Associate dean of education Pim Teunissen gave a presentation about tackling the workload of lecturers, something that has long been a subject of interest, not just at FHML, but for the university as a whole. Education coordinators have been appointed, said Teunissen, lecturers are free to set aside time for personal development, and there are efforts to adjust the academic year so it is more manageable. The capacity of AI to alleviate certain tasks is also being investigated. You have to tackle workload from a range of angles, concluded the associate dean, who admitted “that we have to wait and see what the results of these measures will be”.
Disappointing
Boy Houben, council member on behalf of academic staff, asked whether it wasn’t also worth looking at the norm hours. “It’s a shame that would be postponed yet again, with new activities which might solve the problem.” Because in practice, it is the norm hours where “things go wrong most often”, said Houben. People who, on paper, should spend half their time teaching, often spend much more time, which then means less time for research, or working overtime. Compensating that on paper by taking on fewer education tasks is not possible, “because then your boss will be on your case about that at the end of the year”.
There is definite interest among staff members for a review of the norm hours, added fellow academic staff member Martina Parić. “It is disappointing that that won’t happen.” Because she feels it is still necessary. “When you want to recruit mentors, nobody shows any interest” – there are fifteen hours set aside a year for that – “but for eight weeks of tutorials, you get thirty.”
Long-term results
Teunissen said he would be open to a conversation about why staff members “spend so much more time on tasks than has been set aside”. But “offering a one-time adjustment to those hours would only offer a one-time remedy. A structured discussion should lead to more long-term results”.
It begs the question why they are unwilling or unable to adjust things now. Teunissen was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.