Casual Academic Staff in an Australian University: Marginalised and Excluded
Over the past 25 years, the Australian workforce has become more casualised, with approximately one-quarter of the workforce in casual employment today. One of the highest users of casual employees is the higher education sector, where casual academics (referred to as sessionals in the Australian co...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Routledge
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32444 |
| _version_ | 1848753665833172992 |
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| author | Ryan, S. Burgess, John Connell, Julia Egbert, G. |
| author_facet | Ryan, S. Burgess, John Connell, Julia Egbert, G. |
| author_sort | Ryan, S. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Over the past 25 years, the Australian workforce has become more casualised, with approximately one-quarter of the workforce in casual employment today. One of the highest users of casual employees is the higher education sector, where casual academics (referred to as sessionals in the Australian context) are estimated to account for 50% of the overall teaching load. The purpose of this article is to investigate the processes associated with the management of sessional academic staff. The study focuses on a single university, utilising a survey questionnaire and interviews with the sessional academics and their managers. The results depict a bifurcated system of maximum labour regulation for full-time academics alongside minimum regulation for sessional staff. The findings stress the urgency for improvement in both the employment conditions and management of sessional academic staff, both for their own benefit and the universities that employ them. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:28:08Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-32444 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:28:08Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-324442017-09-13T15:23:54Z Casual Academic Staff in an Australian University: Marginalised and Excluded Ryan, S. Burgess, John Connell, Julia Egbert, G. workforce segmentation Australian universities casual employment academic employment Over the past 25 years, the Australian workforce has become more casualised, with approximately one-quarter of the workforce in casual employment today. One of the highest users of casual employees is the higher education sector, where casual academics (referred to as sessionals in the Australian context) are estimated to account for 50% of the overall teaching load. The purpose of this article is to investigate the processes associated with the management of sessional academic staff. The study focuses on a single university, utilising a survey questionnaire and interviews with the sessional academics and their managers. The results depict a bifurcated system of maximum labour regulation for full-time academics alongside minimum regulation for sessional staff. The findings stress the urgency for improvement in both the employment conditions and management of sessional academic staff, both for their own benefit and the universities that employ them. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32444 10.1080/13583883.2013.783617 Routledge restricted |
| spellingShingle | workforce segmentation Australian universities casual employment academic employment Ryan, S. Burgess, John Connell, Julia Egbert, G. Casual Academic Staff in an Australian University: Marginalised and Excluded |
| title | Casual Academic Staff in an Australian University: Marginalised and Excluded |
| title_full | Casual Academic Staff in an Australian University: Marginalised and Excluded |
| title_fullStr | Casual Academic Staff in an Australian University: Marginalised and Excluded |
| title_full_unstemmed | Casual Academic Staff in an Australian University: Marginalised and Excluded |
| title_short | Casual Academic Staff in an Australian University: Marginalised and Excluded |
| title_sort | casual academic staff in an australian university: marginalised and excluded |
| topic | workforce segmentation Australian universities casual employment academic employment |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32444 |