Casual not so casual
Image: Christin Hume/Unsplash
As a writer I know the power of words. Using the word casual to describe a worker who is essential to the institution they are working for is problematic. It enables institutions to treat people casually, as if they are dispensable. I have been working as a casual teacher across a number of institutions for over thirty years. I was a casual tutor for one university for eight consecutive years, consistently getting good reports from students and giving popular lectures. I currently supervise at Deakin University and teach at the Council for Adult Education and at a community centre where my courses are often booked out and there are often waiting lists. I have been teaching since 1988. I have been publishing in literary journals since 1985. I am a committed professional, and I am very good at what I do. Before I taught at universities I taught in the TAFE system as a casual. I was employed over the times of the funding cuts. I watched vocational teachers lose their jobs and their health. I watched good people in management try to treat their staff well, but in the end casuals, as we know, are the first to go. The public perception that if you work hard as a casual, are committed and reliable and are good at what you do you will get a secure job is no longer the case, if it ever was.
Claire Gaskin Deakin University
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Connect ÂŽ Volume 13, no. 2 ÂŽ Semester 2, 2020
