GUIDELINES ON THE ALLOCATION OF WORKLOADS TO MEMBERS
OF TEACHING STAFF
1.1 These guidelines should be read in conjunction with Section 1 of the
agreed national text of the Staff Handbook.
1.2 Workloads will be allocated within a context of openness and equity,
after discussions between the line manager and staff. The staff appraisal
system will also provide an important and regular forum for reviewing
individual workloads and ensuring that the member of staff has access to
relevant training development opportunities
1.3 At the heart of this process is the concept of a reasonable workload
undertaken in a normal working week of 37 hours. Each individual will
undertake a range of duties related to their primary role as a member of
teaching staff. The agreed national text for the Staff Handbook describes
those duties as including "direct teaching, tutorial guidance to students'
learning, research and other forms of scholarly activity, curriculum
development, educational management and administration, participation in
the democratic process of the institution (committee membership etc),
participation in quality assurance procedures, recruitment and admission of
students, staff appraisal, income generating activities and representing the
institution on or to, appropriate external bodies."
1.4 A part of this workload will be activities classified as formal scheduled
teaching, which will not normally extend beyond an agreed maximum of 18
hours per week or 550 hours per year, except in areas where the nature of
the curriculum sometimes makes such limits inappropriate. It is an explicit
commitment of the University to seek to reduce formal scheduled teaching
hours where possible and to operate at levels comfortably within the
prescribed maxima.
1.5 In all cases it is regarded as sensible to place the initial responsibility for
resolving issues in relation to the allocation of formal scheduled teaching,
on the teaching Schools themselves, where specialist knowledge of
programmes and their teaching requirements resides. Thus, the School
Dean, will ensure through discussion with Programme Leaders, Subject Division Leaders and other staff, that
workloads, including formal
scheduled teaching, are allocated on the basis of openness and equity.
Staff who feel that their workloads are unreasonable will have the right of
appeal through the University's grievance procedures. In addition, the
Executive will be responsible for taking an overview of practice within
Schools to ensure that equity and consistency prevail across the University.
To assist this process Deans are asked to ensure that workloads are
allocated through an open and transparent process in which the principles
of allocation are discussed openly and then shared with all teaching staff in
the School.
1.6 To assist School Deans and their staff in allocating workloads,
agreement has been reached on the main core criteria for defining formal
scheduled teaching and the other professional duties that will constitute
individual workloads (see Section 2). In applying these guidelines it will be
apparent that a wide range of factors are relevant to the assessment of
what constitutes a reasonable workload for each member of staff. It is
neither possible nor desirable to attempt to specify in advance all of the
issues that will arise during the process of allocating workloads, since the
particular circumstances will vary considerably given the disparate nature of
subject areas within the University. It may be nevertheless helpful to point to
some of the more obvious factors that will need to be taken account of in
allocating, in consultation with the member of staff, what constitutes a
reasonable workload.
1.7 The indicative list of other professional duties (see section 2)
demonstrates the range of factors likely to be involved in the discussion of
workloads. It will be important that the School Dean ensures that line
managers assess the impact of the particular mix of formal scheduled
teaching and related duties undertaken by each individual. In this process it
is particularly important that due allowance is made for the need for
adequate time for preparation and assessment in relation to courses to
ensure that the University maintains its reputation for high quality teaching.
Beyond this, a judgement will need to be made about the impact of other
necessary duties. For example, in activities relating to the supervision of
students on placement, it will be necessary to take account of the TOTAL
workload associated with this work and the practical implications of this eg
travelling time, number of students being supervised, assessment
requirements, impact on other duties (such as formal scheduled teaching).
Similarly, where members of staff have to be away from the University on
activities such as field study trips, the responsibility for planning in
advance the impact on the total workload of staff rests ultimately with the
School Dean.
1.8 Equally, in assessing a reasonable workload for each individual, the
School Dean will need to ensure line managers take account of such factors
as the number and distribution of hours of consecutive formal scheduled
teaching being undertaken in any one day so that staff can take necessary
breaks within normal meal time patterns(which should ensure no member of
staff teaches for more than four consecutive hours in any one day), the
impact of examination and assessment duties at relevant times of the year,
the impact of evening commitments, and so on. Thus, the School Dean will
ensure line managers seek to arrange teaching loads so that individual
members of staff are not normally required to teach more than twice beyond
5.00 pm in any week. Also, the School Dean will be encouraged to arrange
the formal scheduled teaching loads of staff in such a way as to spread
them throughout the academic year and to avoid undue distortion of these
loads at particular times of the year and can ensure that staff are able to
take their annual leave in accordance with the terms and conditions laid
down in the national contract.
Appropriate compensation, either in time or pay shall be agreed in advance
for any weekend work. Where a reduction is agreed in the workload of the
member of staff it should be taken as far as possible within the same term
as the weekend work occurred. Payment will only be appropriate where the
work is additional to the normal workload of staff as agreed by the School
Dean.
1.9 What is crucial to the sensible operation of the academic contract is that
each School Dean pays close attention to the concept of
REASONABLENESS, both for each individual and in the comparative
context of the school. If any member of staff feels that the workload
allocated to them is unreasonable, they will have the right of appeal through
the University grievance procedures. There is also an important
responsibility
placed
on
the
Executive
to
monitor
the
operation of this system to ensure that equity and consistency characterise
practice across the University.
2.
A FRAMEWORK FOR REVIEWING ACADEMIC WORKLOAD
PLANNING
a)
The working week
The normal working week is 37 hours. Staff should not be normally
be asked to take on duties totalling more than 37 hours in any
working week. Exceptions are where the nature of the curriculum
sometimes make such limits inappropriate. On these occasions any
increase of the maximum 37 hours must be agreed formally with the
member/members of staff concerned. Para 1.8 sets out guidelines
on teaching later than 5.00 pm and at weekends.
b)
The teaching year
Should not exceed 38 weeks, of which at least two weeks will be
spent on teaching related administration. While some flexibility will be
required in managing the teaching year, a member of staff will not
(except with prior agreement) be required to undertake more than 14
consecutive weeks of teaching at any one time and should be able to
take their annual leave in accordance with the terms and conditions
set out in the national contract. Any significant changes to the
teaching year will only be made after consultation with the staff and
the recognised unions.
c)
Total available working time
To ensure workloads are allocated equitably and reasonably the total
workload per member of staff should not exceed 1406 hours
(calculated as 38 teaching weeks/37 hours).
d)
Workload drivers
Deans may find it helpful to analyse the allocation of workload using
a framework of 2 core workload ‘drivers’. These are:
1)
Formal scheduled teaching (FST)
Formal scheduled teaching includes all direct contact with
students that requires the active involvement of the lecturer in
the development of knowledge and/or skills in the student that
relates to an approved course or a part of such a course. This
includes lectures, seminars and academic tutorials.
Formal scheduled teaching encompasses a wide variety of
teaching approaches including, for example, role-plays, case
studies, and other practical learning approaches. It also
includes the formal scheduled teaching aspects of supervision
of students in other activities that are aimed at the
development of knowledge and/or skills. Examples include
project/dissertation supervision, distance learning, laboratory
supervision, research supervision and placement supervision.
Not all components of these activities will necessarily be
expressed in an hour for hour way to equate the number of
hours included on a lecturer's timetable with the number of
hours counted within the 550 hours per year total of formal
scheduled teaching. For example, only a proportion of the
total time spent by staff on placement supervision will be
identifiable as formal scheduled teaching. All teaching
arrangements should be defined in terms of specified
staff/student contact hours within the relevant approved
programme/course documentation. All programmes/courses
will review their workload arrangements annually. Teaching
on short courses may also be scheduled as part of the normal
workload of staff.
2)
Other professional duties
It is not possible to produce a definitive list of all other
professional duties. But for convenience the following broad
categories may help Deans in managing the allocation
process. In all cases the full workload of FST and OPD
should not exceed 1406 hours.
i)
Teaching delivery related activity (TDRA)
This work is directly related to the delivery of
FST(including Distance learning), and covers
preparation, assessment and non scheduled guidance
tutoring.
ii)
Research
This relates to time allocated to research over and
above RSA, which is an agreed allocation of 24 days
and is a contractual right for all full-time teaching staff.
Guidance on managing RSA is available on the HR
website.
iii)
Academic leadership, management and administration
This will cover work associated with leadership,
management and administration of academic activity,
e.g. programme/subject leadership, subject review and
validation, school-wide responsibilities and recognised
Trade Union duties.
iv)
School special responsibilities
This will cover the allocation of special activities
exclusive to a particular school, e.g. fieldtrips, design,
etc.
v)
Consultancy/business development
This covers business development and enterprise, e.g.
consultancy.
e)
Operating the workload allocation process
All schools currently allocate workloads to their teaching staff. The
principles upon which the workloads are allocated should be
discussed with academic staff, and agreed outcomes published, so
that all teaching staff may be assured that the work undertaken by
them has been allocated reasonably (i.e within the agreed
parameters of the working week (teaching year and total working
time) and equitably (i.e. that staff share the workload burden
relatively equally).
The Executive ask that Deans conduct this process within the
framework set in (d) above.
Deans should allocate workloads in consultation with their staff and
tailor these allocations to meet their own local circumstances. The
following guiding principles however, should be observed:
i)
FST: total hours calculated as the sum of every hour of
normally scheduled class contact including the mandatory
timetabled guidance tutor meeting specified in the Guidance
Tutor Policy. The single exception to this guideline is the
allocation for PhD supervision as specified by the Graduate
School Committee. .
ii)
TDRA: to comprise three clear elements:

preparation for teaching delivery. In general one hour
preparation to one hour of direct FST should be used. The
Dean may wish to add additional time for the preparation of
new modules; to take account of the lack of
experience/expertise of the staff member and, in
exceptional circumstances, module complexity. These
variations should be made transparent to all teaching staff.
The Dean should agree allocations for the preparation of
distance learning materials with groups of staff who
prepare it. The Dean may also include an allocation for any
training and development required to support teaching.

Assessment
The assessment allocation should be agreed locally and
take account of all aspects of assessment (including
assessment of material from distance learning candidates),
including preparation, marking, exam boards, internal
moderation and invigilation, and should take account of the
volume of assessments to be marked

Guidance tutoring
The Guidance Tutor Policy recommends where guidance
tutoring is not formally scheduled then an allowance be
made of one hour per student per year.
iii)
Research
The allocation of this element of workload is to be agreed by
the Dean, in line with the School Research Strategy.
iv)
Academic leadership, management and administration
The allocation of working hours under this driver is to be
determined by the Dean of School and will normally cover
tasks which have a School wide remit. Although the following
list is not exhaustive it may encompass: Associate Deans,
programme leadership, placement organisation, year tutor,
admissions tutor, module tutor, approved external
responsibilities, committee membership, subject leader,
examinations, health and safety, international recruitment,
schools liaison and recognised trade union duties. In the case
of staff who have been elected to undertake recognised Trade
Union duties, the University has agreed a framework of
workload allowances which should be incorporated in their
agreed workload. This allocation should be split equally
between FST and OPD and agreed formally with the staff
member.
v)
School specific responsibilities
The allocation of workload under this heading will be assessed
by the Dean.
vi)
Consultancy/business development
The allocation of this element of workload is to be assessed
by the Dean in line with the School’s Academic Development
Plans.
f)
Annual Monitoring
Deans will return no later than October each year an annual
monitoring pro-forma to the PVC (Staff and Student Affairs)
summarising the total allocation of academic staff agreed workload
hours.
Dr Peter Slee
Pro -Vice –Chancellor (Student and Staff Affairs)
June 2005