There is a longstanding perception among APUO members that the normal teaching load of regular professors is higher at uOttawa than at other U15 universities, and that it is inconsistent among Faculties. In the spring of 2021, uOttawa and the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa (APUO) signed a Letter of Understanding (LOU) aimed at replacing Appendix J of the Collective Agreement with a “new normal teaching load assignment process” that takes into account “relevant factors as listed in article 22.1.3 such as: the number of courses taught, the format of the course, and the number of students assigned to each course” as well as “the supervision and mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows.”
As stipulated in the LOU, a Working Group was formed in October 2021, with three (3) APUO representatives (Thomas Allen, Tyler Chamberlin, Daniel Paré) and three (3) Employer representatives (Kathleen Gilmour, Jonathan Patrick, Kathryn Prince).
The mandate of the Working Group was to:
- survey the different ways in which normal teaching loads are established in each uOttawa Faculty and in the Faculties of U15 universities.
- identify favorable changes to normal teaching loads, to the process of assigning normal teaching loads, and make concrete recommendations to the parties regarding:
a) how to best establish normal teaching loads across academic units and Faculties enabling us to ensure that Members’ teaching workloads are equitably distributed and to enable the University to discharge its mission as a research-intensive university;
b) how to adequately recognize all aspects of teaching responsibilities, such as the supervision and mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students, and of post-doctoral fellows;
c) how incorporate the working group’s recommendations in the APUO Collective Agreement.
The group’s final report is available to Members here. The recommendations set out in this document have helped to inform some of the APUO priorities and proposals for the upcoming round of collective bargaining.