Early careers and employed postgrads
Employed Postgraduates
Do you work as a tutor, teaching assistant, researcher, demonstrator, invigilator or do any other paid work for the university? Know your rights!
National UCU support
Teaching Assistants represented by the UCU have won better pay, more reasonable estimates of the hours they work, regular wage rises experience, reductions to the number of students in tutorials, and more stable employment contracts.
UCU is the main union representing hourly-paid teaching staff – including at the University of St Andrews.
Nationally, UCU negotiates annual pay increases which are applied to all staff, including those on hourly-paid contracts. We also
Young Members
UCU now has 10,000 folk signed up to the ‘Young Members Network’.
Young members have their own section of the UCU website called ‘All In it Together’ This page is designed to be an easily accessible ‘one stop shop’ for young members who want to get more active in the union and also to provide members at the start of their careers with useful professional support and career development resources.
Resources for young members
- UCU early careers guide
- Early Careers Guide – promotional leaflet
- Early careers survey: the key issues facing UCU members at the start of their careers
- UCU early careers – join UCU leaflet
- UCU Early Careers Charter
- ‘Know Your Rights’ card for staff on casual contracts
- The researchers’ survival guide, UCU, Apr 08
- ‘All In It Together?
Hourly Paid Staff
UCU’s hourly paid survival guide uses the experience and advice of our hourly-paid members to provide a practical resource for staff on these kinds of contracts. It outlines the rights of hourly paid staff and what they can expect from their institutions
- offers practical advice on how to survive difficult employment conditions
- suggests ways in which to seek improvements
- explains what UCU is trying to achieve
- offers a range of support options.
- To request a printed copies please email Ronnie Kershaw: rkershaw@ucu.org.uk
Training
UCU offers specific training for postgraduate and early careers members. Example from last year in Scotland are:
Course 1: There’s no need to shout!
This 1 day practical interactive workshop is aimed at members who are involved in teaching. It looks at how to boost vocal capability and clarity in your learning environment. Advice is also given on how to use the voice in a positive, calm and assertive manner to help manage student behaviour.
Course 2: Assertiveness
This course is aimed at members who want to develop their understanding of what constitutes effective communication and behaviour. The course seeks to help individuals create a tool kit of assertiveness techniques and skills that can be drawn on in challenging situations.
Course 3: Managing student behaviour from the start!
This 1 day course is aimed at UCU members starting off in their careers in tertiary education. The course is specifically for those who are involved in teaching and face challenging student behaviour.
If you would be interested in any training, please contact the branch office by email at ucu@st-andrews.ac.uk