I'd be interested in knowing what the teaching loads are among list members. At my institution, the official load is 18-21 contact hrs per week, but our administrators force us to carry the high end of that range. We're supposedly docked in pay if we drop below 54 hrs over three semesters (i'm on 12 months). The other physics instructor at my school is also our division chairperson, and his load is only 10 contact hrs per week.
Don't these pea-brained administrators understand that quality suffers one you hit the 18 hr mark? This semester, I'm pretending to teach four different courses and I'm doing a rotten job with them all simply because I'm in the classroom more than I'm in my office. On Mondays, I have class from 9am till noon and from 7pm till 10pm. Tuesdays are a marathon of labs from 9am till 4pm with a one hour break. Wednesdays are like Mondays only the evening class is over at 9pm. Thursdays are easy with a class from 9-11am and Fridays are another three hour marathon from 9am till noon.
After doing this for nine years (just started my tenth),
I've come to the conclusion that I cannot grow professionally under these conditions. We're discouraged from any true professional development (no funds for travel, etc.). We're discouraged from engaging in any research. The only advancement at my school is, in the administration's eyes, moving from faculty to administration. Over 50% of our courses are taught by part-time instructors, one of whom had been stealing from our chemistry lab and lies about his credentials. My boss (the other physics person) blows me off as a complainer when I tell him I'm concerned about the quality of my teaching under these circumstances. His most recent response (last Friday) was that complaining about it won't help; he ignores the most serious of concerns. He has no intention of attempting to change anything. The really galling thing, though, is how our institution boasts about "quality in the classroom". Empty words! There can be no quality with such high teaching loads. I've already had to do away with homework assignment
I'm trapped and I don't know what to do. No one at my instutition seems to give a damn anymore, and I see no end in sight. I take far too much pride in what I do to be "trapped" in this situation.