Postsecondary teachers who work full time usually have flexible schedules. They must be present for classes, usually 12 to 16 hours per week, and for faculty and committee meetings. Most establish regular office hours for student consultations, usually 3 to 6 hours per week. Otherwise, teachers are free to decide when and where they will work, and how much time to devote to course preparation, grading, study, research, graduate student supervision, and other activities.
Some teach night and weekend classes. This is particularly true for teachers at 2-year community colleges or institutions with large enrollments of older students who have full-time jobs or family responsibilities. Most colleges and universities require teachers to work 9 months of the year, which allows them the time to teach additional courses, do research, travel, or pursue nonacademic interests during the summer and school holidays. Colleges and universities usually have funds to support research or other professional development needs of full time faculty, including travel to conferences and research sites.
About 3 out of 10 college and university faculty worked part time in 2004. Some part-timers, known as "adjunct faculty," have primary jobs outside of academia—in government, private industry, or nonprofit research—and teach "on the side." Others prefer to work part-time hours or seek full-time jobs but are unable to obtain them due to intense competition for available openings. Some work part time in more than one institution. Some adjunct faculty are not qualified for tenure-track positions because they lack a doctoral degree.
University faculty may experience a conflict between their responsibilities to teach students and the pressure to do research and publish their findings. This may be a particular problem for young faculty seeking advancement in 4-year research universities. Also, recent cutbacks in support workers and the hiring of more part-time faculty have put a greater administrative burden on full-time faculty. Requirements to teach online classes also have added greatly to the workloads of postsecondary teachers. Many find that developing the courses to put online, plus learning how to operate the technology and answering large amounts of e-mail, is very time-consuming.
Graduate TAs usually have flexibility in their work schedules like college and university faculty, but they also must spend a considerable amount of time pursuing their own academic coursework and studies. The number of hours that TAs work varies, depending on their assignments. Work may be stressful, particularly when assistants are given full responsibility for teaching a class; however, these types of positions allow graduate students the opportunity to gain valuable teaching experience. This experience is especially helpful for those graduate teaching assistants who seek to become faculty members at colleges and universities after completing their degree.
| How often do you have to perform public speaking in this job? |
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| | | | | | | | Once a week or more but not every day
(48.8000%) | |
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| How often do you have telephone conversations in this job? |
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| How often do you use electronic mail in this job? |
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| How often does the job require written letters and memos? |
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| | | | | | | | Once a week or more but not every day
(55.7100%) | |
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| How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? |
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| How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? |
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| | | | | | | | | Constant contact with others
(60.8500%) |
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| How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job? |
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| How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job? |
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| How important is it to coordinate or lead others in accomplishing work activities in this job? |
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| | | | | | | | | Extremely important
(35.9500%) |
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| How much responsibility is there for the health and safety of others in this job? |
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| | | | | | | Moderate responsibility
(27.4700%) | | |
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| How responsible is the worker for work outcomes and results of other workers? |
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| | | | | | | | High responsibility
(36.1400%) | |
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| How often are there conflict situations the employee has to face in this job? |
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| | | | | | Once a year or more but not every month
(45.6600%) | | | |
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| How frequently does the worker have to deal with unpleasant, angry, or discourteous individuals as part of the job requirements? |
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| | | | | | Once a year or more but not every month
(62.0800%) | | | |
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| How frequently does this job require the worker to deal with physical aggression of violent individuals? |
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| How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions? |
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| How often does this job require working indoors in non-controlled environmental conditions (e.g., warehouse without heat)? |
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| How often does this job require working outdoors, exposed to all weather conditions? |
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| | | | | | Once a year or more but not every month
(33.8500%) | | | |
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| How often does this job require working outdoors, under cover (e.g., structure with roof but no walls)? |
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| How often does this job require working in an open vehicle or equipment (e.g., tractor)? |
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| How often does this job require working in a closed vehicle or equipment (e.g., car)? |
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| | | | | | | | Once a week or more but not every day
(29.6500%) | |
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| To what extent does this job require the worker to perform job tasks in close physical proximity to other people? |
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| | | | | | I work with others but not closely (e.g., private office)
(64.2900%) | | | |
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| How often does this job require working exposed to sounds and noise levels that are distracting or uncomfortable? |
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| | | | | | Once a year or more but not every month
(37.5600%) | | | |
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| How often does this job require working in very hot (above 90 F degrees) or very cold (below 32 F degrees) temperatures? |
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| | | | | | Once a year or more but not every month
(40.5600%) | | | |
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| How often does this job require working in extremely bright or inadequate lighting conditions? |
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| How often does this job require working exposed to contaminants (such as pollutants, gases, dust or odors)? |
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| | | | | | Once a year or more but not every month
(49.8800%) | | | |
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| How often does this job require working in cramped work spaces that requires getting into awkward positions? |
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| How often does this job require exposure to whole body vibration (e.g., operate a jackhammer)? |
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| How often does this job require exposure to radiation? |
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| How often does this job require exposure to disease/infections? |
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| How often does this job require exposure to high places? |
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| How often does this job require exposure to hazardous conditions? |
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| How often does this job require exposure to hazardous equipment? |
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| How often does this job require exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings? |
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| How much does this job require sitting? |
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| | | | | | | | More than half the time
(52.0000%) | |
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| How much does this job require standing? |
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| | | | | | Less than half the time
(59.2200%) | | | |
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| How much does this job require climbing ladders, scaffolds, or poles? |
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| How much does this job require walking and running? |
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| | | | | | Less than half the time
(63.3500%) | | | |
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| How much does this job require kneeling, crouching, stooping or crawling? |
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| How much does this job require keeping or regaining your balance? |
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| How much does this job require using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls? |
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| | | | | | Less than half the time
(37.7000%) | | | |
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| How much does this job require bending or twisting your body? |
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| How much does this job require making repetitive motions? |
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| | | | | | Less than half the time
(43.2600%) | | | |
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| How much does this job require wearing common protective or safety equipment such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hard hats or life jackets? |
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| How much does this job require wearing specialized protective or safety equipment such as breathing apparatus, safety harness, full protection suits, or radiation protection? |
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| How serious would the result usually be if the worker made a mistake that was not readily correctable? |
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| How do the decisions an employee makes impact the results of co-workers, clients or the company? |
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| | | | | | | | Important results
(45.9900%) | |
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| How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization? |
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| | | | | | Once a year or more but not every month
(28.6500%) | | | |
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| How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer? |
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| | | | | | | | | A lot of freedom
(80.4400%) |
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| How automated is the job? |
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| | | | | Not at all automated
(49.1600%) | | | | |
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| How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job? |
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| | | | | | | | | Extremely important
(38.9600%) |
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| How important is repeating the same physical activities (e.g., key entry) or mental activities (e.g., checking entries in a ledger) over and over, without stopping, to performing this job? |
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| | | | | Not important at all
(38.2500%) | | | | |
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| To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals? |
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| | | | | | | | | A lot of freedom
(69.5000%) |
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| To what extent does this job require the worker to compete or to be aware of competitive pressures? |
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| | | | | | | Moderately competitive
(38.9700%) | | |
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| How often does this job require the worker to meet strict deadlines? |
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| | | | | | | | Once a week or more but not every day
(43.0300%) | |
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| How important is it to this job that the pace is determined by the speed of equipment or machinery? (This does not refer to keeping busy at all times on this job.) |
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| | | | | Not important at all
(87.2000%) | | | | |
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| How regular are the work schedules for this job? |
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| | | Regular (established routine, set schedule)
(77.7900%) | | |
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| Number of hours typically worked in one week. |
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| | | | | More than 40 hours
(86.4800%) |
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4.65
4.63
4.39
4.37
4.33
4.31
4.30
4.25
4.19
4.11
4.08
3.95
3.75
3.46
4.50
4.43
4.37
4.25
4.12
4.00
3.87
3.75
3.62
3.50
3.37
3.35
3.25
3.12
2.95
2.87
2.37
1.87