A Tutor’s Current Reality at VUW
Niva Chittock (she/her)
Over the past few months I’ve been sitting down with tutors to see what their current role looks like, following reports of job changes in the tertiary education sector. They have detailed their experiences along with descriptions of idealised working conditions. COVID-19 has put extra strain on an already struggling system, and it’s beginning to wear tutors thin.
The tutors I spoke to revealed a slow deterioration in their working conditions, long before current reports (such as the article published by an anonymous group of VUW tutors in The Spinoff last July) were begun, let alone published. I sat down with a handful of tutors who teach across a variety of departments at Victoria University. Their accounts are by no means inclusive of every tutor’s experience, however, they did shed light on widespread issues frequently felt across the University.
Generally speaking, tutors are a helping hand to course coordinators and lecturers, teaching some or all tutorials for a given course, and taking on marking loads. They deal with student queries and are a friendly face that can relate to the study experience, as many are still students themselves. Tutors are the face of the academic side of university, forming meaningful relationships with students.
Having these interactions is a defining feature in wanting to do this role, with many tutors saying student contact is their main motivator to stay in their job.
While it’s not uncommon to have pet peeves at work, current problems for tutors have outgrown personal grievances and become systemic issues. There is no singular, central problem.
In 2017, the Senior Leadership Team at Victoria University were given a report into what the University’s tutoring system looked like, and what improvements could be made.
Key observations included “there is little evidence of recognition of tutors as an integral part of the teaching community at Victoria” and “the casual short term nature of tutor contracts makes the retention of good tutors unsustainable and prevents continuity [in] tutoring.”
It also mentioned a lack of professional development opportunities, insufficient training for the role performed, and inadequate pay for tutors’ work.
One tutor, Sam*, notes it stems from little things. They used the example of an email chain. An issue came up with their contract, so they contacted University management. They did not receive any information on how to fix the issue, nor an invitation to meet with someone.
“There was no discussion. No one was willing to even talk to me about my contract. It’s awful. You get confused and upset when you’re treated as if you have no personality.”
Another tutor, Alex*, didn’t receive their contract in time to start the Trimester. They had no access to buildings, their staff email, or Blackboard for over a week after courses started.
“It’s quite hard to plan tutoring lessons when I haven’t got access to Blackboard […] I was still just waiting and waiting and waiting to get my ID and systems access”.
Patchy or non-existent communication amongst faculties, other tutors, and University management creates a tricky situation, leaving tutors unsure of where to turn to to get help with the issues they encounter. Jo* is a seasoned tutor at Victoria and believes creating a simple system is the solution.
“So much of our time is spent doing things that aren’t really part of our job [...] There’s a lot of stress and work that comes from just having to engage with [University] management at this stage.”
Pastoral care is another pressure point. The University is clear on tutors and pastoral care, with a spokesperson stating:
“Dealing with pastoral issues is not part of the work duties of a tutor. If this happens, tutors are advised to refer these matters to the Student Interest and Conflict Resolution team”
While tutors do not disagree with this statement, they would like the University to acknowledge that when working closely with students, it is inevitable that pastoral care issues will come up. Aside from these linear referral instructions, there is no designated pastoral care training available to tutors currently at VUW. Many of those who Salient spoke to do not want training to deal with pastoral issues themselves, but instead to ensure they do not carry problems personally and can deal with students responsibly.
Tom* is a senior tutor, and believes this sort of training should be incorporated into the compulsory training course for first-time tutors.
“If a student is extremely upset or stressed and making a disclosure about something serious—which does happen to some tutors—what are we going to do? March them into the lecturer’s office and get them to tell the problem to the lecturer? That’s not what the tutor nor the student want. And this gets made even more difficult when the courses you are teaching have sensitive or triggering material as part of the curriculum.”
Tutors would also like to see compulsory training expanded to include key aspects of the job, like working the staff intranet, and how to operate timesheet systems and BlackBoard. Making some compulsory training available to returning tutors too would improve the current situation and equip tutors adequately for their role.
These improvements are needed now more than ever due to the compounding impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contract hours have been cut, class sizes have grown, new systems have made pay irregular, and there is even less certainty surrounding the renewal of current contracts.
Sam says it’s like being put on “fast-forward”.
“Where in the past you had enough time to complete the work expected for your course, there is no longer this luxury. I am now rushed in my work and more stressed too [...] I used to be paid an hour per week for student correspondence (answering student emails, meetings, etc.) but now, I have just 15 minutes each week. How am I expected to give the same quality of tutoring?”
Even email communications since the pandemic began have been difficult to understand for tutors who are both staff and students. Jo felt like staff members were left in a murky area, while students received clear-cut information.
“I was learning things about what the course was going to look like from the student newsletter as [University management] were making decisions [...] that email then contradicted the emails we got later as staff.”
Tutors have begun to form their own organisation to generate solidarity and get to know what the picture looks like across the University community. The VUW Tutors’ Network is in the process of being established, with their aim to have contacts in every faculty and school within the next few years. Spokespeople believe this is a valuable tool in allowing tutors to support one another, and can be used as a key platform to communicate with tutors.
Current demands are easily outlined by all, though Alex articulated them best: “Clearer communication, support, certainty [...] I mean better pay would be nice but I’m not holding out hope for that. It just feels like we’re getting the short end of the stick.”
Sam recognised the good bones of the role, and hopes that a more supported and sustainable model can be created in the future:
“Tutoring has the potential to be quite a good form of employment. It could be a really rich, fulfilling relationship between the tutors, students, and the University. Right now, tutors are being treated like they are transactional and able to be ‘deployed’ where needed. There needs to be a culture change away from this ‘depersonalisation’.”
Having a centralised system for tutor contract processing, bolstering their training, and creating an area of the University to provide tutor-specific advice and support would be a huge help. Better yet would be shifting away from casual or casualised, fixed-term contracts and providing tutors with decent, regular pay.
But it’s just so easy to say that.
In the process of collating this story, I have sat down with many a tired tutor. Despite the obvious anguish, stress and frustration, they smile through it all. Some tell jokes, while others are sarcastic. All were cautious in the beginning, wanting to assure me they did love their job, and did not want to do anything that would jeopardise that.
What struck me was that no matter what, every single one was in it for the right reasons: their love of teaching and an intense passion for what they teach. Yes, some did mention money, but this is their job. They expect money for the work they do.
The difficulty now is making something happen. As VUW Tertiary Education Union (TEU) President, Dougal McNeill, says: “there is no one who will say that tutors aren’t important.”
Tutors sit in the precarious position between students and lecturers; general staff and qualified academic staff; full-time students and full-time workers. It’s a role which knits us all together and that most, if not all, of us are grateful for.
Dougal knows that University management can offer something more to tutors that the rest of us can’t—the means to make these changes a reality:
“Show us the money.
That’s the real issue.”
*Names changed