Extent and Consequences of Faculty Members’ Workload Creep in Three Canadian Faculties of Education

The literature suggests that the emergence of market metrics in the administration of major research universities has led to an increase in workload, here called workload creep, among faculty members in academia. Addressing the research question “What is the evidence and impact of workload creep on faculty members in faculties of education in Canada?” this article begins to address the lack of empirical evidence addressing the scope and consequences of Canadian faculty members’ workload. To date, most research on the workload of Canadian higher education faculty is conceptual in nature, limited methodologically, or conflates data from multiple disciplinary areas. This research is different, focusing on faculties of education in three demographically similar U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities. Through analysis of qualitative in-depth interviews and comparison with research in different contexts, this article reports on the perceived personal and professional consequences of workload creep in terms of faculty members’ mental health, physical health, and productivity. Workload creep undermines traditional notions of valued academic identities. Keywords: workload, higher education, faculty, academic identityLa littérature soulève l’importance croissante des paramètres mercantiles dans l’administration des principales universités spécialisées dans la recherche; cette situation a entraîné une augmentation de la charge de travail des membres du corps professoral. Répondant à la question de recherche «Quelles sont les preuves et l’impact de la charge de travail sur les membres du corps professoral des facultés d’éducation au Canada?», cet article, ainsi que le projet de recherche qui en découle, tend à relever le manque de preuves tangibles pouvant étayer ce postulat. En effet, il faut savoir que la plupart des recherches sur la charge de travail du corps professoral de l’enseignement supérieur canadien sont de nature conceptuelle: non seulement, elle sont limitées sur le plan méthodologique, mais elles assimilent en outre des données provenant de plusieurs domaines disciplinaires. Cette recherche est néanmoins différente car elle se concentre sur les facultés de sciences éducatives de trois universités démographiquement comparables. À travers l’analyse d’entrevues qualitatives approfondies, cet article décrit les sources d’anxiété et de stress, ainsi que leur manifestation au moment de la retraite. L’augmentation de la charge de travail affecte les membres du corps professoral en termes de santé mentale, physique et de productivité. Elle met aussi en péril l’intégrité de la démarche académique et universitaire. Mots-clés : charge de travail, enseignement supérieur, faculté, identité académiqu

The “Half-Baked” Concept of “Raw” Data in Ethnographic Observation

In this article I argue that, when researchers record fieldnotes, they also create worldviews based on a priori perceptions and interpretations. To be culturally respectful, researchers in the field need to be concerned with both the cultural artifacts they create and with their inability to “accurately” record everything they see. It may not be necessary, or even desirable, for researchers to purge fieldnotes of their colourful, descriptive, and connotative language. Rather, they need to become self-conscious about word and text choices when writing fieldnotes. Keywords: qualitative research, fieldnotes, discourse analysis, educational ethnography Dans cet article, je fais valoir que, lorsque des chercheurs prennent des notes sur le terrain, ils créent aussi des visions du monde basées sur des perceptions et des interprétations a priori. Pour respecter la culture, les chercheurs sur le terrain doivent tenir compte des artefacts culturels qu’ils créent et de leur inaptitude à noter « avec précision » tout ce qu’ils voient. Il n’est peut-être pas nécessaire, ni même indiqué, que les chercheurs expurgent les notes prises sur le terrain de tout langage coloré, descriptif et connotatif. Ils doivent plutôt prendre conscience de leur choix de mots et de textes lorsqu’ils rédigent de telles notes. Mots clés : recherche qualtitative, notes sur le terrain, analyse du discours, ethnographie de l’éducation

WHEN “HISTORY” HAPPENS TO RESEARCH: A TALE OF ONE PROJECT, TWO RESEARCHERS, AND THREE COUNTRIES IN A TIME OF GLOBAL CRISIS

In this article, we have examined how historical events shape the research process, even when research is carefully planned and rigorously executed. Through an examination of our experiences conducting international data collection during a three‐year SSHRC funded period in which the War on Terrorism and the War in Iraq began, we suggest that social context affects all aspects of every research project, from planning, to funding, to data collection, analysis, and dissemination. History, particularly significant world events, should be re‐examined and redefined so that it is no longer understood as a variable that affects poorly planned research, but rather as an integral part of the research design and process. Key words: international education, mixed methods, foreign language Dans cet article, les auteurs examinent comment les événements historiques transforment le processus de recherche, même lorsque la recherche est soigneusement planifiée et rigoureusement exécutée. Par le biais dʹune recherche subventionnée par le CRSH et au cours de laquelle commença la guerre au terrorisme et la guerre en Irak, les auteurs font un examen de leur propre expérience de la collecte de données internationales, faite durant une période de trois ans. Ils suggèrent que le contexte social influence tous les aspects de la recherche, de la planification jusquʹaux résultats, de la collecte des données à leur analyse et à leur diffusion. Ils affirment que lʹhistoire devrait être réexaminée et redéfinie de telle manière quʹelle ne soit plus considérée comme une variable mais plutôt comme une partie intégrante du plan directeur de la recherche et de son contenu. Mots clés: éducation internationale, méthodes mixtes, langue étrangère

Linguistic Ecosystems for Foreign-Language Learning in Canada and Japan: An International Comparison of Where Language-Learning Beliefs Come From

We report on international research that compares linguistic ecosystems, that is, socially constructed public attitudes and ideologies concerned with foreign-language (FL) learning, in Canada and Japan. Analyzing responses to three interview questions from 125 interviews with five categories of respondent in each country, we suggest that there are a number of key differences between the linguistic ecosystems of the two countries, most notably that whereas Canada appears to promote the learning of foreign culture with little support for FL learning, Japan appears to promote FL learning without the learning of foreign culture.Notre article porte sur la recherche internationale qui compare les écosystèmes linguistiques, c’est à dire les attitudes et idéologies publiques définies par la société et portant sur l’apprentissage d’une langue étrangère, du Canada à ceux du Japon. Une analyse des réponses à trois questions d’entrevue provenant de 125 entrevues avec cinq catégories de répondants de chaque pays nous porte à conclure qu’il existe quelques différences importantes entre les deux écosystèmes linguistiques des deux pays, notamment que le Canada semble promouvoir l’apprentissage d’une culture étrangère tout en fournissant peu d’appui pour l’apprentissage d’une langue étrangère, alors que le Japon semble promouvoir l’apprentissage d’une langue étrangère sans l’apprentissage d’une culture étrangère

Academic Dignity: Countering the Emotional Experience of Academia

A significant emerging body of research has articulated and critiqued the conditions and impacts of neoliberalism on academic institutions, particularly how the rise of the 'marketized' university has shifted the way in which academics are expected to engage in research and teaching. We highlight some of the key concepts evident in the research as they pertain to the emotional responses of academics to the ideological shift that has taken place within the academy. We focus on their perspectives in order to validate the emotional and lived experiences of academics and repudiate the neoliberal conceptualization of the academic as homo economicus. Referencing our ongoing research in Canadian universities as well as extant literature, we overview work on workplace dignity, a countervailing notion that mobilizes positive emotional concepts. Using this as a springboard, we finally begin to articulate an academic dignity-centered approach. By ‘academics’, we mean all those engaged in academic work within the academy, from tenured faculty to research specialists and contracted instructors. &nbsp

The Ethics of Institutional Analysis: Paternalism and Proprietary Access to Canadian U15 Faculty

Through an investigation of Canadian U15 faculty experiences with workload a common concern emerged regarding expansions to the bureaucratic and managerial functions of the university that negatively affect faculty members. These functions overlap with concerns about research ethics when Offices of Institutional Analysis (OIA) evaluate research projects, often justified as limiting faculty and student survey fatigue. Yet, secondary reviews by OIAs frequently manifest as additional ethical reviews, seeming to arise from a notion of paternalism whereby universities treat constituencies as property to be managed and controlled. Students, staff and faculty are constructed as being protected by this review process, framed as the University’s moral imperative. These bureaucratic add-ons negatively affect faculty, adding stress to initiating already complex research programs, thereby alienating research faculty. OIAs are normally established and governed by administrators and non-academic staff; they are, therefore, immune from direct faculty input and oversight. We raise concerns about institutional isomorphism, suggesting that discussion and possibly intervention are needed to prevent universal adoption of these processes throughout higher education

Cast-away cultures and taboo tongues : face(t)s of first language loss

This dissertation examines first language loss, or lack of first language development, in minority first language children, trying to answer the questions: (a) what have been the consequences (negative or positive) of losing a first language?, and (b) what does first language loss mean both personally and literally? Taking a multiple life history case study approach, this dissertation seeks to understand first language loss from a descriptive, narrative, retrospective, and personal point-of-view, one heretofore overlooked in language loss research. Linguistic life histories were collected through a series of interviews with each of 21 subjects. Five of the life histories are included in full edited form and are intensively analysed in this dissertation. Additionally, all 21 case studies are reviewed in an emergent theme analysis which examines the consequences of first language loss for family relationships, school relationships, school performance, and self image. A final section of the emergent theme analysis tries to determine the meaning of first language loss. A number of negative consequences of losing one's primary language are cited, including familial misunderstanding, loss of extended family, loss of parental closeness and guidance, anger and frustration toward the family, the school system and the community, poor scholastic performance in some subject areas, poor self image, loss of employment opportunity and marketability, and loss of cultural identity. It is concluded that first language loss has had a significantly negative impact on many aspects of the subjects' lives.Education, Faculty ofLanguage and Literacy Education (LLED), Department ofGraduat

Bringing Life to Research: Life History Research and ESL

Despite its potential, life history methodology has seldom been used in TESL research. This article first defines what is meant by life history research methodology, and then examines how it might benefit our research in TESL. Answering the question, What are the benefits of life history research? the author examines how life histories in other fields and in her own research have shifted focus from the extraordinary to the mundane, and from the universal to the singular, while simultaneously adding previously marginalized perspectives, challenging and informing theory, allowing for comprehensive reinterpretation, locating research historically, and encouraging the production of invitational texts. The author further argues that participants in life history research benefit from being listened to and from framing their stories in terms of overcoming adversity, while the researcher benefits from becoming critically involved with her or his participants. The final section of the article addresses some of the potential pitfalls of life history research, including reliability, verifiability, the tendency toward exoticism, difficulties with translation and authorship, and the "afterlife" of research. The article concludes by asserting that life history is one methodology that is powerful enough to begin recording the complexities of race, class, language, history, and cultures in our classrooms

POLICIES AFFECTING ESL INSTRUCTION IN MANITOBA

Since the 1960s, potential newcomers to Canada have been assessed on a point system which takes into account their education, professional background and training, knowledge of an official language, resident family, and ability to make an economic contribution to Canada. Because economic factors have recently garnered proportionally more points, immigration from the ìAsian Tigerî countries has increased. Urban centers such as Vancouver report that English as a second language (ESL) students form 10% to 33% or more of the student population in high schools (Naylor, 1994a; 1994b; McGivern & Eddy, 1999). While Centers outside of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal do not yet report such high numbers of ESL students, immigrant applicants are now able to gain points by volunteering to live in other areas for a specified period of time (Immigration Canada, 1993). Other urban centers are therefore receiving more independent class immigrants. Additionally, in an effort to attract foreign dollars, many school divisions have begun actively recruiting international students to study in high schools, many of whom are expected to become Canadian citizens and sponsor their familyís immigration. Finally, increasing numbers of ESL students are now Canadian born, as families elect to maintain their heritage languages in their homes and allow the schools to teach English. As a result of these and other factors, there are increased numbers of ESL students who have high educational attainments and expectations