Involving sessional staff

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Introduction

In many undergraduate courses in the biological sciences, particularly when cohorts are large, sessional staff make an important contribution to the teaching. Tutorials and practical classes typically involve sessional staff, many of whom are actively involved in research in the discipline - as honours or doctoral students, or in research positions of various kinds. Sessional staff may also be involved in field trips and in providing specialist 'guest' lectures. Clinical courses often rely heavily on the expertise and involvement of specialists who are otherwise not involved in 'on-campus' university teaching.

Our sessional staff are actually practising laboratory scientists. We don't use honours students or PhD students. They're people actually working in the industry. [academic]

We were, however, told of many courses where the bulk of sessional teaching in practical classes and tutorials is by current postgraduate students, actively recruited for two reasons. First, providing undergraduate students a chance to learn from near-peers who can share their enthusiasm for research and continued learning in the discipline is valued in terms of student engagement. Second, sessional teaching is seen to be a valuable opportunity for postgraduate students to gain experience that will assist in their own professional development.

The degree to which sessional staff are involved in assessment varies from the provision of formative feedback only, to extensive involvement in the design, coordination, and grading of assessment tasks. In general, the larger the student cohort, the more extensive the involvement of sessional staff in assessment. For example, in large first year classes it is not uncommon for sessional tutors and demonstrators to be involved in the design and grading of laboratory reports and tests, and the grading of written assignments and essay-style examination questions.

The term 'sessional staff' is difficult to define in absolute terms. For the purpose of this discussion, however, the issue is that sessional staff do not have the same degree of 'tenure' as other academic teaching staff, are often employed casually and on an hourly basis, and - for these reasons - are typically not as extensively involved in university teaching processes and discussions as are other academic staff.

The need to provide support for this important group of teaching staff is well-recognised. Equally important, particularly where assessment is concerned, is the need to ensure effective coordination and communication where large teaching teams, including sessional staff, are involved.

See also Sessional Teaching: an AUTC Project  -  an Australian project providing a range of resources for use by sessional staff, course coordinators and university management.

Sessional staff support and training

Given the important role of sessional teaching in many biological science courses, it is essential that sessional staff are able to develop the skills needed to teach well. Many people involved in sessional teaching are relatively new to university teaching. For example, recent graduates employed as demonstrators during their PhD candidature often have no previous teaching experience. The same is true for many specialist clinicians and scientists. Even very experienced sessional teachers can benefit from professional development opportunities that enable them to contribute to teaching and learning discussions and to access relevant resources. Two broad approaches are taken to the support and training for sessional staff:

Professional development programs and workshops

The range of programs provided for sessional staff includes:

Orientation sessions for new sessional staff
  • The most common form of professional development provided for sessional staff.
  • For people new to sessional teaching, or new to sessional teaching within a particular faculty or department.
  • Often mandatory, with participants paid for their time.
  • May be faculty or department-based, or specific to a unit of study where large numbers of sessional staff are involved.
  • Topics may include: teaching & learning (e.g. group facilitation; questioning skills; providing feedback); subject material (e.g. for subject-specific orientation programs); assessment (e.g. faculty and administrative procedures).
The education training people conduct orientation courses for sessional staff at the beginning. There are a few courses they conduct and the students - the postgraduate students - are welcome to attend. [academic]
We have tutor training that the faculty runs for all new tutors. In addition, all of the tutors in first year biology are invited in the afternoon of the same day to a tutor training programming where I talk about the subject, and then they actually get an opportunity go down and actually run through some of the lab material. Most of them are our postgraduates. And that's also the case again with physics, chemistry, maths, and so on.  [academic]
Accredited programs
  • May be specific to sessional teaching [Example: see Example 1, below] or relating to university teaching generally (e.g. Graduate Certificate in University Teaching).
  • For both new and experienced staff.
  • Usually optional and undertaken in own time.
  • May involve online modules.
  • Topics may include: teaching & learning principles; skills for particular teaching contexts (e.g. practical class demonstrating).
Occasional workshops and seminars
  • Usually relating to university teaching issues, generally, and open to all teaching staff, including sessional staff.
  • For both new and experienced staff.
  • Attendance optional and undertaken in own time. May be encouraged and recognised as 'good practice'.

Regular meetings with staff involved in coordinating and supervising the teaching

It is common practice to arrange regular briefing meetings for sessional staff - for example, a short meeting immediately before a practical class [Example: Gregory]. Sessional staff are often provided with extensive teaching notes and materials [Example: see Example 3, below].

Peer support meetings and networks

An effective approach to supporting sessional teaching involves mechanisms that encourage and facilitate collaboration between sessional staff. This might be organised around the unit of study, the department or the faculty. The aim is usually to enable the sharing of information, ideas and strategies - irrespective of level of experience. Such mechanisms can also facilitate communication between sessional staff and other academic staff involved in the teaching. This is important, as communication can be a particular challenge when large numbers of sessional staff have occasional involvement in the teaching and are otherwise disparate in location and interest.

[Example: see Example 3, below].

Explicit mentoring of new staff by more experienced sessional staff is also a common and beneficial practice.

Coordination of assessment

When more than one person is involved, there is a need to have mechanisms in place which ensure consistency in both the feedback provided to students and the assessment criteria and standards applied. This is a challenge for all teaching teams - although the need is arguably greater when large numbers of inexperienced sessional staff are involved, as is the case for many first year subjects in the biological sciences. Strategies in use include:

[Sessional staff] follow the guidelines of the coordinator, and he/she has the ultimate say. If that is me, I will give them the guidelines, and then I will spend probably an hour after the assessment has been graded, looking through the grades awarded ... [academic]

Further examples of training programs and strategies

1: An accredited faculty-based training program for sessional staff

At the University of Sydney, the Faculty of Science in collaboration with the Institute for Teaching and Learning has developed a program to help sessional staff in their tutoring/demonstrating role. Successful completion of the course leads to an accreditation certificate that can form part of a CV as well as being evidence of skills of communication, interaction and teaching, and expertise in a discipline area. To be eligible for a Certificate of Completion, sessional staff are required to complete the following:

  • Orientation to Tutoring and Demonstrating Workshop: this 2.5 hour interactive workshop briefly covers general aspects of small group teaching. It models small group teaching practice and provides an opportunity to discuss teaching techniques.
  • Discipline based training: this is covered by the separate disciplines and includes the administration of and content of what is taught.
  • A short exercise related to teaching situations: e-mailed during the program in the form of one-line teaching scenarios which require a response. Examples of responses are later put online for all to gain from the collected thoughts/experience.
  • A reflective exercise related to teaching: provided at the workshop are ideas about how to ' reflect ' on one's effectiveness in helping students learn. Different ways suit different situations of course but the common theme is to prompt one to consider how students learn and one's role in facilitating this.
  • Head of School/Unit Coordinator approval: this is to ensure that the staff member can handle the content of the material  presented and convey it to students in an appropriate manner.

Further details of this program are available.

See also:
Stewart, C., George, A. and Peat, M. Supporting beginning teachers to support student learning in large first year science classes. From: 8th Pacific Rim First Year in Higher Education Conference Proceedings. Editors: Dr Duncan Nulty & Dr Noel Meyers. ISBN: 1 74107 067 8. Publication date: July 2004.

2. Coordination of weekly practical class assessment and feedback

The laboratory class demonstrators, mostly postgraduate students, assess students' work books each week, during class. The Academic in Charge provides a very specific pro forma for use by the demonstrators. This details the criteria for which students are awarded a mark, and the need to provide feedback - particularly where students have made errors. Usually the laboratory class concludes with a brief tutorial, during which common errors are discussed. This continuous assessment by the demonstrators contributes 20 per cent to the overall grade for the subject.

3. Weekend teaching workshop, complemented by subject-specific meetings

Sessional staff attend a weekend training workshop which covers the general principles of effective university teaching. Subsequently, the subject coordinator holds regular meetings for sessional staff. Comprehensive notes are distributed in advance, including questions that help staff test their own knowledge of the material. Online materials are also provided, including a glossary of terms and some multiple choice questions relating to the use of these terms. During the meeting, staff are encouraged to discuss any areas of uncertainty with the coordinator and one another. Familiarity with the material is essential, as the sessional staff are involved in assessment and providing feedback. These meetings also include discussions on strategies for engaging students. 

4. Laboratory-based scientists involved in classes, but not directly in student assessment

The sessional staff are practising laboratory scientists, working in industry. They are provided with a basic orientation to the university, but no additional teaching-related training. They are not involved in grading, although they do observe and monitor students' performance and provide feedback to the course coordinators. Involving laboratory professionals in this way a means of validating the curriculum and enhancing the design of laboratory classes.




To reference material from this site, please use:

Harris, K-L., Krause, K., Gleeson, D., Peat, M., Taylor, C. & Garnett, R. (2007). Enhancing Assessment in the Biological Sciences: Ideas and resources for university educators. Available at: www.bioassess.edu.au