Faculty Teaching Loads

Disease: Declining Faculty teaching loads

In an academic culture of publish or perish, faculty at most intuitions of higher education value research over teaching.  As research is valued more highly than teaching, even institutions that have been traditionally “teaching” institutions have been trying to position themselves higher in institutional rankings by having faculty publish.

The Center For College Affordability And Productivity (2010), assembled the following table, which shows the decline in teaching loads from 1988 to 2004:

Table 14.1 Mean Course Loads By  Year
Institution Type	Mean Course Load Per Term
	1988	1993	1999	2004	%Change '88 -'04
Public research	2.8	1.6	2.1	1.6	-42%
Private research	2.7	1.5	1.9	1.6	-42%
Public PhD/including medical schoolsa	3.1	2.0	2.5	2.0	-35%
Private PhD/including medical schoolsb	2.7	1.6	2.2	1.8	-32%
Public comprehensive	3.7	2.5	2.9	2.6	-31%
Private comprehensive	3.5	2.3	2.8	2.3	-36%
Private Liberal artsc	3.7	2.5	3.0	2.5	-32%
Public 2-year	3.5	2.7	3.4	2.8	-20%

Table 14.1 Mean Course Loads By Year

NOTES: ^aCARNEGIE CLASSIFICATIONS FOR 1999 AND 2004 READ "PUBLIC DOCTORAL, INCLUDING MEDICAL"; ^bCARNEGIE CLASSIFICATIONS FOR 1999 AND 2004 READ "PRIVATE DOCTORAL, INCLUDING MEDICAL";

^cCARNEGIE CLASSIFICATIONS FOR 1993 AND 1999 READ “LIBERAL ARTS"

SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS 1988 NATIONAL STUDY OF POSTSECONDARY FACULTY (NSOPF:88, 93, 99, 04)

As can be seen from the table above, even at public 2-year institutions, which traditionally are “teaching” institutions, there has been a dramatic decline in teaching loads in less than a generation.

Solution:  Increase Teaching loads via alternate tracks and mandates

The best possible solution is to provide tenure track for those faculty who specialize in teaching, not research.  This is becoming more common, especially in professional schools such as medicine and business where faculty are named “clinical professors” or “professors of practice.”  These non-research based faculty typically have higher teaching loads than regular faculty such as a 4/4 load compared with a 2/2 load for many research based faculty.

State governments could mandate a minimum institutional average teaching load for state public institutions, although this would probably be not well received by the institutions.  (Inside Higher Education, 2011)  However, if the institutions implemented dual track tenure programs such as the one mentioned immediately above, then this could be implemented without too much loss of highly regarded research based faculty.  

Within the past 3 years, CBU switched from a 3/3 teaching load to a 4/4 load.  Many small private "teaching" schools such as CBU are currently looking at increased loads in order to reach a 4/4 load.  Over fall break I had lunch with a Dean at Loyola University in New Orleans who said that his institution was looking at increasing the faculty teaching load to reach a 4/4 level.  If a small private instituiton has a small endowment, I expect faculty loads to increase over the next several years in order to increase faculty productivity.

Lastly, "Adding one course to a four- or five-course load reduces by 20 to 25 percent the number of professors needed to deliver the same quantity of courses with no increase in class size."(Nelson, 2009).

Center For College Affordability And Productivity (2010). 25 ways to reduce the cost of college. Washington, DC:  Retrieved from http://centerforcollegeaffordability.org/uploads/25Ways_to_Reduce_the_Cost_of_College.pdf

Inside Higher Education (2011, March 22). A Heavier Load in Ohio. Retrieved October 27, 2011, from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/03/22/ohio_plan_to_increase_faculty_course_loads_mirrors_other_efforts_but_without_buy_in
Nelson, S. J. (2009, August 27). Can bigger course loads help college budgets? The Chronicle of Higher Education.  Retrieved from http://chronicle.com.ezproxy.cbu.edu:9000/article/Can-Increased-Course-Loads/48407/