More Reasons Why Adjunct Faculty Want to Give Up: On-Boarding, Training, and Community

While adjunct faculty compensation is a problem, fair payment does not alleviate systemic issues that impact adjunct faculty motivation, participation, and success. With more consideration for three research-based recommendations, administrators can help adjunct faculty feel valued, heard, and included.

On-Boarding

On-boarding into adjunct instruction is lacking across most institutions. The majority expect faculty to learn as they go, read literature on websites, and autonomously learn to teach well. Once in the classroom, there is little oversight unless student complaints warrant conversations. Effective on-boarding prepares faculty for the classroom and is an exercise in continuous improvement. It is not a one-time webinar or event and instead, includes regular check ins, feedback loops, teaching observations, and professional development. Suggested activities include an initial school orientation, auditing courses, collaborative syllabi development, peer mentorship, and mock lectures.

Teacher Training

The majority of adjunct faculty do not have a background in pedagogy. Teaching is both an art and a science that requires some formal education. Required knowledge includes crafting effective and measurable learning objectives, ensuring coursework maps back to those objectives, creating meaningful assignments and rubrics, classroom management, and accurate assessment. Without development in these areas prior to the start of a course, adjunct faculty are not set up for success. Failure metrics include grade inflation, policy issues, and ineffective teaching and learning.

Community Building

Research supports that most adjunct faculty feel isolated and disposable. Cultivating a strong community helps alleviate both. With this stakeholder group, administrators should prioritize transparency about organizational goals and include their voices in major decisions that impact their work. Administrators should spend time listening to the challenges of the classroom and fears of faculty, and work to provide resources and support to overcome. Additionally, community building includes value-based compensation: compensation that is not reflected in a paycheck, yet adds value to the role. For example, discounted or free on-campus parking, subsidized meals, tuition reimbursement, and honorarium opportunities on panels, at conferences, and on committees.

Implementation of these recommendations will result in more satisfied (yet, still underpaid) adjuncts.

Dr. Kerry O’Grady

Director of Teaching Excellence

Samberg Institute for Teaching Excellence, Columbia University Business School