By Lisa Tanh with reports from Jennifer Wilson
Canada is climbing into the top tier of educational rankings, but at the cost of drowning non-regular faculty and sessional instructors into debt.
This year marked the 10th anniversary of Fair Employment Week, a week of action to raise the profile of precarious employment in B.C.’s post-secondary institutions, organized by the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC (FPSE) and held last month[1]http://www.fpse.ca/news/presidents-comment/presidents-comment-fair-employment-week.
As part of this year’s efforts, the FPSE continued to promote Precarious Profs BC[2]http://www.precariousprofsbc.ca/, a campaign to share stories of sessional and non-regular faculty who are paid low wages, have limited access to benefits and have no job security. Full-time professors in B.C. receive around $90,000 annually while non-regulars may live on $10,000 per semester without benefits.
The anniversary is not to be considered a joyous milestone but rather a stark reminder that there is still work to be done.
According to a 2017 BBC article, research done by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed that Canada has the world’s highest proportion of working-age adults who have been through higher education[3]http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40708421. Sessionals and non-regular faculty make up more than half of staff in B.C.’s post-secondary institutions.
In Vancouver, sessional and non-regular faculty are working odd part-time jobs such as delivering food and answering clinic calls to afford rent which they consider humiliating after years of study.
According to a 2017 Point2 Homes study, Vancouver has the most unaffordable housing market in North America – exceeding Manhattan and San Francisco[4]https://www.point2homes.com/news/canada-real-estate/housing-affordability-north-america.html.
Currently, the FSPE is asking non-regular faculty and sessionals from Canadian post-secondary institutions to fill out a survey on their teaching experiences and reflections by Dec. 15[5]https://caut.limequery.org/151696?lang=en. The data will be used for a study that will aim to help improve their employment conditions and inform public policy.
This article was originally published in The Voice.
[Photo Credit: FPSE]
References [ + ]
| 1. | ↑ | http://www.fpse.ca/news/presidents-comment/presidents-comment-fair-employment-week |
| 2. | ↑ | http://www.precariousprofsbc.ca/ |
| 3. | ↑ | http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40708421 |
| 4. | ↑ | https://www.point2homes.com/news/canada-real-estate/housing-affordability-north-america.html |
| 5. | ↑ | https://caut.limequery.org/151696?lang=en |