Faculty Reassess Academy Workload Guidelines

Two years ago, the Mercer Company, a human resources consulting firm, conducted a study that revealed discontent among PEA faculty regarding workload requirements. Denoted the “ABC system,” the Academy’s current workload assessment structure sorts faculty commitments into A, B and C categories based on the required number of hours, and mandates that each instructor completes 24 hours of additional work beyond the classroom per week.

While the system has yet to change, faculty continue to work on revising workload guidelines. “I have worked with a subcommittee of the Agenda Committee on refining our guidelines for greater accuracy, equity and transparency. We will soon seek feedback on this work,” Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff said.

Agenda Committee Head and History Instructor Betty Luther-Hillman stated that the workload system should undergo frequent review. “One of our goals for this year is to advocate for a workload assignment system that is clear, fair and reasonable,” she said. “This is especially important since every year, new clubs are created that require faculty support … We can’t support our students and their endeavors if the faculty are overworked.”

In the faculty handbook, a C Level activity entails four to six hours of work, the B Level requires eight to ten hours, while the A level requires twelve hours per week. A combination of two B level or C Level activities equals one A level, and faculty are obligated to perform two A level requirements per term.

Computer Science Instructor Sean Campbell noted variations in the system for different faculty. “Is a teacher in the dorm or not? Are they full time or part-time? Do they have another role (administrative, department chair, etc.)? Broadly speaking, faculty must teach four classes each term, advise eight to 10 students, coach a sport and/or serve on a committee and do dorm duty among other odds-and-ends,” he said. “In practice, most faculty contribute above and beyond the requirements laid out.”

Math Instructor Aviva Halani recognized other inconsistencies. “It’s a very complicated system,” she said. “The fact that two B’s equal an A, but also that a B and a C equal an A, does not make sense. The current—or at least the last—version of the faculty handbook that I saw does not encompass all of the work that is done.”

Beyond the ABC system’s requirements, faculty have also found themselves undertaking additional work due to the new visitations (V’s) policy. Halani expressed her frustration towards the late notice and extra work caused by the policy. “Though faculty were not expecting to do daytime visitation hours, many were told they would need to do so a month into the year,” Halani said. “The late notice about a change in dorm workload is problematic and may not take all of the other roles we play on campus into account.”

An upcoming faculty meeting will consist of a survey examining faculty schedules, according to English Instructor Courtney Marshall. “We want to look into the gap between the official records and what people’s days actually look like,” she said. “I think a lot of it is just a 21st-century problem. It used to be that you could go to your job and go home. But with emails and online work, the lines between work and non-work hours are becoming more and more blurred.”

Halani also noted the differences in the type of work that faculty do based on the subjects that they teach. “Because [humanities teachers] meet less frequently, they have more time to meet with students during the day than I do,” she said. “It is also true that when I have a lot of committee meetings, that also takes me away from possibly meeting with students.” 

Religion Department Chair Hannah Hofheinz believes that there are too many tasks for not enough faculty to handle. “The number of faculty we have seems insufficient for the tasks. This puts some teachers in a really hard position of wanting to do right by the students and our colleagues, while also realizing that the resulting workload is unsustainable over the longer term,” she said. “The stress of the schedule is not good for leading a full life. It impacts my relationship with my partner, and it impacts my ability to just be myself.”

Marshall also raised concerns about a campus-wide ‘culture of overwork’ fostered by faculty workloads. “I get concerned about what [faculty] tell students and what we wind up modeling,” she said. “We say ‘Take care of yourself, go to sleep, eat breakfast’ but not enough of us are doing it.”

English Instructor Alex Myers acknowledged that sustaining heavy workloads is an inevitable reality of working at a boarding school. “That’s what I signed up to do,” he said. “There are things that the school and the Dean of Faculty’s office could do to change how workload is allocated, but I don’t think those changes would affect the surprises that are going to come and just eat up a whole day or week of your year.”

Chair of the Science Department Allison Hobbie agreed. “This is a residential school and I think there is a commitment we make in coming here,” she said. “We need to recognize the boundaries of our job and that they move from week to week in responsibility to responsibility and even from term to term.”

English Instructor Jane Cadwell described the kind of lifestyle promoted by a residential school teaching career. “When you’re working, particularly when you’re in the dorm, you sign on for a particular lifestyle. For me, it’s really 100% work and then 100% vacation,” she said.

Cadwell acknowledged that work can be substantial during the school year. “I don’t really think there are lines you can draw around your exact job to make it discreet: you have certain responsibilities, but those responsibilities end up being hard to predict and hard to identify because the bottom line is that you’re teaching and living with kids,” Cadwell said. “You have to be open and ready and willing to adapt to their needs.”

Campbell’s workload is often unpredictable, but breaks offer ample time for family. “With free formats, I do have some flexibility during the school day, but this is not time I cannot generally use for personal reasons. There are many evening and weekend responsibilities which noticeably cut into time that I can spend with my family,” he said. “Compared to the public school where I used to teach, we do have more generous time off during breaks. But when school is in session, the days and weeks at PEA are longer and busier.”

English Instructor Todd Hearon believes workload depends on the balance of institutional investment and personal life. “If you’re willing to let it all slide, there’s no friction. If you’re not, there’s a considerable amount of negotiation and sacrifice that has to happen,” he said.

Math Instructor Panama Geer expressed that an Exeter teacher’s workload stems from their commitment to students. “No matter what, because you love what you do and because you’re involved in the students’ lives, you always end up working more than what the guidelines are,” she said.