Part-Time Teaching in Adult Education: Getting and Staying in Work

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NB: The text that follows is the informed opinion of Bob Groves ONLY and is not to be taken as APTT policy in any shape or form.
No liability will be assumed by Bob Groves for the consequences of following the advice and information given.

Getting and staying in teaching work is probably the central issue with every single part-time teacher.

Moreso than with full-timers, part-time workers primarily operate via one-off contracts that they currently (in the UK) negotiate via a wide variety of employers and educational providers in both the state and private sectors. Whilst my experience is necessarily limited to those areas in which I have worked, my experience has been thankfully very wide. In the past twenty years I've taught part-time for FE, AE, CE and HE across Tyneside (in the North of England), together with a host of one-off private arrangements which come and go as opportunity allows. This has meant that I have gathered one or two skills as a part-time work 'survivor' that have allowed me to earn a living and make a career out of what is quite often just a 'job'.

Whilst my information may not be useful to all part-timers (NB: 'your mileage may differ!') it is the fruit of both bitter experience and good luck and should be helpful in many contexts.

It needs also to be said at the outset that the APTT is all about professionalising part-time teachers. This means changing the usual phenomenon of stumbling from one job to another into a systematic process of persistent and fruitful careers. Indeed, it is about changing 'teachers' into 'educationalists' and in doings so, establishing them as a force for change, and consequently with jobs that both mean something and pay for the needs and fruits of life.

So how might all this be had? Not a simple process! But the following gives a few key factors that should be addressed by all who want to improve their career prospects:

Copyright Bob Groves 27/12/2000