “Englishman in New York”? 121
Table 7.1 Perceived percentage of time spent in a week
Actual FT Actual PT Ideal FT Ideal PT
Roles Median (%) Median (%) Median (%) Median (%)
Academic work 40 27.5 37 32.5
Non-Academic work 0 17.5 0 17.5
Family 25 30 30 32.5
Other 15 12.5 15 15
Table 7.2 Perceived percentage of time spent in academic work in a week
Actual FT Actual PT Ideal FT Ideal PT
Roles Median Median Median Median
Teaching 60 85 61.25 85
Research 16 0 20 10
Admin 22.5 0 17.5 0
PKM 0 0 0 0
Other 0 0 0 0
patterns, with academic work as the first prominent role, followed by family. For PTAs, the third priority is non-academic work followed by the “other” category.
A second set of data describes the time spent in each academic role. The academic roles were taken from the Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi rule, which is: teaching, research, and community development. However, as insisted by the participants, the
“administrative” role is added. The data is displayed in Table 7.2 and comprises actual and ideal scenarios. The faculty workload as in government regulations to report to lecturer certification is based on the 40:40:20 assumption. However, some items were ambiguous. For example, important and significant managerial positions (e.g., Head of Study Programs, Deans, Vice-Rectors, and Rector) can be exchanged with minimum teaching hour requirements.
The data in Table 7.1 shows that for many casual academics, their academic work entails a significant portion of their life and is an important part of their social identity.
Over a quarter of their time is spent on academic work, and with a median of 17.5%, not many of them have full-time jobs outside academia. Although the data is small, this is also in line with the global context. With presumably more freedom in their time, they have more time allocation for other activities, which is also reflected in their time spent on family and other personal roles. As expected, the FTAs have a more defined identity as academics as they spend most of their time in an academic role, and only a few of them have non-academic work. In compensation, they seem to spend less time with family, although a little bit more time doing other activities.
Focusing on the data in Table 7.2, the differences between FTAs and PTAs are more pronounced. FTAs are involved in more academic roles than PTAs. According to the recent faculty workload rule, a minimum of 12 SCUs (credits) is needed per
122 T. S. Adiningrum
semester, of which a minimum of 9 should come from a combination of teaching and research. Therefore, a combination of teaching and research should ideally comprise a minimum of 75% of their time. According to the data in Table 7.2, the combined perceived time spent in teaching and research is 76%, with 60% spent in teaching and 16% spent in research. Interestingly, more time is spent on administrative duties or managerial tasks than on research. Meanwhile, the PTAs are only involved in one role, with very few of them involved in research.
The role of PTAs is very prescriptive, and the contract is short-term per semester.
For non-home-based PTAs, all roles are limited to teaching and administrative requirements. This model of employment pushes PTAs to be pragmatic and transac- tional. Not only does the contract fail to recognize long service, but it also does not support the enactment of full academic roles even on a voluntary basis. For example, contrary to the need for publication, support for PTAs to conduct research when they have the desire to do it is very limited. Louisa (PTA) experienced this when she tried to present a paper at a conference, but she did not get any support other than personal help in proofreading the paper.
This notion is also supported by another PTA who already has a home base as a former FTA. As a home-based PTA, the institution needs her to perform the complete role and report the outcomes as part of the administrative requirement to the government. The level of engagement and access to information for research and development opportunities was seen as unequal between FTAs and PTAs, creating a gap of information. There is a risk of disengagement, a lack of interest, and a career halt for academics with one foot inside the profession and the other in other roles.
7.4.2 Inter-Groups’ Perception of Values
PTAs struggle with the limitations to perform the whole academic roles. They have difficulty establishing themselves as academics and as members of academia (Levin & Shaker, 2011; White, 2012). There are mainly two barriers that they meet, that is, their qualifications and expertise against what is valued in academia and the alienation in their social life facilitated by their employment scheme. Through the reported time spent on academic work, it is indicated that there are more PTAs who have more academic than non-academic work allocations. From the total of 14 PTAs interviewed, 7 are active in industries, especially consulting. All of them are self-employed. The rest mostly have resigned from their previous professional work to pursue personal goals, including teaching in academia or teaching in other institutions.
It is interesting that each group has a different perception of their own and the other group’s value of students’ learning. In the perception of PTAs, they are an important part of the university, because they have the industry background knowledge that they think can help in connecting theory and practice. Having a higher research degree is not a priority for them, because they do not pursue an academic career. However, this self-perception is only confirmed by the FTAs if the PTAs are still active in
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their professions. If a PTA is still industry-active, the FTAs value the relevance of current industrial experience brought to the classroom. However, PTAs who are not industry-active have no added value, as explained by an FTA.
For part-timers, they really have their industrial experience.... because we took them from the industrial world. They are not like part-time lecturers teaching in different places, no. They come from companies or have their own companies. They do bring enriched experience I guess to the classroom, that we, pure lecturers, can’t satisfy. (Stephen, FTA)
The ones who have only limited industry experience, who have left the industry for a long time, and those who only teach without any industry experience seem to not add the value to students from the perspective of FTAs. FTAs realize that they have limitations in industry updates, and it can be covered by PTAs who are active in the industry. If PTAs are not industry-active, FTAs fail to see the added value and will be on the top list of not being hired. However, PTAs believe that although they have left the industry, their significant experiences are sufficient and valuable to students.
FTAs–PTAs discrepancy of value is indirectly related to the regulatory require- ments. By system, PTAs are not calculated in the student–lecturer ratio in the accred- itation. Therefore, employing PTAs does not bring benefits for the institution other than having someone to teach the students in class. From the perspective of the insti- tution, PTAs will be more valuable if they are willing to be a formal part of the university through the NIDN or NIDK scheme. However, once a PTA accepts the offer to register, they are committed to performing the full academic roles. They need to get at least a senior lecturer status to ensure that the accreditation is good. This scheme does not seem fair for the PTAs who do not aim to make teaching a career.
“Teaching is just like a hobby. I keep recharging myself, keep reading and finding things, so I also need a channel to let it out rather than let it vaporize” (Paul, PTA).
Therefore, for some PTAs, teaching is not the career aspiration. As in the case of Paul, it is a personal self-learning strategy. Thus, the value of PTAs is different in the perception of their full-time peers who have to deal also with government require- ments. The conflict of interest between the self-satisfaction of PTAs and the demand from their peers does not put PTAs at their best position in academia, especially if the PTA is not industry-active.
7.4.3 Alienation in Social Life
Not only that the value of their contribution is subjectively judged, their attachment to the social life in academia is not always firm. Indeed, a PTA’s life can be lonely.
As they do not invest too much time in academia, their social network inside the department can be slim. In addition, they have limited availability to interact with students as it only revolves around specific teaching time or dedicated supervisory time. Therefore, PTAs generally have less opportunity to build close relationships with students and peers as expressed by a PTA.
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Full-timers spend more time on campus, so students can easily come to them to ask questions about academic matters. One thing that they can do more [than us] is they can build closer relationships with students; they know each student’s problems. While me, I only come once a week; that’s it. (Paul, PTA)
Social alienation is also felt through limited collegiality. Most of the PTA respondents admitted that they were offered an opportunity to teach because of a close relationship with one or more FTAs. However, due to the transactional nature of the employment scheme, the communication between PTAs and FTAs is not well established. This reduces direct conflict but also results in less engagement. Adding to the gap in communication between PTAs and FTAs, Josephine commented on the superficial nature of the relationship between them.
So far, what I’ve seen is that there is very little communication between part-timers and full-timers in my program. Part-timers come only for teaching, then they’ll leave. So, there is no interaction; it only happens in the big meeting before the semester starts. And for those who have taught here for a long time, that meeting has become no more than a formality.
(Josephine, FTA)
This situation is also facilitated by the institutional setting. As already widely published in other contexts, it is common not to give similar facilities to PTAs.
Descriptions of lacking a space to simply store personal belongings while teaching, the humiliation of not being able to supervise students in a proper place, and the lack of social space are common. Similar descriptions were also told by the PTA respon- dents. “As part-timers, we are not given a workstation, which actually could make us feel more like a part of the university” (Arianna, PTA). There is no setting that facilitates better engagement and collaboration between PTAs and the bigger insti- tutional context. Therefore, the underlying message that the relation is transactional is strong.
Feeling depressed or ashamed because of the lack of facilities is common (Gappa & Leslie, 1993; Rajagopal, 2000). Although this might be reasonable and a common method in other part-time employment, academics are arguably a different profession. Academics are more similar to a consulting profession, in which exper- tise and legitimacy play an important role in building up trust from clients, or in this case, students. Although regular students do not usually know the difference between PTAs and FTAs, their self-esteem is impacted by the way they are treated (Levin & Shaker, 2011). Alienation and a lack of facilities signal the hierarchy inside the institution (White, 2012). The lack of facilities and engagement puts PTAs in a position that seems to be half-existing or “disposable” (White, 2012).