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Fractional Teachers’ Policy
(Not applicable to Language Centre and IFCELS fractional teachers)
Fractional teachers at SOAS
Fractional Teaching and Scholarship Staff (“fractional teachers”) provide essential teaching for SOAS and its students. Fractional teachers supplement the work of full-time teaching staff and the flexible nature of their employment allows the School to meet operational requirements in a number of areas such as delivering teaching outside of core School hours, covering for staff leave to providing specialist knowledge for specific activities or periods. In recognition that fractional teachers work alongside full-time substantive Teaching and Scholarship staff, they are employed on similar terms and conditions of employment and have similar job descriptions. However, there are some key differences in the terms and conditions for fractional staff, due to the unique nature of their role. This Policy outlines the principles relating to the key aspects of the employment of fractional teachers including contracts of employment and the methodology for fractional calculations. The Policy references relevant School procedures which apply to the employment of fractional teachers.
1. Scope
This policy applies to:
- Staff employed in departments on part-time Teaching and Scholarship fractional contracts of employment.
- Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs). This policy should be read in conjunction with the Graduate Teaching Assistant Training Scheme. This policy does not apply to staff employed by:
- International Foundation Courses and English Language Studies (IFCELS)
- Language Centre These centres have local arrangements that reflect the different level and pattern of teaching.
2. Calculation of hours
Fractional teachers work part-time and are employed on a fraction (normally 50% or less) of a full-time equivalent. The hours of work for fractional teachers are calculated by considering two factors:
- Contact teaching hours
- „Plain time‟ hours. 2.1 Definition of contact teaching hours Contact teaching hours are timetabled hours spent with students in lectures and tutorials. The School recognises that when carrying out classroom teaching, a fractional teacher will need to undertake associated duties, including:
- Class preparation
- Administration
- Responding to emails from students and staff
- Marking not connected to assessment (e.g. weekly language homework)
2.1.1 The multiplier To remunerate teachers for the additional duties associated with classroom teaching, each contact teaching hour is multiplied by a factor according to the grade of the role. This factor is known as the multiplier. For example, if a fractional teacher on Grade 7 carries out 1 hour of direct contact teaching, they will be paid for 3 hours work. This means that for every one hour of teaching, the fractional teacher will be paid for two hours of preparation and administrative work. Grade Multiplier 6 2. 7 3 At grade 7 and above, the multiplier is higher to reflect additional duties as agreed on appointment. 2.2 Definition of plain time hours The School recognises that fractional teachers carry out certain activities which do not require preparation or additional duties and can therefore be remunerated at the teacher’s normal hourly rate. These are referred to as „plain time‟ hours. The following duties are paid at „plain time‟^1 :
- Initial course preparation at the start of the term;
- Attendance at required department meetings including exam boards;
- Office hours;
- Marking that contributes towards assessment (e.g. essays and exams);
- Lecture attendance where this is stipulated in advance by the Head of Department as a pedagogical requirement for an individual teacher. (^1) This is not an exhaustive list
- 8 days bank holiday (multiplied by 7) to give 56 hours of bank holidays
- 5 days Christmas and Easter School closure days (multiplied by 7) to give 35 hours of closure days The total is 301 hours of paid leave. Each fractional teacher’s „total hours‟ are divided by 1524 hours to calculate their Full-Time Equivalent (FTE). The FTE is used to calculate the individual’s salary. 2.5 Salary calculations The pro rata annual salary is derived by multiplying the FTE for each fractional teacher by the full-time annual salary amount. The pro rata London Allowance per annum is derived by multiplying the FTE by the full time London Allowance. The VT fractional payment system calculates salary instalments by multiplying the hours of work by the hourly salary, then dividing the total payment by the length of the contract to make monthly installments. The normal monthly payment may be adjusted if there are any variations to the fractional teacher‟s hours of work (e.g. if they work any additional hours as agreed with the Head of Department).
3. Plain time activities
3.1 Office Hours Eligible fractional teachers will receive payment for office hours per term on the basis of the table below. Office Hours Calculation TOTAL STUDENTS (ACROSS ALL TUTORIALS GROUPS) X NUMBER OF TEACHING WEEKS DELIVERED Plain Time Hours 0 - (^150 ) 151 - 300 8 301 - (^450 ) 451 - (^600 ) 601 - (^750 ) 751 - 900 16 901 - (^1050 ) e.g. a GTA teaching 15 students for 10 weeks (1510=150) would be allocated 6 plain time (office) hours. A GTA teaching 50 students (independent of the number of tutorial groups) over 5 weeks (505=250) would be allocated 8 plain time (office) hours. 3.1.1 Eligibility To qualify for an office hours payment, the fractional teacher must meet the following criteria:
- Deliver tutorials and/or lectures;
- Schedule and advertise in advance all office hours in line with department regulations
- Deliver all office hours in person at pre-advertised location except, where due to room shortages/unavailability, the Head of Department has agreed that some of the advertised hours can be carried out remotely. In such cases, the teacher must make their contact details known in advance and must be available for the entire advertised period for queries by telephone, email, online-chat, or web conference calling. Normally no more than one office hour per term will be carried out remotely; the other five hours should be carried out on School premises to allow for direct contact with students.
3.2 Office Hours for Lectures Where a course lecture has no tutorial groups, it is acknowledged that the fractional teacher will be required to give additional feedback and respond to queries. Eligible teachers will receive payment for office hours per term according to the table above. 3.2.1 Eligibility To qualify for an office hours payment, the fractional teacher must meet the following criteria:
- Teach lecture groups; the lecture groups do not necessarily have to be on the same course.
- There must be no tutorial groups on the course and the fractional teacher must be solely responsible for providing student assessment feedback and for answering student queries.
- Carry out some coursework assessment for the course and therefore be responsible for giving student feedback and responding to student queries.
- Schedule and advertise in advance all office hours in line with Faculty/employing department regulations.
- Deliver all office hours in person at pre-advertised location except, where due to room shortages/unavailability, the Faculty have agreed that the advertised hours can be carried out remotely. In such cases, the teacher must make their contact details known in advance and must be available for the entire advertised period for queries by telephone, email, online-chat, or web conference call. Normally no more than one office hour per term will be carried out remotely; the other five hours should be carried out on School premises to allow for direct contact with students. In exceptional cases, and where there are pedagogical reasons to do so, two staff may share the tutorials for one course over one or more terms. In such circumstances, where the course otherwise meets the criteria for office hours, office hours may exceptionally be shared between the two staff. The Head of Department must agree any such arrangement in advance.
3.3 Module Preparation Module preparation covers activities that relate to the module as a whole, rather than individual lectures, seminars or tutorials. These activities might include updating the virtual learning environment, module handbooks, planning and updating reading lists, assessment rubrics, and other module content. 3.3.1 Eligibility To qualify for a module preparation payment, all fractional teachers must teach for a minimum of seven weeks. In recognition of the trainee status of Graduate Teaching Assistants, the School pays an enhanced rate for module preparation to Graduate Teaching Assistants who are teaching a course for the first time. 3.3.2 Payment rate Role Half unit module ( credits) Full unit module ( credits) GTA teaching on a module for the first time 5 hours plain time 10 hours plain time GTA teaching on a module for the second or third time 2.5 hours plain time 5 hours plain time Teaching Fellow 2.5 hours plain time 5 hours plain time Senior Teaching Fellow 2.5 hours plain time 5 hours plain time
4. Recruitment and Appointment
All fractional teaching posts over six months duration must be advertised in line with the School‟s Recruitment Policy. Departments may also choose to advertise such vacancies using all-faculty emails, notice boards, the careers service and other relevant media. Departments should select applicants for fractional posts using the selection criteria from the relevant fractional job description and person specification. Written documentation recording the reasons for selection decisions must be recorded and retained by the Department for one year. Confidentiality must be maintained for all candidates throughout the selection process. Documentation should be processed and retained in a confidential and secure manner. In some instances, fractional vacancies may constitute a possible redeployment opportunity (e.g. for a fixed-term Teaching Fellow or Senior Teaching Fellow whose contract is about to expire) and in such cases, may be exempt from the School‟s Recruitment Policy depending on the circumstances of the case. In these instances, the post should be recruited in line with the School‟s protocol for redeployment. Graduate Teaching Assistant appointments are training roles rotated between PhD students and therefore are exempt from the Redeployment Policy. 4.1 Appointing a Tier 4 visa holder Non-EEA students who are Tier 4 visa holders are limited in the number of hours that they can work. Provided that the expiry date of the Tier 4 visa has not passed, a student on a Tier 4 visa can work:
- a maximum of 20 hours paid or unpaid work per week during term time for degree students;
- a maximum of 10 hours paid or unpaid work per week during term time for students studying courses below degree level;
- full time outside of term time only i.e. during vacations and following completion of their course During term time, Tier 4 students must not undertake paid or unpaid work which would bring their total hours to more than 10/20 per week across all the work being undertaken. This includes paid, casual work, volunteering, acting as a student ambassador/invigilator, and any other type of paid or unpaid work both for the School and elsewhere. Tier 4 students must sign a declaration stating they understand this policy before undertaking work for SOAS. All work undertaken by Tier 4 fractional staff counts towards the working hour limit. This includes multiplied hours, all marking etc.
Given the limitation on working hours, it is recommended that a Tier 4 visa holder with a 20 hour working limit should not normally be given more than five hours per week of contact teaching. This is because once the multiplier is applied and additional activates such as office hours and marking are included, this is likely to reach the 20 hour limit. However, this is a general guideline, and precise calculations of the person‟s working hours based on their grade and the requirements of the module should be done before making a final determination. Working hours are calculated on a weekly basis (Monday- Sunday) rather than a monthly average. PhD students are required to book leave from their PhD studies, and have this confirmed by their supervisor, in order to take advantage of working full time.
6. Graduate Teaching Assistants
The School maintains a number of teaching posts to help with the training of SOAS PhD students who may wish to pursue an academic career. Recruitment of new staff each year to Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) positions is a recognised priority so that as many PhD students as possible can benefit from the scheme. GTA posts are normally held for a maximum of two years, although in exceptional cases a contract for a third year may be offered after approval by the Head of Department. Further details are available in the Graduate Teaching Assistant Training Scheme. 6.1 Training requirement for Graduate Teaching Assistants No PhD student will be eligible to teach at the School without having completed the necessary three day core units of the Professional Development in Higher Education Programme (PDHEP). All GTA fractional teachers will have access to an accredited programme of training, which will enable them to apply to become an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 6.2 Training payment Graduate Training Assistants will be paid a one-off payment of £200 (£11.12 per hour), if they have fully attended all three days of the PDHEP core units. Remuneration for this activity will be made as a one-off payment, following confirmation from the Learning and Teaching Development Office of attendance on the course. Payment will not be made to Graduate Teaching Assistants who have only partially completed the course. PhD students who complete the core units of the PDHEP but do not become fractional teachers, will not qualify for the training payment.
7. Market Rate Supplements
The grading of posts, and therefore the salary range, are determined by job evaluation. The School's Market Pay Policy recognises that recruiting and retaining key staff may be difficult where the grade determined for a specific post through job evaluation is lower than the market rate of pay. In some cases, the School's ability to attract students to programmes of study relies on recruiting teachers from professions outside Higher Education (e.g. law) and in such cases a market rate supplement may need to be paid to ensure pay parity. A market rate supplement may be paid for a fixed-period to attract and retain staff who qualify under the policy. The Fractional Teaching and Scholarship Staff Addendum to the Market Pay Policy provides further information on the use of market supplements for fractional teachers. When an employing department or faculty wishes to pay a market rate supplement, they should make an evidenced decision about why the supplement is justified in a particular case in accordance with the School policy. The Convenor should make a full case to the Head of Department by email to justify why academically and/or professionally, the individual should qualify for a market rate supplement. The case should be verified by supporting evidence in the form of the individual's CV, list of publications, etc. The case must be made in writing and should be retained confidentially at department level. All market pay supplements for fractional teachers are for fixed-periods of normally one year but up to a maximum of two. If the employing department wishes to extend the supplement beyond the initial period, another formal application must be submitted by the Convenor to the Head of Department. Any market pay supplement paid to a fractional teacher should normally equate to the difference between their base pay and the bottom point of the appropriate grade (e.g. Lecturer, Senior Lecturer/Reader or Professor).
10. Terms and conditions of employment
Fractional teachers are employed on largely the same terms and conditions of employment as substantive Teaching and Scholarship staff; such as Teaching Fellows and Teaching English for Academic Purposes Teachers. Due to the nature of their work, the contracts of employment for fractional teachers do vary in a number of key ways appropriate to the different nature and circumstances of their work, such as annual leave and payment method. Fractional teachers should refer to the Terms and Conditions for Fractional Teachers at SOAS University of London for further details. 10.1 Annual leave Annual leave is covered under the Terms and Conditions for Fractional Teachers at SOAS University of London. Fractional teachers should note that they are not permitted to take annual leave on days in which they are scheduled to teach and may only take annual leave during the School recess periods. Payment for annual leave is normally paid during School‟s recess periods: December, March and July. 10.2 Performance Management Each fractional teacher should have a line manager (e.g. Head of Department or Course Director etc.) to provide supervision, guidance, support and monitoring. Line managers should help provide guidance to fractional teachers and use the individual‟s job description to set performance objectives during probation and staff development review (SDR) (if applicable – see Section 11, Staff Development below). Performance objectives for many fractional teachers will be identical, but they will still be important in helping the employee work to the required level. It is important to tackle any areas of poor performance or misconduct promptly to avoid difficulties escalating. Fractional teachers are covered by the following performance management policies and guidelines:
- Probation Procedures for Support, Research and Teaching and Scholarship Staff,
- Disciplinary Procedure for Support, Research and Teaching and Scholarship Staff,
- Poor Performance Guidelines
- Misconduct Guidelines Any areas of poor performance or misconduct should be dealt with in accordance with the relevant procedure. Advice and support on tackling misconduct or poor performance can be obtained from your designated Employee Relations Consultant.
10.3 Sickness Absence Fractional employees are covered by the School‟s Sickness Absence Policy and Procedure. This policy covers both physical sickness and mental health issues. All fractional teachers must report sickness absence in accordance with the terms and conditions of their employment and the Sickness Absence Procedure. Fractional teachers should confirm the date of their return to work on the School‟s HR Self-Service system MyView. GPs‟ Fitness for Work Medical Certificates are required for all absences of more than seven days. Employing Departments and Faculties must report all sickness absence for fractional teachers to the HR Directorate using the online Departmental Sickness Absence Report. If a fractional employee is unable to teach due to short-term sickness absence and the course convenor/coordinator decides that any classes missed need to be taught by the employee, the employee should reschedule these classes on their return to work where practicably possible, without receiving additional payment. Cases of frequent short-term sickness absences or long-term sick leave should be managed in accordance with the Sickness Absence Procedure. 10.4 Fixed term Staff Policy and Procedure The School‟s Policy on the Employment of Fixed-Term Staff applies to any fractional teacher with a fixed-term contract of employment. Any fixed-term fractional contract of employment must contain an „objective justification‟ (or reason) to explain to the individual why their post is fixed-term. 10.4.1 Objective justification Objective justification reason Appropriate use The post requires specialist expertise or recent experience not already available in SOAS Where a course requires expertise or recent experience which is not held by any current employee, this reason could be applied to a new fractional teacher who has such expertise, whilst efforts are made to obtain such expertise or experience in the longer-term (e.g. through recruiting a permanent member of staff or training existing staff) To cover staff absence such as research leave, maternity leave or long-term sickness absence If a fractional teacher is recruited to cover staff absence such as research leave, maternity leave or long-term sick leave. The contract is to provide a secondment or career development opportunity The Graduate Teaching Assistant scheme is designed to provide career development opportunities for SOAS PhD students.
