UWE
The University Academic Workload Model (UAWM)
March 2013
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INDEX
Section
Title
1
Overview
2
The Academic Contract
3
The University Academic Workload Model
4
Workload Generation; Process, Timing and Target
5
Baseline generation of requirements for modules.
6
Additional Working
7
Managers
guidelines
Appendix Glossary of terms
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1.
Overview
The University Academic Workload Model (UAWM) is a tool that identifies the amount of
resource (ie staff time) required to deliver academic/research work.
The UAWM generates ‘Bundles’ of work which are calculated based upon the number of
students on a module, and taking into account a number of variables such as module level
and credit size.
Once this has been done, local discussion between a manager (for example Head of
Department or Associate Head of Department) and individual member of staff enables this
work to be allocated fairly.
Parallel processes address related issues such as timetabling and scheduling.
The UAWM is based on the UWE Academic contract
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The Academic contract
The UWE academic contract states:
DUTIES AND HOURS OF WORK
“You are employed as a [post title]. This is a full time post and its nature is such that you
are expected to work such hours as are reasonably necessary in order to fulfil your duties
and responsibilities. Those duties include teaching and tutorial guidance and other
student learning support activities, research and other forms of scholarly activity,
examining, curriculum development, administration and related activities. You are
expected to work flexibly and efficiently, and to maintain the highest professional
standards in discharging your responsibilities, and in promoting and implementing the
corporate policies of the University.
The make-up of your duties will be determined at least annually and from time to time by
your Dean (or other person) in consultation with yourself, and will be reviewed regularly
through the staff appraisal system. National and local Guidelines for the determination of
the duties of lecturing staff are set out in the Handbook of Terms and Conditions; in
particular, when deciding upon your specific duties, your Dean (or other person) shall have
regard to the matters set out in those guidelines (`Factors to be taken into account'). Any
dispute over duties or hours may, if not resolved in the first instance between you and your
Dean, be referred to the grievance procedure.
Unless a mutually agreed job description or statement of duties provides otherwise, your
formal scheduled teaching responsibilities should not exceed an average of 18 hours a
week or a total of 550 hours in the teaching year nor involve evening sessions on more
than two days a week except that where the nature of the curriculum and teaching style
would otherwise make this inappropriate, scheduled teaching will be determined in
accordance with the guidelines for the determination of duties in the Handbook of Terms
and Conditions. Work on a Saturday or Sunday shall only be required where such working
has been clearly anticipated and communicated to you with this appointment.”
In addition, as per the academic contract there are approximately 5 weeks set aside for
scholarly activity and 2 weeks teaching-related administrative duties making a total of 7
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additional weeks. This equates to an additional 104 bundles additional to the 550 for
teaching, assessment and management.
To meet the Government requirement for reporting time spent on academic activity
(TRAC), the 104 wlb will be shown on an individual’s workplan, however the workplan
developed for staff is only expected to account for the work duties concerning the 550
wlb’s.
In satisfying this contractual position and in order to facilitate easy recognition of a “fair”
workload allocation the UWE UAWM states that the annual (across the academic calendar
year) workload of each member of staff should consist of 550 WL bundles (WLBs) divided
between teaching and teaching related, research, knowledge exchange, development and
management activities.
In addition, all academic staff on standard academic contracts are expected to engage in
research and scholarly activity over and above their 550 target. 25 days per annum are
available to full-time staff (pro-rata for those on fractional contracts) to engage in this
activity. Likewise, 10 days outside of the 550 target are for teaching-related administrative
duties.
This, and the research and scholarly activity, need to be agreed between individual
members of staff and their manager who is also responsible for monitoring the activities.
Typically, time for research and scholarly activity is not provided in large blocks but
through self-managed space during the working year.
For staff on Research contracts, time for personal research and scholarly activity or
teaching related administration (‘5 plus 2’ weeks) is not explicit in their contract and as
such, research staff will be included in the UAWM with 654 bundles.
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Introduction to the Academic Workload Model
The University Academic Workload Model (UAWM) applies to all academic staff on
national academic role profiles (NARPs) up to and including NARP5 (UWE Grade J).
The first purpose of having an open and transparent UAWM is to help ensure that all
members of staff are treated in a fair and equitable manner consistent with contractual
obligations. Importantly, in order to establish transparency and equity across individuals in
the University, the UAWM recognises that similar activity across the University generates
the same WL requirements.
The second purpose is to ensure that the University operates within a financially
sustainable framework. This requires each Faculty to match its staffing resources in an
effective and efficient manner in order to meet its current responsibilities and strategic
objectives.
The distribution of workload across various activities is informed by the University’s
strategic priorities and the UWE Learning and Teaching Strategy, the UWE Research
Strategy and by Faculty priorities and strategies/policies on Learning and Teaching and
Research.
In order to evidence and demonstrate the principles of fairness and equity, the UAWM
adopts a common currency (“workload bundle”) which is transparent.
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The Workload Bundle
The Academic Contract states that:
“……its nature is such that you are expected to work such hours as are reasonably
necessary in order to fulfil your duties and responsibilities….”
Therefore whilst an academic contract is NOT for a 37 hour week, for the purposes of
workload modelling,
One workload bundle (wlb) may be equated to 2.5hrs of work and 1 day may be seen as 3
wlb’s.
A bundle of work may contain any or all of the following aspects of an Academic role:

Teaching and Teaching Related (through lectures, seminars and small groups
work and including preparation, and supervision)

Research

Knowledge Exchange

Development activities

Faculty, Department, Programme and Module Management roles (including
service to, and for, the University where this has been agreed with the Faculty
Executive to constitute a significant part of an individual’s workload)

To reflect the differing needs for this activity generated by each module,
assessment has been separated out under this iteration of the UAWM
The UAWM does not seek to dictate the form of engagement with any of these activities.
That responsibility rests with the Faculty Executive operating within the UWE Learning and
Teaching and UWE Research (and other relevant) strategies/policies. The UAWM should
be applied in such a way as to encourage innovation – it should state for instance how
many bundles of time a member of staff is expected to devote to teaching (or other
activity) but not the method of teaching (or delivery of any other activity). For instance, for
face-to-face delivery the duration of a module can vary from a short block of time to a more
typical 12 or 24 weeks or indeed 36 weeks. Each would generate the same level of
resourcing leading to a comparable student entitlement1.
The degree of granularity in the UAWM is designed to facilitate transparency and flexibility
and to provide the vehicle for evidencing equality of workload across academic staff.
The UAWM allows for a degree of discretion at Faculty and Department level.
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There will be an annual review of the UAWM and this new version reflects the review and
discussions between the University and UCU in the period to January 2013.
Working within an acceptable interpretation of the data protection act, all WL allocations
will be published.
4 Workload Generation; Process, Timing and Target
It is the job of Heads of Department and Associate Heads of Department to balance
individual staff workloads within parameters set by the UWE Academic contract and their
Faculty Executive who in turn must operate within the guidelines established and agreed
at University level. All requests by/for staff to engage in activity which generates WL
requirements must be approved in advance by the relevant Head of Department via
his/her Faculty Executive and if outside of the discretionary allowance then via the UAWM
Governance Group.
All individual staff work allocations are ultimately subject to approval by their respective
Faculty Executive.
In the event of a dispute, an individual may appeal to the Associate Dean (Resources). If
the matter remains unresolved, the normal grievance procedures will apply.
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Baseline generation of requirements for modules.
All modules at a given academic credit size will generate WL requirements on the same
basis, irrespective of the faculty location and precise learning and teaching methods
employed. It is assumed for the purposes of calculating this requirement that modules
require both a series of lectures and a series of seminars and/or workshops. It is assumed
that all modules will take advantage of available information and communication
technologies in support of teaching, learning and module management. The actual
learning and teaching methods employed and numbers of lectures, classes and other
learning opportunities offered in support of modules must be deployed in accordance with
the relevant quality assurance processes used within each Faculty.
There will be an explicit statement of delivery informing both student entitlement and
expectations of staff. This will form part of the evidence base needed to demonstrate
equality of workload across staff and equality of opportunity across students. The revised
WLM formula now separates out marking from the seminar/workshop/tutorials, and
introduces a range of scalers to better finesse module teaching requirements.
The baseline generation of requirements is made on the following basis:
Baseline generation of requirements =
((L x DL x FL) + (T x DT x FT) + (S/25 x M x FM x FR)+(S x A)) x C
Where L equals the number of lecture groups per module (a new lecture group created in
line with physical constraints); DL and DT are based on the contact hours for the delivery of
standard teaching hrs (usually via lectures and small groups work). Although this does not
imply that the requirement is constant across, or bounded within, a 12/24 week period)2, T
equals the number of seminar/workshop/tutorial groups (Small Groups) (again taking into
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account physical constraints and a maximum group size of 25, S equals the number of
students on the module3, M is the allocation of wlb’s per 25 students for marking and
associated administration. A is the allocation for “other” work4 which may vary significantly
with student numbers. An example of this is field trip coordination/planning and field trip
attendance. C represents the credit size of the module and takes the value of 1 for a 20
credit module (and pro rata otherwise). A range of scaling factors (FL, FT, FM & FR) are
employed in order to finesse particular mandated requirements (approved by the
UAWMGG) to cover lectures, small groups work, making and provision for students
required to resit failed assessment items.
The baseline generation of requirements for lectures and small groups work does not
include assessment. A assessment will generate separate requirements. Some forms of
studio or laboratory assessments might be better measured in days and converted at 3
bundles per day.
Running modules with small student numbers represents an increased cost to the
university and can lead to concerns of work relativities to those teaching modules with
larger student numbers. For this reason scalers have been included for teaching the
following students numbers;
1-6 students scaling factor = .6
7-12 students scaling factor = .8
Where a reduction is not applicable through module delivery requirements, then
application can be made to the UAWM GG for a variation on a case by case basis.
A Faculty may make representation to a UAWM Governance Group5 and argue that they
have increased requirements but this will need to be grounded in a sound pedagogic
argument, or, perhaps, PSB requirement, mindful of the financial sustainability principle
articulated above.
It is assumed that, for the purposes of generating workload requirements, all module runs
of any particular module are delivered as one combined module run. Where location,
timing, pedagogy or other reason dictates that separation of module runs is necessary this
should be referred for decision by the relevant Faculty Executive.
5 Additional working
5.1
The UWE academic contract states that formal scheduled teaching
responsibilities should not exceed the maximum contractual ceiling of 550 hours in
the teaching year. Consequently managers must not plan UWM allocations which
exceed 550 bundles, and where this is the case, must seek alternative ways to
deliver the work and reduce the individual workload to an appropriate level..
5.2
It is recognised, however, that circumstances may arise during the course of
the year where individuals are asked to take on teaching or other responsibilities
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which could lead to them to exceed the 550 bundles maximum. These
circumstances will be limited to events which are exceptional, short term and
unforeseen.
5.3
No individual should be asked or allowed to work beyond 550 bundles until
managers have explored all other options for covering the additional work. These
options will include managers checking if others with relevant experience have any
capacity within their workloads, or if cover could be provided by Associate Lecturers.
Further advice is held in the managers guidelines (link)
5.4
Where an individual is seeking to take on additional work (for example bidding
for a research contract) which may take them over 550 bundles, they must consider
this carefully and discuss with their manage so that the implications are properly
addressed.
5.5
If it is established that the only option available is to ask a colleague to work
beyond 550 bundles, then managers must, discuss and agree this additional work
with the individual, and:

Work to remove other work during the year from the individual and so bring the
workload allocation back to within the maximum contractual ceiling.

If this is not possible, and only in exceptional circumstances the equivalent
amount of time will be compensated in the following year’s UWM allocation
(normally up to a maximum of 50 bundles) , or

exceptionally may be compensated by payment for working beyond contract
at the current rate of £50 per bundle which will be reviewed periodically
(normally for additional working in excess of 50 bundles)
5.6
The expectation is that reasons for additional working will be addressed in the
workload modelling process for the following year.
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Managers guidelines
Please follow the link to the guidelines for the use of the UAWM. These aim to assist
managers with the use of the UAWM and are available to all staff for information.
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Appendix 1
Glossary of terms:
Workload Bundles (WLBs)
We use a ”bundle” because we are bound by a contract which depicts 550 hours of formal
scheduled teaching responsibilities. Each of those hours corresponds to circa 2.5 hours of
activity, traditionally associated with one hour teaching, one hour in preparation and half
an hour in assessment. However, as modes of delivery have changed this package of time
(the bundle) has been applied in many different ways including studio work, formative
assessment, distance learning and so on. Whilst the world of HE has moved on, the
contract hasn’t. This UAWM addresses the calibration issue that these disparate forms of
delivery engender – to ensure a degree of equity but also in order to inform a proper
student entitlement.
A further level of complexity arises with the inclusion of those colleagues on research
contracts. In many instances these contracts and the relationships with external funding
bodies do not make explicit reference to 5 weeks of (personal) research and scholarly
activity plus 2 weeks of teaching-related administration and, as such, the available
envelope for these colleagues is set at 654 WL bundles. (It should be noted that the 550
plus 5+2 weeks’ model is the same as the 654 model.)
Student entitlement
All students are entitled to a comparable experience in terms of learning hours on a
module of a comparable credit size. Modes of delivery and assessment will need to be
justified by the module leader and approved through the relevant faculty quality processes.
It may be, for instance, that each module specification will be required to explicitly state
how these learning hours are constructed. This is not to suggest that each module will
have the same amount of face-to-face contact or indeed the same group size as a module
of the same credit rating.
Academic contract
For those on academic contracts the 36 teaching weeks in the contract can be seen as 3 x
12 week blocks where typically, but not exclusively, staff engaged on teaching duties will
deliver 2 x 12 week blocks. The other 12 weeks consisting of activities (potentially further
teaching) that will bring colleagues’ total workload to the target of 550 bundles over the
year (acknowledging that the 5+2 weeks - is in addition).
In the unlikely situation where a colleague was required to undertake all the preparation
and marking associated with a module within the same 12 week block as the teaching was
conducted AND that colleague was expected to teach the maximum average 18 hours per
week, there would need to be a negotiation between that colleague and the relevant Head
of Department. For instance, some of the associated activities would need to be agreed to
take place in one of the other 12 week blocks.
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WAMS
The Workload Allocation Management Service (WAMS) is the new system which replaced
the spreadsheets that previously supported the academic workload model. The WAMS
system generates a requirement based on a minimum of 25 students in a tutorial group.
WAMS enables individual staff to view their workload allocation and information is also
generated at team and departmental levels for allocators.
Governance Group
The UAWM Governance Group will include the Project Team plus representation from
each Faculty Executive team plus a representative drawn from the administrative staff.
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