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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

docente hora cátedra

English translation:

adjunct/associate faculty member

Added to glossary by Marcelo González
Jul 18, 2012 01:27
11 yrs ago
28 viewers *
Spanish term

docente hora cátedra

Spanish to English Social Sciences Education / Pedagogy Kind of teacher\'s contracts
In Colombia, it is very common that universities besides full-time teachers also hire other teachers under the legal denomination "docente hora cátedra". These teachers are hired under a contract that ends at the end of the academic term, which is usually an academic semester, having to sign a new contract at the beginning of the next term unless, of course, the university decides not to enroll them again. Every academic term they are given a number of teaching hours (which can vary from term to term) distributed in one or more different groups, and what they earn every month is calculated on the basis of the assigned hours.

How can this type of teachers be called in English?
Proposed translations (English)
4 +2 adjunct instructor/lecturer
5 +1 part-time professor
Change log

Jul 26, 2012 01:55: Marcelo González changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/27242">tonchis's</a> old entry - "docente hora cátedra"" to ""associate faculty member""

Discussion

Marcelo González Jul 21, 2012:
associate faculty (not teacher) No problem, Tonchis. What I recommend, without a doubt, would be adjunct faculty (member), depending on the particulars of the sentence, or associate faculty (member), as I suggested in one of my notes. I would not use "associated," nor "part-time" for the reasons already explained (and given your confirmation that, technically, they're not "part-time"). I hope this helps!
tonchis (asker) Jul 21, 2012:
Marcelo:
I apologize for not having answered earlier...Yes, these teachers have teaching loads higher than 15 hours a week, usually between 20 and 27 hours a week if they have already been some years working with a given institution, that is, they have some sort of "seniority". Colombian law has it that this kind of teachers do have the usual social benefits of any normal employee in any company. What these teachers do not have is: 1- a contract that goes beyond the current academic term and must be signed again anew when the next term begins; 2- any guarantee they will be hired the next term once the current one finishes; 3- if they are hired again, any guarantee of teaching load.
Yesterday, a colleague here suggested the term "associated teacher". What do you think about it, and compared with the terms already proposed here by you and by Henry?
Marcelo González Jul 19, 2012:
@tonchis Do these faculty members ever teach as much as, say, 12 or 15 hours a week? If so, "part-time" would appear to be (even) less appropriate since, depending on the college (at least in the US), 12 or 15 hours a week (in class) is technically "full-time" (in terms of teaching load). At the college where I teach (here in the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), many adjuncts teach as much as full-time instructors do (15 credit hour per semester), but without benefits (or any guarantees in terms of teaching load). We call them "adjuncts" instead of part-time faculty perhaps precisely because their teaching loads are not always limited to what's considered "part-time."
tonchis (asker) Jul 18, 2012:
When teaching languages, many universities here employ only "docentes hora cátedra", that is, they don't have any full-time teachers/professors/instructors, their entire staff is made up of "docentes hora cátedra". The term "adjunt" gives me the idea of some kind of personnel who is "auxiliary" to a group of "full time" teachers, something which wouldn't be the case I am referring to: the "docentes hora cátedra" are the ones in charge of ALL the language teaching activities in those institutions, though they don't necessarily attend their institution on a daily basis. Some of these teachers even work for more than one university under the same kind of legal labour contract, taking advantage of the diverse class schedules assigned to them by their different employers.
Under these conditions, which of the proposed terms do you think is more appropriate? I tend to go for "part-time professor", although given the rank a "professor" holds compared to the job done by these language teachers, I would go for something like "part-time teacher" or "part-time instructor". Yet, "part-time" to me doesn't reflect in full what this kind of teachers do. Your opinion would be of great help.Tks

Proposed translations

+2
6 mins
Selected

adjunct instructor/lecturer

in the US

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Note added at 9 mins (2012-07-18 01:36:24 GMT)
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They get paid based on credit-hours taught per semester. Since "lecturer" is often different outside the US, "adjunct instructor" is probably the best option.

I hope this helps!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 19 mins (2012-07-18 01:46:45 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Though "adjunct professor" might also be possible, I'd probably use "instructor" to avoid any misunderstandings in relation to rank, i.e., assistant, associate, full professor. At least in the US, many (if not most) adjuncts are hired at the "instructor" level.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2012-07-18 03:35:38 GMT)
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Depending on the text, another option might be "adjunct faculty (member)."

Cheers from the Mariana Islands :-)

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Note added at 18 hrs (2012-07-18 20:11:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Finally, another term that's being used (euphemistically, in my opinion) is "associate faculty." Though it might sound nice, it's exactly the same thing as an adjunct (i.e., no benefits, no guarantees). The job posting below---for an adjunct position at a small college in the US---is increasingly common at sites such as HigherEdJobs and the Chronicle of Higher Education; in fact, you might want to consult these sites and see for yourself. :-)

The Department of Languages at Lebanon Valley College is seeking an ***adjunct Spanish instructor*** to teach two Spanish courses for fall 2012. Classes will meet three days a week during the day. Preference will be given to applicants who have an M.A. or Ph.D. in Spanish or related field, native or near-native fluency in Spanish and English, and experience teaching Spanish at the college level.
http://www.higheredjobs.com/faculty/details.cfm?JobCode=1756...
Peer comment(s):
agree Mónica Algazi
11 mins
Muchas gracias, Mónica :-)
agree Jessica Noyes
1 hr
Thanks, Jessica!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks a lot Marcelo and Henry !!! For this particular situation, I chose the option which, based on your suggestions, ideas, and opinions, most closely represents the conditions under which the "docentes hora cátedra" work here."
+1
1 hr

part-time professor

Ya
Peer comment(s):
agree marideoba
21 hrs
Gracias, Marideoba.
Something went wrong...
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