Students! Do You Have to Write a Teaching Evaluation for a Contract Instructor?

A good one makes all the difference

photo by Toa Heftiba for Unsplash

It’s that time of year again. Along with final papers and exams and overdue library books, there are email notifications to fill in teaching and course evaluations…blah,blah, blah.

Delete. Too busy.

Are you too busy? Really?

Writing a teaching and course evaluation for a contract teacher is important. Maybe not for you. But for the teacher it can be the difference between having a job and not having a job in the coming year. There may also be such pieces as “merit” funds on the line, or promotion, or even some bit of job security… such as it is, in contract work.

So many students do not realize that many of their teachers are “contract” employees

In Canada, more than half — yes, more than HALF — university instructors, especially those teaching the large lecture classes, are “contracted.” These instructors have a paycheck that bears no resemblance to what the students are hoping to earn when they emerge from the institution. So many students do not realize that from one year to the next many contract folks hang in the balance of, “Will I have a job next…