Member consultation on policy 76/77 negotiations

The FAUW Board is seeking input from members regarding our next steps for policies 76 and 77.

What’s happening

On December 23, 2021, Lori Curtis, FAUW President, and James Rush, VP Academic and Provost, issued a joint communication announcing substantial movement toward the renewal of Policies 76 and 77. This represented what we believed were firm agreements that would be the basis for subsequent policy language written by the policy drafting committee in 2022. FAUW was pleased that, after more than seven years of effort, there was finally an agreed-upon path forward on these policy updates.

The administration is now asking to change one aspect of this agreement, specifically regarding the pedagogical and professional development term for the new teaching-stream professorial ranks.

FAUW has not agreed to the changes proposed by the administration and the Board would like member input on how to respond. ~~There is a link to a brief survey at the end of this page.~~ The survey closed April 7 at noon.

This page covers:

The agreements made with the administration in December 2021 regarding pedagogical and professional development for teaching-stream professors.
The administration's new position and how it would change the proposed pedagogical and professional development term.
The options for responding to the administration's proposal and member survey.

Agreements as of December 23, 2021

As a reminder, the December 2021 memorandum included agreement on:

The creation of new ranks: Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream; Associate Professor, Teaching Stream; Professor, Teaching Stream;
A transition agreement for current Continuing Lecturers and Definite-term Lecturers (with a UARC appointment and five years or more of consecutive appointments) to enter the new ranks (those who wish to retain their current rank may do so);
Provisions for a pedagogical and professional development (PPD) term;
Teaching-stream faculty eligibility for and participation in collegial governance on campus, with some limited exceptions.

Pedagogical and professional development expectations and the PPD term

Within the agreed-upon path presented in the December 2021 memorandum is an expectation for all teaching-stream faculty to engage in pedagogical and professional development (PPD) in order to qualify for permanence and promotion in the new ranks.

Given these new expectations, FAUW worked with the administration to include a professional and pedagogical (PPD) term without course load redistribution in the December 2021 memorandum. The pedagogical and professional development term is essential for giving teaching-stream faculty the time to focus on this additional PPD work that will be a required part of rank progression.

(What will this PPD work include? Read our blog post explaining FAUW’s understanding of what ‘pedagogical and professional development’ activities include.)

Administration’s new position

The administration is now proposing to change this agreement, specifically regarding the pedagogical and professional development term. The administration has claimed that this change in position is needed to avoid creating inequities in some departments.

READ THE ADMINISTRATION'S PROPOSED REVISED TEXT

Their proposed revised text of points 1-5 above reads as follows (additions in bold; deletions in strike-out):

No one will have their assigned teaching load increase as a result of this agreement.
Some teaching-stream faculty who currently have assigned teaching in six out of six terms, or who currently exercise the option of one-in-six non-teaching term only through a redistribution of their assigned teaching load into five terms, will have a load reduction of two courses (or their equivalent in service load) for the PPD. In implementing these reductions, the focus will be on ensuring within-department consistency across teaching-stream faculty who have the same weightings.
Teaching-stream faculty who currently have assigned teaching in five or fewer terms out of six terms (i.e., who already get a term with no assigned duties) will not have a load reduction for PPD, unless the current load over a two-year period exceeds 12.
Assignment of teaching load for current and future teaching-stream faculty will follow the norms established in their home unit, while also being consistent with a commitment that teaching-stream professors shall have one term in six for PPD ~~without the need to redistribute load~~. These norms shall be made explicit in letters of offer and in Addenda to faculty performance evaluation guidelines at the faculty and/or department level (see MoA, 13.5.1)
Under no circumstances will more than 12 course be assigned over a two-year period.

What does the administration’s proposed change mean?

Teaching-stream professors will be required to meet standards for permanence and promotion, and thus may need to add PPD activities to their current workload. The Pedagogical and Professional Development (PPD) term is intended to allow lecturers that move to the new ranks time to engage in such self-directed activities. This does not change in the new proposal from the administration. Note that these expectations will only apply to current lecturers if they choose to transition to the new teaching-stream ranks.

What does change in the administration’s new proposal is that most teaching-stream professors would not have a reduction from their current teaching or service load if, as lecturers, they currently teach 12 or fewer courses over a two-year period. (See the chart below for more details.)

Note that FAUW has offered to undertake a joint comprehensive workload review to address inequities across campus.

SEE THE IMPACT ON THE PPD TERM FOR LECTURERS WHO TRANSITION TO THE NEW RANKS

Impact of administration’s changed position on PPD term:

Your current situation	December 2021 agreement	New administration position
I teach in six out of six terms	You will have a teaching load reduction of two courses (or their equivalent in service load).	If you teach more than 12 courses over two years, you will have a reduction in course load to 12. If you currently teach 12 or fewer courses over two years, in most cases you will have a redistribution of course load.
I have a one-in-six non-teaching term, but only if I redistribute my assigned teaching load into five terms	You will have a teaching load reduction of two courses (or their equivalent in service load).	If you teach more than 12 courses over two years, you will have a reduction in course load to 12. If you currently teach 12 or fewer courses over two years, in most cases you will have a redistribution of course load, not a reduction.
I already have a term every two years with no assigned duties. Or: I teach in five or fewer terms out of six.	You will not have a teaching load reduction, unless you are assigned more than 12 courses over 2 years.	You will not have a teaching load reduction, unless you teach more than 12 courses over 2 years.

Note that your teaching load might also be affected by any changes to the teaching load norms in your unit. These norms are already explicit in many Faculties’ and departments’ performance review guidelines and addenda, and the administration’s proposal will require them to be made explicit in such documents. Under the Memorandum of Agreement (section 13.5.1), these documents are subject to approval every two years by the members in each department/Faculty.

How should FAUW respond?

FAUW has not agreed to the changes proposed by the administration. The FAUW Board is seeking guidance on your preferred ways forward regarding revisions to policies 76 and 77.

Options for next steps include the following:

Accepting the administration’s proposed changesregarding the PPD term as part of the basis of a revised Policy 76/77 to be drafted by the Policy Drafting Committee.
Negotiating a fair third-party mediation/arbitration process with the administration to find a solution for all outstanding issues in Policy 76/77, including the PPD term.
Rejecting the administration’s proposed changes and continuing to try to hold administration to the high-level agreement communicated to faculty in December 2021. If they refuse, the Faculty Relations Committee would inform Senate that the policy revision process failed, and the current policies would remain in place.

Update April 7: We invited members to complete a short, anonymous survey to help determine FAUW’s response to the administration’s proposal. The survey asked which course of action you would most prefer. The survey closed April 7 at noon.