UBC Teaching Assistant Application - Anthro PhD

[Canis]

Anyone know why UBC has a TA application that they list as optional for submission along with the PhD program application?

 

I'm wondering if this means they don't consider students for TA positions unless they apply using this form, and if so that means funding doesn't normally include TAships?

[anthropologygeek]

Canis- yes you must fill out both to be eligible for funding and no it's means funding is competitive and not guaranteed.

[Canis]

Thank you! This is helpful - it confused me, and still seems very odd. It's the only school I've found that doesn't just use the admissions app to consider students for TA positions.

 

The application also directly asks for a resume with teaching experience. I assume they mean a CV with Teaching Emphasis. And not an actual resume - unless they actually want unrelated employment on it?

 

Which again is so strange, b/c who would have any real teaching experience prior to applying to a PhD program?

[anthropologygeek]

I would send my cv in. Tis isn't odd even us schools do this sometimes

[TakeruK]

I am not 100% sure how your program will work, but UBC has a university-wide union for TAs and RAs, like most universities in Canada. This means that TA assignments must follow the protocol set out in the Collective Agreement and be transparent. The best practice for this usually involves graduate students "applying" for positions as if they were jobs and the department keeps all of the information on file in case they need to later prove that they did follow the established protocol.

 

I don't know the exact protocol of the UBC TA union's agreement off hand but at most schools, they usually work like this:

 

TA positions must be assigned in the following preference groups:

 

1. Students that are:

-- have the necessary skills to TA the course,

-- in the department offering the TAships, 

-- still have years of guaranteed TAships/funding remaining.

 

2. Students that are:

-- have the necessary skills to TA the course,

-- in the department offering the TAships,

-- no longer have years of guaranteed funding left.

 

3. Students that are:

-- have the necessary skills to TA the course

-- not in the department offering the TAships

-- but have TA'ed for this department in the past

 

4. Students that are:

-- have the necessary skills to TA the course

-- none of the above applies

 

For TA positions within a department, every potential TA will fall into one of the above groups. The department must assign a TA position to everyone in Group 1 first, before anyone in Group 2 gets a spot, and so on. Definition of each group will vary based on each Collective Agreement, but the above is just an example to illustrate this point. Each student's offer letter should state how many years of guaranteed TAships they have and how many hours of TAships they are promised--this becomes the contract. 

So, it's really important for departments to keep track of who is qualified to teach which course (by way of these TA applications) so that if, for example, there is a TA needed for a course but no one in Group 1 is qualified to teach it, they can assign it to someone in Group 2 and they need to keep the application material from everyone to prove that no one in Group 1 could teach that course. Also, in some multidisciplinary fields, TAs may be hired from different departments, so keeping track of everything is very important. Or, due to an unexpected budget change, the department may have more students than available TA positions, so the positions will go to the most qualified/eligible students. And, if a TA engages in inappropriate conduct, a note will be placed in their employment record and this information is part of the TA assignment decision as well.

 

Although ultimately this means more paperwork, I think this makes sure the whole process has a written protocol and is completely transparent, so everyone is treated fairly/equally and there will be little chances for favouritism or other prejudices to impact important funding decisions. 

 

---

 

So, to answer Canis' questions:

 

1. It is still likely that every admitted student will be promised TAships. In my MSc program, we all had TAships and the department was even able to pay a TAship for some students who had already passed their limit. But for record keeping reasons above, you still have to formally apply for them. In these cases, it's just a formality in case something happens.

 

2. You should create a CV that contains all of your teaching experience. You can even emphasize teaching if you want and if the CV you are to submit is used solely for TA applicants. 

 

3. I would suspect that every graduate student, new or current, has to resubmit the application, including updated CV, every single time the department makes TA assignment decisions (which is equivalent to a hiring decision). At most places, this is every year. Also, most Collective Agreements require departments to officially post all of their openings in case a qualified student from a different department wants to apply (at a much lower priority level than students within the department). So, don't panic if you see job postings for your anticipated TA position, it's just a formality to ensure transparency!

[Canis]

This is incredibly helpful TakeruK - thank you! And in some ways (although I know problems remain) clearly one of the reasons that graduate student labor is in a much better position in Canada. At the schools I've attended TAs were chosen by professors and then asked to submit an application only as a formality for a position they had already been given. 

 

Also, it seems that by TA they might mean what we call 'adjuncts' in the US. Whereas, I assumed that TA meant working as an assistant for a professor who is teaching the course - it sounds like TA might be used to refer to students who are primarily responsible for the course?

[TakeruK]

This is incredibly helpful TakeruK - thank you! And in some ways (although I know problems remain) clearly one of the reasons that graduate student labor is in a much better position in Canada. At the schools I've attended TAs were chosen by professors and then asked to submit an application only as a formality for a position they had already been given. 

 

Also, it seems that by TA they might mean what we call 'adjuncts' in the US. Whereas, I assumed that TA meant working as an assistant for a professor who is teaching the course - it sounds like TA might be used to refer to students who are primarily responsible for the course?

 

Well, in many cases, the "application process" is still just a formality. Most Collective Agreement only requires that a TA be "qualified" to be a TA for the course, so there is no requirement for the department to assign the "most qualified" person to TA the course. And "qualified" is pretty loosely defined--i.e. in many cases, a person is considered qualified to TA any undergraduate Physics course if they have a BSc in Physics and/or have taken the similar course in the past. In my old departments, profs do kind of choose their TAs beforehand, and as long as it fits within the official protocol and scheduling works, then it will likely happen. But the system isn't designed to be a meritocratic system, it's designed to protect graduate students from departments going back on their funding promises. It ensures that if everyone was promised 3 years of TAships when they entered, then the department can't give a 4th year student a TAship and deny one from a 2nd year student that they have some grudge against.

 

In the ideal case, the department and TAs will have the mutual goal of providing a good education for the undergraduates and providing PhD students with fair stipends and benefits! And usually, if a prof wants a certain student to work for them, and the student is okay with it, there is probably a good reason and it will probably end up with better education for the students in the course. So if the department acts fairly, the Collective Agreement should only impose a small cost of extra paperwork for everyone. In the ideal case, the Collective Agreement should never get in the way of providing the best education or force a sub-optimal situation on either employer nor employee!

 

Also, in my above writing, I used the term TA to mean actual teaching assistants -- i.e. we would run tutorial/recitation/discussion sections or supervise labs, and usually hold office hours and also grade assignments. TAs are not normally responsible for course content, although they might get the chance to run one or two lectures. In the sciences, these are basically the only teaching type jobs we get, but I know there are "adjunct" like positions in other fields. At my MSc school, "adjuncts" were called "Teaching Fellows" (TFs) and they were also in our union and covered under the same Collective Agreement, but some clauses are different for TFs. For example, while TAs at Queen's are paid on an hourly basis (about $38/hr), TFs at Queen's were paid per course--a 12 week course was paid at $7800, with a 10% increase if enrollment was greater than 120 students or something. I don't remember if UBC treats these positions differently or not! I think UBC TAs are not paid as high as similar schools in Canada and I know that this was one of the main things they were fighting for at the last Collective Bargaining sessions (along with increasing the minimum # of years with guaranteed TAships) but I don't know how that worked out in the end!

[Canis]

Great insights - I really appreciate your sharing the knowledge and experience!

 

On a side note regarding wages, the hourly at my program for TAs is over $50/hour (USD), but they only give you about 15 hours for the whole semester and then expect you to work 10+  hours each week!

[anthropologygeek]

In mt department the ta is the instructor on record and in complete control of the class

[Canis]

AnthroGeek, is that a program in the US?

[anthropologygeek]

Yes it is