Teaching Assistantship
PSAC Local 901
All Teaching Assistants and Teaching Fellows are now represented by PSAC Local 901. Please see, for details: http://psac901.wordpress.com/.
The Teaching Assistantships offered by the Queen's English Department offer a competitive rate of pay in exchange for meaningful teaching experience. They offer valuable training for the academic profession without taking too much time from students' research. In the first four years these opportunities are supplemented by internal or external award funding. Students are not expected to have sole responsibility for teaching courses until the fourth or fifth year of the PhD.
There are three tiers of Teaching Assistantships, geared toward the student's level of study:
| Tier | Level | Monthly Hours | Duties | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | MA Year | 19 | Meeting with students, marking essays | Most of these Teaching Assistantships are linked to 200-level lecture courses. Every effort is made to match students with courses in which they have some background. Where more than one TA is required for a course, the norm is to pair one MA student with one PhD student. | |
| PhD Years 1 and 4 | 22 | Meeting with students, marking essays, and delivering four lectures over two terms | |||
| Tier 2 | PhD Years 2–3 | 30 | Tutorial leaders for ENGL 100: TAs are responsible for a group of about 30 students with whom they lead one tutorial per week and whose term work they mark | The tutorials address material dealt with in the lecture portion of the course as well as writing instruction. The content of the tutorials is developed by the course instructor in consultation with the tutorial leaders, so that the doctoral students gain valuable experience in planning and leading discussion classes. | |
| Tier 3 | PhD Years 4 and 5 | Teaching Fellowships: regular, full-responsibility teaching assignments for a term-long 200-level course. | |||
Teaching Assistants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY'S POLICY ON TEACHING ASSISTANTS, approved by the Senate on 25 May 2005.