In recent years many university departments are employing teaching fellows are they are playing a crucial role in the undergraduate experience. Matt Spokes reflects on what it is to be a teaching fellow:
Trying to come up with a neat
definition of what being a teaching fellow involves is, I think, a little
tricky; it encompasses a number of different roles so it can be many things
rather than just one. Firstly, I see it is a chance for those starting out in
academia to get some working experience of the trials and tribulations of life
on a day-to-day basis in a busy Sociology department; I began the fellowship as
I entered the final phase of writing up my PhD, so in this sense it also
represents my transition from student to academic (which is, of course, far
from straightforward).
One of the necessary skills
required of a teaching fellow is time and workload-management; if, for example,
you’re writing-up a PhD thesis then how do you juggle that alongside your
seminars, lectures, and administration roles? During my doctorate I held a
number of jobs concurrently and I seemed to adapt an already-established rigidity
of approach to both my thesis write-up and my teaching, but this still surprised
me as I hadn’t realised how disciplined my working processes had become until I
started in the role. Having said that, there is always the possibility of
something unexpected coming along which means it is still a challenge to balance
your time effectively.
The other fundamental aspect of
the role – as the title indicates - is teaching, and again this involves a
variety of different tasks, practices and expectations. Presently I lecture on,
and am the module convener for, the first year Sociology of Crime and Deviance
module; as a team-taught module, this requires co-ordinating with a number of
members of staff (lecturers and post-graduates who teach) as well as first year
undergraduates. This role is different from the work I do with second year
undergraduates as a seminar leader and lecturer on the Social Research Methods
and Crime, Culture and Social Change modules, so it is important to be able to modify
and apply different pedagogical approaches depending on the particular needs of
the teaching environment. Alongside this, as I move from finishing my PhD in to
academia more fully, I am also working towards completing a couple of
publications based on my thesis - as well as sketching out new research
projects - and this creates additional considerations in terms of balancing the
varied teaching and research schedules spread across the academic year.
Ultimately
though, the fellowship enables me to experience the upsides and downsides
(relatively speaking) of working in a vibrant and engaging department: it is a
great opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience of the strains and
successes of making a contribution to teaching and research in a modern
academic institution.
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