Allocation of Academic Workloads in the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences at a South African University

ABSTRACT

This article reports on the results of a statistical analysis of the weekly working hours of academics in a Faculty of Human and Social Sciences at a South African university. The aim was to quantify, analyse and compare the workload of academic staff. Seventy-five academics self-reported on their workload by completing the workload measuring instrument. The results indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in the total working hours per week in terms of gender, schools, academic qualifications and positions. However, there were statistically significant differences in the hours spent performing core academic activities such as teaching and learning, administration and management, research and postgraduate supervision, and community engagement and services to the scholarly community. The results indicated inequalities in the workload allocation of academic staff, with some staff members being underutilized and others significantly over worked.

Keywords:

• workload
• academic functions
• workload allocation model
• accountability
• equality
• performance management

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