n South African Journal of Higher Education - Part-time lecturers teaching part-time learners at university : a transformation issue

Abstract

The relationship between the academic labour market and the global labour market provides an important context for this research. There appear to be growing numbers of part-time lecturers at universities worldwide, which is seen as an extension of casualisation of labour more generally. From a social justice perspective, it is therefore of concern that more is not known about part-time employed academics in South African higher education.

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Through utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods the research presents a preliminary picture of a peripheral group of academics at one university who are teaching an equally peripheral but sizable group of adult learners. The peripheral status of the part-time lecturers is further exacerbated by the poor data sources available and the limited knowledge of who they are and what they contribute to the teaching and learning of part-time students. This research brings into view both the largely invisible part-time lecturers and part-time students in the hope that this can lead to equitable and ethical actions by higher education authorities, and so transform the culture of the institutions to reflect the realities of growing numbers of both part-time students and staff.