How to Manage Workload, Students, and Multiple Schools

The result of recent trends in schools' cutting classes for adjunct faculty is that most adjunct faculty must now teach one to three classes at each of several schools. Gone are the days when we could teach at just one or two schools and have enough classes to make a decent salary. I remember teaching at only two schools and making between $50K and $65K per year, with a maximum of 8-10 classes, many of which were multiple sections of the same class, and all of which I had taught for several years.

Those days are over now for adjunct faculty. Adjunct faculty are now teaching for 10 or more schools and are applying constantly for new openings, hoping to get just one more class or, if they're lucky, two more classes. Often this seems like "feast or famine" where we have too few classes or, in some cases, it all hits the fan and we end up teaching for 10 or more schools with a total of 15 or more classes. We can't really decline teaching offers because there is no guarantee that the next term we'll be offered any classes from any given school and we have to keep classes in reserve at all schools to make up the difference when some of our schools inexplicably cut our classes for one or more terms. Adjunct teaching has never been secure, but it's far more insecure now than in previous years.

So if you find yourself teaching at multiple schools, just one or two classes at each, to maintain a decent salary, check out these time management strategies for managing workload at multiple schools.

How to Manage Workload, Students, and Multiple Schools