With Jason Clare last week reiterating his commitment to take a closer look at workforce data relating to casual staff, a new paper examining the trials and tribulations of the nation’s often-invisible casual HE workforce should attract much interest.
Griffith U’s Ellie Meissner and colleagues from Griffith, Monash, Macquarie and psychologists in private practice dive into the lived experience of casual academics in the paper, seeking to understand the impact of precarious employment on the perceived mental health.
“Academia in Australia is in crisis as increased neoliberalism, casualization of staff and the pressure for more research output has potentially jeopardized the cornerstone of any educational
institution: its staff,” the authors state.
Whether casual academics developed a sense of belonging depending on a range of individual circumstances and institutional factors, the authors found – with not only institutions, but also full-time colleagues sometimes being responsible for exclusion.
“The casual academics in our study commented that they felt undervalued by the institutions, but also by their full-time counterparts because of traditionalist mindsets. Considering
the institutional environment, the lived experience of casual academics is one of ‘isolation’, ‘misunderstanding’, and ‘lack of support’,” the authors said.
Even though academics may not feel part of an institution, some did fell a connection to the wider academic community, and others focused on the strength of relationships with students, providing alternative avenues for belonging and identity.
Many casual academics involved in the study discussed the mental health toll of having to continuously try to achieve a work life balance while also securing future employment, generating feelings of powerlessness and burnout. Another consistent theme was lacking a voice as they attempted to tackle unachievable marking deadlines or unreasonable expectations in relation to responding to students – with the expectation, “being paid for a limited number of hours/days per week but also being expected to be working 24/7.”
While staff dependent on the income from sessional work exhibited stress and mental health impacts, the study found that it could be a rewarding job for those who had additional income streams, and for these people, “the perception of work stress, mental health and wellbeing outcomes were much less pronounced.”
The paper provides practical recommendations in relation to policies relating to casual work, noting the importance of sessional staff to the sector.
“This study supports the reconsideration of the structure of university contracts to create a more equitable and secure environment for casual academics, so they can perform their tasks to the fullest of their ability while also safeguarding their mental health,” the authors conclude.
