Recent poll data shows that the perception of declining working conditions at Ontario universities presents a potential threat to the quality of education in the province.
A poll by Mission Research was commissioned by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) to look at how Ontarians perceive the quality of education at the province's universities, looking specifically at precarious (contract) academic work. The poll data was presented at Laurentian University on March 21.
Ontario universities employ a mix of both full-time and contract professors; those professors working on contract however are not given the same pay or benefits or access to resources that their full-time counterparts are given.
This has raised some concern among those polled, as 68 per cent of Northern Ontarians want professors with job security and benefits teaching university courses.
Among Ontario youth (15-17 years old) considering a post-secondary education, support was even higher, with 71 per cent stating this as their preference.
A total of 2,001 Ontarians were polled online between Jan. 22 and Feb. 4, with 500 respondents identifying as Northern Ontario residents.
“This poll reaffirms the public’s support for fairness for contract faculty,” said Gyllian Phillips, President of OCUFA. “With the provincial budget next week and an election on the horizon, it is time for the government to make post-secondary education a priority and invest in good jobs at our universities.”
Chris Duncanson-Hales is a part-time sessional instructor at Laurentian University and shared his story about the difficulties associated with his position.
"As a contract faculty member, outside of the classroom I am invisible," said Duncanson-Hales. "In the past year, contract faculty at my university have been excluded from strategic planning consultations, professional development workshops, and meetings convened by our administration to consult on and announce future staffing and faculty compliments. This sends a very clear message that contract faculty are to be seen in the classroom and not heard in the boardroom."
Duncanson-Hales explained that as a contract professor, he is given $150 per course he teaches to attend professional development workshops, while his full-time colleagues receive $2,500 annually for the same thing, as well as having access to a $20,000 research and publication fund that contract workers do not have access to.
“At Laurentian, the faculty association has been working hard to improve working conditions for our sessional members,” said Jim Ketchen, President of the Laurentian University Faculty Association.
“We are pleased to see that Northern Ontarians strongly support policies that would address precarious academic work and ensure fairness for contract faculty at Ontario’s universities.”
Among those polled, 88 per cent of Northern Ontarians said that they support contract professors receiving the same pay for teaching the same courses as their full-time colleagues, while 87 per cent said that universities should be converting more contract professors to full-time before hiring more contract professors.
The majority support for taking measures to address precarious academic work was sweeping as 85 per cent of Northern Ontarians said they are in favour of having contract professors having the same access to benefits as their full-time colleagues, including health insurance and pensions.
Further, four out of five Northern Ontarians agreed that declining faculty working conditions would negatively impact education quality. Additionally, of the Ontario youth polled, 54 per cent said they are university bound, and of those, 60 per cent said they were worried they won’t be able to find a well-paid, full-time job upon graduation. These results show that students firmly support improving working conditions for contract faculty.
To connect every dot being laid out by this poll: contract professors are not being given the same access to resources as their full-time employees and as a result, the quality of education may suffer.
With a decline in the quality of education being identified as a concern by the majority of those polled, 60 per cent of youth headed to university are still worried that they won't be able to find full-time jobs themselves.
For more information and to download the poll results, please visit the OCUFA website at www.ocufa.on.ca.
