Terrible title for a thread but I am hoping that people read and respond. My situation is that I have a job as a teacher in a secondary college with a fairly responsible POR (position of responsibility). I have also started my PhD and the workplace is relatively supportive (as much as they can be given that they are very demanding work-wise).

Late last year I applied for a secondment position that (if I had got it) would have meant that I could teach as a practitioner lecturer at the university for two years and my workplace would have kept my job for me at the end. Secretly though, I thought that if I did get it, I would do whatever it took (ethically) to stay on at the uni. Well, they received a bumper year of outstanding applicants and I didn't get it but I did request feedback (in a very polite way) and have just received this. The feedback was that:

in any other year I would have definitely been interviewed (it was just a year of many outstanding applicants)
if something had happened to the three candidates interviewed I was next on the list-application was good but I needed to expand just a little more on criteria (I kept things just a little shorter because in my current school workplace they tend not to want overly long selection criteria but next time I will make sure I expand fully).
I made more than the usual p ratings (their criteria for shortlisting and interview) but the applicants interviewed had one thing that I didn't have. This was experience in online tuition for the university.

The lecturer who responded to my feedback request is responsible for staffing and has suggested I apply to her to get online tuition experience (as a paid part-time online tutor).

I thought the feedback was great and am really excited but for one thing. I nearly burnt out last year through a huge workload at my paying job and with trying to get my masters thesis presented and written up in articles, etc. The year was pretty successful but I thought that this year 2012 I needed to go for a bit more balance. I really want to do the online tuition but am worried that I am setting myself up this year for more overwork. Yet it seems that this is pretty much what I am going to have to do if I really want that academic job-what do others think? Ever since having started this pathway (with my masters thesis), I have just had to pack in the work on top of my actual job and I can do it but it is pretty tough.

Have others completed this sort of work (online tuition part-time) especially on top of their PhD and a full time job and how have they found this? (Long post sorry but I want to make the best decision).

You didnt seem to get any replies to this. I dont quite fit the person you are looking for but I have worked doing online tuition part time on top of a PhD. The two are compatable, especially because the face to face teaching element is small (18 hours over 6 months). However, I didnt try and do a full time job at the same time. My thoughts would be that it is not possible to combine a full time job, a part time job and a PhD.

Also, with the online teaching, my work load was a lot for the first presentation of the course. However, the second, third -- seventh presentations were a lot easier. The hard work comes when you need to learn the material and mark assignments. Otherwise, its easy-ish. PM me if you want to ask any more questions.

Dan

======= Date Modified 06 Jan 2012 05:57:31 =======
Thanks Dan, your reply was really helpful. I contacted the lecturer and informed her about my workload and she has suggested that I take it up in the second semester (that is August to November here) once I have my work load under control. She also promised to pass on a bit of marking my way, (if it came up) this semester to help ease me into it.

Your reply was especially helpful as it outlined the sort of work you did and where you had to expend most energy. Part of me really agrees with your suggestion that full time work, Phd and a part time uni tutoring role is probably not really doable. And if things are too busy on home, work and study front then, I will turn down the offer but I'm so keen to get into academia that I feel if don't get involved and interested and take up every opportunity, I might not get work. I love my present job but I would still like to teach at uni.

I guess (reality check here) that a lot of people would downsize their current job a bit, keep up the study and then look for the uni work and maybe that is a decision that I will need to make in the future-instead of wanting to have it all. Thanks again Dan
:-)

This sounds like a good plan. Its just getting your employers to agree to it! Keep it up on the PhD and work front. I have admiration for people who finish a PhD and even more for people who complete whilst working a full time job!!!(up)

Its just a matter of time management and perseverance. Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Education is a costly undertaking. When the economy is down, however, deciding if that cost is worth it could be difficult. Doing the math of graduate school costs. Graduate degrees vary widely in cost, depending on the school and area of study. One generally accepted method for determining whether the cost of a graduate or advanced degree will pay off in future earnings is the 10 percent rule.

Thanks Gemma, education is costly and this is in term's of financial costs, time costs and the impact on relationships and other aspects of life. IMHO it is all worth it and over time, one can manage to achieve or do quite a bit. However, I think what I realised after reading Potato's post was something that I was hiding from myself a little over this past year. This was I was hoping that I could have all of my goals and dreams at once (if that makes sense).

2011 (for me) was generally a pretty successful year but it was really hard work and I became quite sick towards the end of it with a stupid virus that really slowed me down. This was while my day job really cranked up (in term's of responsibility and outcomes) and while I was applying for the PhD, finishing off the Masters process (writing a conference paper and journal article) and completing a chapter in an academic book for new teachers. Then the PhD began mid October.

Once you added these processes to the fact that I have a family (okay they are young adults- one at home, one interstate and one in and out of home every few months-but they still want advice, help and to spend time with their Mum when they need her). Plus, while I ended an unhappy relationship and very long term relationship two years ago, I would like to keep my options open for another and I want to try to be a good friend. Then there is home maintenance, exercise, siblings (who are now back on the scene after many years absence). These things are really important to me and I had to recognise that while the PhD is a very significant personal goal, from the perspective of my workplace, family and friends, that is all it is- a significant personal goal-nothing more. They are really supportive of this goal but would probably think that taking another part-time job on top of every thing I am currently doing is really a bit of an indulgence to help me step into the waters of academia without taking too many risks.

People on this forum downsize, take risks and make huge sacrifices all the time for their doctorates. And if they really want academia, they probably look at downsizing their jobs a little if they keep full time jobs (unless they are currently in academia). So I guess what I am saying is that it is important to be realistic and acknowledge what it is you have to do sometimes to achieve your goals. I know from conversations with parents in my role as curriculum coordinator, parents are quite scathing and certainly complain about teachers who neglect their teaching in order to pursue other things like academic study-not that they mind teachers pursuing these things-but they do if they feel their children's time in the class room has been compromised.

In my case, I do want the PhD, but my current work is important both from a financial and a career point of view, so is my health and the new life I am developing. I really want the PhD for personal development and to allow me to write and publish more than I do for the purposes of working as an academic. I took a long hard look at myself over the last few days and so I am going to leave the extra work for this year and focus on my current position, the PhD and my family, friends and to getting my house slowly renovated (a long and expensive process which is going to take me some years alas).

Thanks posters,

P:-)