Count your students on day 1

From Stems & Pieces

Vol 7 No 1, Sept 1989

On the first day you go to class, take a moment and count the noses. Later, in the comfort of your ostentatiously furnished private office, compare the number of noses to the number of students estimated on your SWF for each class. If you find that there are significantly more noses than students, go straight to your chairperson and tell him or her that something smells. Recent evidence suggests that some chairpersons purposely underestimate workloads by understating the number of students expected to register in courses.

Don't be blown away by his or her insistence that the college has a right to estimate your workload by reference to projected, audit date, retention figures. That'snot true! If the language meant that, it would be a plain as the nose on your face!

The language was written to provide workload control right from the start of the semester. The work associated with a student who leaves before audit date doesn't go away on the first day of class!

If your chairperson is guilty of this deceptive manipulation of our collective agreement, lodge a formal complaint. Follow it up with a grievance if he or she doesn't rectify the situation immediately.

Our Collective agreement provides for fairness to both sides in estimating workload, but only if both sides play the game fairly!