Sessional academic staff experiences and academic development in higher education in Australia

There has been extensive research into the plight of sessional academic staff. The literature has focused generally on the precarious nature of sessional academic staff work, the limited opportunities for professional development and for career advancement and the workers’ peripheral position within the academic workforce. There is agreement that sessional staff are an important population in higher education institutions because they have grown to be a large and significant proportion of the teaching cohort; however, there is the potential for negative career outcomes because of the issues that are associated with the contingent nature of their employment. Higher education institutions have attempted to mitigate this risk by providing academic development interventions at all levels (institution, department, discipline and individual). Academic leaders and government bodies have commissioned reviews and national reports about sessional academic staff in higher education and have confirmed the continued growth and significance of this staff population to the higher education sector and the importance of managing this staff group to maintain the quality of education within colleges and universities. This study outlines sessional academic staff employment experiences and the academic development processes and proposes a reimagining of academic development and employment structures and the goal of fully integrating sessional staff into higher education institutions.