The University and College Union has called on FE colleges to overhaul their employment practices, after new research revealed that there were more than 22,000 instances of teaching staff being employed on “precarious” contracts.

A UCU report, published today, criticises many colleges for using hourly paid, term-time only and variable hours (including zero-hours) contracts. The union argues that these contracts create a deal of uncertainty and worry for staff, and leave many vulnerable to financial hardship.

The union also says that casual workers often miss out on employment rights afforded to permanent employees, such as maternity leave or redundancy rights.

In the 220 colleges that supplied workforce data to UCU, more than a third of lecturers and other curriculum delivery staff were employed on “precarious” contracts (see graphic, right).

However, several colleges disputed the figures, telling TES that they were incorrect or misleading. Colleges also said that using different forms of contracts allowed them greater flexibility to respond to demand.

According to the UCU’s analysis, more than half of teaching staff were on “precarious” contracts in 31 colleges. Three specialist London colleges - City Lit, the Mary Ward Centre and Morley College - employed more than 90 per cent of teaching staff in this way. These were followed in the list by general FE colleges Abingdon and Witney College (75 per cent) and East Surrey College (73 per cent).

‘Shockingly low morale’

The report argues that insecure employment leads to “shockingly low morale and selfesteem, and low regard for employers felt by casualised staff”, with many leaving the FE sector as a result.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: “Such a high proportion of insecure contracts could seriously undermine the future of high-quality vocational education and apprenticeships.”

The Association of Colleges said that many institutions used different types of contracts in order to respond to the needs of students and the college business.

“Education and training in colleges is delivered by expert teaching staff from a range of professions,” a spokeswoman said. “Some teachers continue to maintain employment in their own profession while being employed by colleges on a casual basis as secondary employment. This is beneficial to the students, college and employee.”

The UCU is calling on colleges to conduct a joint review of all non-permanent staff, and urges the government to “pay greater attention to how the sector employs its staff and regulate it accordingly”.

Kidderminster College, part of NCG, is highlighted by the report as one of those with the highest proportion of teaching staff on precarious contracts, at 68 per cent - although a spokeswoman for the college said that the figure reflected a number of employees who had multiple part-time contracts.

Principal Andy Dobson said that flexibility was important to both the college and its employees. “As a small college, we obviously want to be able to offer our community the widest choice of courses we can. This does mean that our needs for specific teaching can vary from year to year and using a part-time or hourly-paid staffing model allows us to deal with that.”

A spokeswoman for Abingdon and Witney College declined to comment but said that the UCU figure was “incorrect”, while East Surrey College pointed out that its figure included a number of “inactive” sessional teaching staff. Morley College stressed that it does not treat employees on variable hours contracts “any less favourably to other staff”.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said that FE colleges were independent organisations that were free to set their own terms and conditions for staff.

@JBelgutay

This is an article from the 15 April edition of TES. This week’s TES magazine is available in all good newsagents. To subscribe, click here.

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