Information and Policies for Graduate Teaching Assistants

There are also some advanced Teaching Assistant positions, called “General Assignment” (GA) Teaching Assistant positions, which are usually assigned to PhD students in their second year and beyond. For a General Assignment position, the student is assigned to a specific instructor, and the TA’s work may involve supporting the instructor with one or more classes they are teaching during the term. Aside from supporting the instructor, a General Assignment position is also meant to serve as a bridge between TA work and independent teaching, so it may involve more advanced teaching work.

See other sections of the Teaching Portal for more information on the different kinds of teaching positions.

The term of a TA position will usually extend before and after the actual weeks of classes, and TAs can be assigned tasks anytime from the first day of a position to the last day of a position. Any work remaining after the end of the position's term is the sole responsibility of the instructor. TA positions are assigned by the department in line with the provisions of the CUPE Local 5524.01 Collective Agreement, so students and instructors cannot make private arrangements to extend a position if the position's hours run out.

TAs work an average of ten hours per week over the term. Some weeks may be under ten hours and some may be over, with some spiking in hours at particular points in the course. But where possible the number of hours in a given week should be relatively close to ten, and should not exceed twenty hours. Students should know well in advance if the workload for a given week will significantly exceed ten hours.

Mandatory Training Workshops

All UWaterloo Employees, including all graduate students with teaching positions, must complete a series of mandatory training workshops in order to work at the university. All new graduate teaching assistants must complete these workshops within two weeks of starting work at the university. You can find specific details about the employee workshops and how to take them on the Mandatory Training Workshops page.

These workshops, along with the three hours of mandatory teacher training that incoming students must take in the fall term, are paid: time for them must be included within the hours allocated to any TA assignment. Therefore, instructors teaching ENGL 109 or ENGL 210F must allocate 8 hours as "Training/Buffer" to cover the mandatory workshops, as incoming students might be starting their first teaching position in any term. Instructors with general assignment TAs should allocate two hours as "Training/Buffer" or be prepared to reduce the hours allocated to another course task in order to accommodate any mandatory re-training that their TA might have to take.

Leaves and Other Time-Related Exemptions

There are a number of new time-related leaves and exemptions arising from the CUPE Local 5524.01 Collective Agreement. They are listed below, with the relevant article number following:

• GTAs are exempt from grading during a period five days immediately prior to a comprehensive exam or thesis defense. All other course responsibilities remain in effect. At least 4 weeks notice is required for this exception. (16.13)
• GTAs can have up to one week of paid leave to attend union training, conditional on their making arrangements to fulfill their normal teaching responsibilities. (30.02)
• GTAs have up to six hours of paid sick leave. For an extended unpaid absence due to illness, a form may be required. (31.01)
• GTAs have up to six hours of paid bereavement leave. (31.02)
• GTAs can request up to one week's unpaid conference leave, conditional on their making arrangements to fulfill their normal teaching responsibilities. Loss of pay may be avoided if rescheduling is possible, subject to supervisor approval. (31.04)

If one of these leaves or exemptions is requested, the instructor can contact the Graduate Officer to ensure it is properly implemented.

Work tasks associated with a TA position generally include marking assignments and tests, monitoring student progress, communicating with students, test or exam invigilation, and attending TA meetings. In addition to these tasks, General Assignment positions may include the following: assisting with activities in class, guest lecturing, holding tutorials with individual students or groups of students in or out of class, leading small groups, and holding student conferences.

Class preparation, readings, meetings with the instructor, emailing students, holding office hours, and attending lectures or other classes are activities that count toward the position's total number of hours. The work associated with a specific position will vary depending upon the needs of the course or courses. In some cases a position may consist mostly or even entirely of assignment marking. In others, other kinds of work may be required. The specific duties associated with a position and the hours associated with those duties will be specified in the Assignment of Duty form that will be given to the TA within five days after the position has started.

The student’s overall task is to do the assigned work to the best of their ability within the time allotted. In addition to their specific work tasks, Teaching Assistants have general responsibilities to their students, their instructors, and to the university and program. Review the Responsibilities page for a description of these.

The instructor’s overall task is to provide the direction, guidance, and support (e.g., information, meetings, mark regularization) that will allow the TA to do the assigned work well within the allotted time. Instructors are responsible for ensuring that the amount of assigned work falls within the allotted hours for the position and for monitoring students’ work to ensure that the projected times for completion of tasks are accurate.

Both TAs and instructors are responsible for keeping track of how many hours are used up in total and for informing each other in a timely manner about any issues that might affect the performance of specific tasks or the general completion of the position as it is laid out in the Assignment of Duties form.

Confidentiality

Instructors and TAs are expected to follow all confidentiality policies specified by the University in Policy 46 - Information Management, which restricts sharing of students' personal information, grades, and assignments. All TAs are required to sign a confidentiality agreement, which will be supplied by your course coordinator.

Within the English department, TAships are viewed not only as jobs but as mentoring opportunities. Many General Assignment TAs, in particular, may eventually be moving on to independent graduate instructor work. and all TA positions are an opportunity for graduate students to benefit from instructors’ expertise and experience. Instructors are encouraged therefore to provide constructive feedback on their graduate students’ teaching activities with the aim not only of meeting the needs of their courses, but of developing the students as instructors.

The TA Coordinator, Graduate Officer, and Graduate Coordinator are available to consult about any potential questions or issues encountered by instructors or students in the course of a TA position’s completion. Please note that the Collective Agreement includes procedures for dispute resolution. See the English Contact page for contact information.