Qualified Faculty
Discuss some of the challenges in finding and retaining qualified faculty, and how you have overcome these.
Finding and retaining a qualified faculty member is a current challenge we are facing. Our program currently only consists of one course, but we have considered adding an additional course. We have been hindered in developing that course because finding a staff member that is qualified in this field has not been easy.
Currently, we are in the process of grooming someone to eventually take over the instructor's position. He is qualified, and has many years experience in the field, but it will be some time before he would be able to take over.
In short, we have not overcome this challenge. We've found a solution for the future, but not one that allows us to grow our program.
The challenges in finding qualified faculty remaining in the general education arena. Many of these instructor enjoy teaching the classes, but are only part time in nature and usually leave when the opportunity for full time employment is available. Overcoming these challenges is using social networking and other means to find qualified candidates that understand career college students as well as being on the constant look out for faculty.
Finding and maintainng qualified staff is a challenge. There are times when we find a good staff but have not been able to maintain them. Schools must stay relevant and apprised of new and innovative ideals and practices.Qualified staff want to stay current and use modern tools and equipment. They do not want to use old, outdated materials or supplies. For example if a school is using a chalk board this may seem inadequete to an instrutor. They may want a dry/erase board,or even a Smart Board. Something that will allow them to write information down but also to search the web, show short videos etc. Sometimes not maintaining the staff does not have anything to do with the school but personal issues. For example the staff may live far away and and become overwhelmed with commuting back and forth everyday particularly during inclement weather. This is a very complicated issue and requires that each situation is carefully looked at to determine the best response to solving the problem
We have relied more on the word of mouth and the references given by current staff to hire instructors that are more qualified and better able to deal with our students.
I totally agree with your response as we have similar issues. We need to update equipment so instructors are able to use the tools they are being told to use such as You Tube, textbook online resources, etc.
I have been very successful using "Indeed."
Finding qualified applicants with a Master's Degree for part time work in area that does not have any related PhD programs and limited Master's level program is a continuous challenge. Perhaps in area with a large state school this is not such a challenge, but for us it continuously a time consuming and costly endeavor.
It seems to me that finding quality instructors is not the issue that we encounter at our school. We have more problems with retention because there is a lot of community colleges and schools that are always searching for new instructors. We try finding instructors by "word of mouth" which actually works best instead of advertising to the general public. We seem to be on the search for new and qualified instructors all the time.
It is sometimes difficult to find and retain qualified faculty due to salary being too low for instructors' expectations. Another concern is an instructor's expectations as to what teaching involves. Some new instructors are not aware of the time involved to prepare for class, grading of papers, and preparing student evaluations. I overcome the teaching and salary issues by being up front with the perspective employee by telling them about the workload and what it entails.
Having a small school, it has not been an issue this far. But I understand that in the future it may be difficult to find someone for a small part time position and it will be difficult for such a small school to retain someone at an affordable wage.
Being a small school, there is a lot of responsibility that may fall on someone and they are not prepared to take on that roll.
It seems the expected salary is higher than our small school can provide. We have been very fortunate thus far as our Instructors have been willing to work for less than they expected and are working very hard. Often times they stay longer than their assigned time and punch out before doing so. We have great Instructors who have a passion for what they teach.
Although curriculum and instructional delivery are under the guidance of the director of education, faculty and staff must feel they have a sense of ownership over what they do. Appropriate workload and compensation are also key factors.
Faculty qualifications are at times a challenge in finding faculty for certain courses. It is helpful to share faculty from nearby schools
I agree with Mary, we do not have any trouble finding qualified faculty as we are a healthcare based program school. Part of that is because we pay so well we have little turnover. It is the costs of doing business in the industry we train for.
We have been going over the graduates from the last 10 years and inviting the standouts from these programs to come back and undergo an interview for potential teaching positions. We find that these candidates are generally more enthusiastic, motivated, and are the most informed about our programs.
Our biggest challenge in a small, rural market has been finding instructors with the appropriate master's degree. We have found that our best resource for finding qualified instructors is to simply ask our current faculty for referrals.
