Translated material
You have to imitate either science or teaching
The articles of Vanda Tilles [1] and Murat Choshanov [2], open letters to the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Science [3, 4] teachers of higher school pose an acute problem of prohibitive teaching (auditorial) loads and excessive, ineffective regulation of their labor, or simply stationery.
I am completely in solidarity with colleagues and I believe that the problem, although it is not the only one, plays a decisive role in reducing the quality of higher education. No reforms will increase its level if the teacher does not have time to prepare for classes, live work with students and on his own scientific research.
A simple calculation allows you to demonstrate that the current audit load is incompatible with either high -quality pedagogical activity or scientific work. At our university, with an annual pedagogical burden of 760 hours (they report that in some universities it reaches 900 or even 1000 hours) classes occupy 19–22 hours a week.
A full -range teacher leads at least four groups, that is, on average about 80 students. At a 40-hour working week for each student, it accounts for a weekly for about 15 minutes-for consultation, checking homework, tests, coursework, abstracts, etc. This is provided that the teacher is not busy with either methodological or scientific work.
Obviously, for high -quality pedagogical work - for example, to read and thoughtfully comment on the essay of each student - there is simply no time. And this, I repeat, without taking into account the need to write a variety of reports, plans, RPD and fosov (which we have already rewritten twice in this academic year). After all, you need to prepare for lectures, practical studies, update laboratory workshops, etc., etc.
As a rule, the teacher leads several subjects (2–4), which multiplies the volume of methodological work. Thus, that employee who wants to somehow engage in research must simulate teaching work, and he who seriously treats his teaching duties imitates scientific activity-and still he does not have enough time.
In this example, a critical need to reduce not only the pedagogical load (at least up to 12 hours a week) is visible, but also the number of disciplines per teacher. Obviously, this will require an increase in the faculty and an appropriate increase in the budget of higher education.
And if the latter depends not only on the Ministry of Education and Science, then the reduction in the volume of paper work is entirely within the framework of the competence of the department. The solution to this issue will not only free the time of teachers for more useful activities, but also eliminate a significant annoying factor that makes the teaching community bring intracorporate disputes into public space.
Leonid Asin,
Associate Professor
1. Http://trv-science.ru/2017/04/14/kuda-vedet-dorozhnaya-karta/
2. Http://gefter.ru/archive/21575