Precarious employment outlook jeopardising Irish academia

The Irish Precarity Network, a group of academics, researchers, and educators, is warning that precarious employment is having a devastating impact on the Irish higher education sector.

Precarious employment in Irish colleges is leaving many academic staff unable to secure bank loans, afford healthcare, find accommodation, start families, or get above the poverty line.

That’s according to the Irish Precarity Network, a group of academics, researchers, and educators who are warning that precarious employment is having a devastating impact on the Irish higher education sector.

Higher education is being sustained by highly qualified, low-paid staff on temporary contracts, earning well below a living wage, and who have no job security, according to Dr Niall Kennedy, a teaching fellow at Trinity College Dublin.

Academic staff on precarious contracts are estimated to make up a significant proportion of those teaching and researching in colleges here.

Untenable

As well as those working on temporary contracts which range from between three to 12 months, there is also a large and growing number of people working on an hourly basis, who are paid a flat fee per class.

It is completely untenable, Dr Kennedy said.

“We think that the prevalence of these temporary contracts leads to huge turnover, and it’s a threat to both quality of teaching and the quality of research.” 

 Most higher education teaching jobs will require prospective candidates to have a PhD or be close to completing one.

“Most colleges will also give their own PhD students those opportunities internally as well,” Dr Kennedy said.

“To get a PhD, you are talking about nearly a decade of study. Stipends are very low nowadays, and people come out with significant debt. They then face a situation where they are struggling to get jobs in the sector, and for the jobs that are available, the wages are absurd.” 

 For example, academic staff who are paid hourly could receive €40 per class which doesn’t include the time spent preparing or marking, he added.

“For hourly-paid teaching staff specifically, it is possible to teach what an institution considers to be a full teaching load, and yet earn less than €10,000 in an academic year.” 

 This is significantly less than the average starting salary of an assistant professor, who would be carrying out the same amount of teaching.

“It’s absolutely unlivable and I believe the sector is heading towards a really serious crisis. The people that teach in universities are increasingly going to be drawn from this very elite, upper-middle-class circle that can afford to do all this. Effectively, it’s almost like an unpaid internship.” 

Some hourly-paid teachers will earn less than €10,000 in an academic year. Picture: Stock image 

Second jobs

Many academics must find extra work elsewhere, take on a second job outside the sector or rely on support from families. During the summer months, many rely on social welfare.

This means that “the government is effectively subsidising universities again to offer these very low wages", Dr Kennedy said.

 Irish universities have fallen in international rankings in recent years, partly due to class sizes getting bigger and bigger, he added.

“We have major concerns for the quality of the teaching they will receive in return for that money unless this trend towards precarity is reversed.” 

 The Irish Precarity Network has made a submission to the Oireachtas Education Committee as part of its discussions on the future funding of higher education. Dr Kennedy is due to appear on March 29.

On Wednesday, the group is due to hold an organising meeting to build towards an official launch of its campaign to highlight the precarity in the sector.