Academic to be disciplined for offering extra lessons

An academic is facing disciplinary action for giving his students extra tuition in his spare time. Bernard H Casey ran the refresher session to give undergraduates additional help at the end of an economics course. But now he has been warned by Birkbeck, University of London, that the extra lessons broke university rules - and may have had a "detrimental impact" on students.

Dr Casey, an economics lecturer, has been summoned to an official disciplinary hearing where he faces an official reprimand. Bernard H Casey ran the refresher session to give undergraduates additional help at the end of an economics course.

Dr Casey, an economics lecturer, has been summoned to an official disciplinary hearing where he faces an official reprimand. Fellow academics branded the action "ludicrous" and said universities were becoming bogged down in bureaucracy.

The row erupted when senior staff at Birkbeck decided to cut Dr Casey's course in quantitative economic methods from 24 to 22 weeks.

He decided to offer students an extra session at the end of the course to go over any outstanding questions - and asked officials at Birkbeck for room for up to two hours. But he was told by a senior manager that he must stick to the designated 22 sessions allocated for the module.

Dr Casey told Times Higher Education magazine: "The reply was 'no'. I talked to the students and said, look, this is a bit silly, but let's hold a session anyway. A colleague arranged a room, and we went along and did it."

But when officials at the university found out they launched an investigation. A series of emails passed between Dr Casey and senior staff reveal how he has now been ordered to attend a disciplinary hearing.

He was told: "The purpose of this meeting is to establish if your decision to hold a revision class was in violation of instruction from line management. In addition the investigation will consider the potential detrimental impact on the students taking the course."

Senior managers also demanded to know how many students took part and what costs were involved.

Dr Casey refused to name students at the "illegal" class. He insisted he had incurred travel costs "and purchased a cup of tea", but would not make an expenses claim. The decision to pursue disciplinary action is thought to have been motivated by his refusal to follow university rules.

Dr Casey, who actually works at another university and teaches part-time at Birkbeck, said: "The problem with Birkbeck is that it's stacking itself up with extraordinary amounts of admin staff and reducing teaching staff, but that's a standard story these days,"

Birkbeck refused to comment while disciplinary procedures continued. But other academics said the move underlined the extent to which lecturers were being undermined by bureaucracy.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "Education professionals consistently top tables of the most unpaid overtime put in each year. The dedication of staff to their subject and their students, whilst often exploited, remains astonishing. We cannot build a world class education sector on the exploitation of staff, but to suggest we punish, rather than reward, those who continue to show such dedication is ludicrous."

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk