FACULTY IN CLASS 12 HOURS; LOCAL TEACHING LOAD HIGHER THAN MIZZOU

Southeast Missouri State University full-time faculty members spend about 12 hours a week in the classroom during an academic year, the university's provost says.

That's higher than the average teaching load of University of Missouri faculty members, as reported in a state audit earlier this spring.

A state audit found that faculty members at the University of Missouri spend an average of 40 percent of their time in teaching and teaching-related activities, such as preparing for classes, advising students and holding office hours.

Classroom time ranged from a low of five hours a week for professors to a high of about 11 hours a week for instructors. About half of the full-time faculty at the University of Missouri taught six or fewer hours a week, the audit found.

But Southeast's provost, Leslie Cochran, said one can't compare the two universities. The University of Missouri is a research institution. As a result, he said, its faculty spends many hours doing research outside of the classroom.

At Southeast, it's a different story. "Our primary mission is undergraduate classroom instruction and we ask our faculty to devote time and energy to the classroom in a primary way," explained Cochran.

He said Wednesday that Southeast's policy specifies a teaching load of from nine to 15 hours a week for full-time faculty. The policy doesn't differentiate between the various teaching levels, such as professor and instructor.

"The vast majority of faculty teach 12 hours," said Cochran. But, he added, that doesn't include the time faculty members spend conducting laboratory sessions, such as those in music, science and art. Such lab work is a part of many courses.

When lab work is included, the average teaching load would be around 14 to 15 hours a week, Cochran said.

"We will have some people that will have 18 to 20 actual contact hours in the classroom," he said.

To the general public, 12 hours a week may not seem like much of a workload. But Cochran said that figure doesn't include other work-related duties.

"It sounds nice that someone is in the classroom setting only 12 hours. I think what they forget is that these are professionals.

"These are highly skilled, highly trained professionals."

On average, he said, one can figure two hours of preparation time for each hour of classroom instruction. "You just don't walk up and do this without preparation."

A faculty member who spends 12 hours a week in the classroom will spend another 24 hours in instructional related activities, such as preparing for classes and grading tests, said Cochran.

"I think that is the part that the general public often forgets about. All of those tests have to be prepared, they have to be graded and term papers have to be reviewed."

On top of all the instructional activities, faculty members also spend time doing scholarly research; handling advising, counseling and office duties; serving on committees; and handling professional duties in the area of community service.

"We did a study six or seven years ago in which faculty members self reported that they were involved in their job on campus an average of 52 hours a week," said Cochran.

Nationally, studies have shown that faculty members at comprehensive, regional universities such as Southeast spend 45 to 55 hours a week on the job during the course of the academic year, said Cochran.

At Southeast, the academic year covers nine months, he noted.

Cochran said that nationally, faculty of comprehensive, regional universities report they spend 15 to 25 hours a week in direct instruction.

They spend five to 10 hours a week conducting scholarly research, and similar amounts of time in two other categories: handling office duties and advising students; and serving on committees and performing professional, community-service duties.