Perceptions of Institutional Teaching Culture by Tenured, Tenure-track, and Sessional Faculty

Oct 15, 2026

The Institutional Teaching Culture Perception Survey (ITCPS) assessed beliefs of 576 tenured, tenure-track, and sessional faculty at three Canadian research-intensive universities regarding institutional teaching culture. Results show significant perception differences across appointment types. Sessional faculty viewed their universities as rewarding effective teaching less than tenured and tenure-track colleagues. Tenured faculty were less likely than the other groups to value encouraging, recognizing, or assessing effective teaching. Findings have implications for teaching quality and student learning as sessional appointments increase and tenured faculty shape institutional priorities.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Institutional Teaching Culture

Perceptions of Institutional Teaching Culture by Tenured, Tenure-track, and Sessional Faculty Debra L. Dawson Western University | Ken N. Meadows Western University | Erika Kustra
University of Windsor | | --- | --- | Kathryn D. Hansen St. Clair College Abstract The Institutional Teaching Culture Perception Survey (ITCPS) was used to investigate beliefs of tenured, tenure-track, and sessional faculty members (N=576) about the teaching culture within three large research-intensive universities in Canada. As predicted, we found significant differences between these three groups of faculty members’ perceptions of their institutions’teaching cultures. Sessional faculty perceived that their universities rewarded effective teaching less than their tenured or tenure-track colleagues. Tenured faculty were less likely than the tenure-track and sessional faculty to believe it was important to encourage, recognize, or assess effective teaching. These results have important implications for the quality of teaching and, ultimately, student learning, as sessional faculty are teaching an increasing number of students and tenured faculty are the primary decision-makers in setting the priorities for their institutions. Keywords: quality teaching, faculty appointments, post-secondary education, institutional teaching culture Résumé Un sondage portant sur la perception de la culture d’enseignement au niveau institutionnel a été utilisé pour enquêter sur les croyances des professeurs ayant un poste permanent, de ceux ayant un poste menant à la permanence et de ceux ayant un poste contractuel (N= 576) concernant la culture d’enseignement dans trois grandes universités de recherche au Canada. Comme nous nous y attendions, nous avons trouvé des différences importantes entre ces trois groupes de professeurs et leurs perceptions de la culture d’enseignement dans leurs établissements respectifs. Les professeurs ayant un poste contractuel ont moins ressenti que leur université récompensait l’enseignement efficace que leurs collègues ayant un poste permanent ou menant à la permanence. Les professeurs ayant la permanence ont eu moins tendance à croire qu’il était important d’encourager, de reconnaître ou d’évaluer l’enseignement efficace que ceux ayant un poste menant à la permanence ou un poste contractuel. Ces résultats ont des implications importantes sur la qualité de l’enseignement et, en fin de compte, sur l’apprentissage des étudiants, du fait que les professeurs contractuels enseignent à un nombre de plus en plus important d’étudiants, alors que les professeurs ayant la permanence sont les principaux décideurs quand il s’agit d’établir les prioritéspour leur établissement. Mots-clés : qualité de l'enseignement, nominations au corps professoral, études postsecondaires, culture pédagogique en établissement Introduction Sessional faculty members are increasingly being hired to teach undergraduate and graduate courses at post-secondary institutions across Canada and the United States (Brownlee, 2015; MacDonald, 2013; Webber & Rogers, 2018) . These faculty members often have very different conditions of employment than their tenured or tenure-track peers including less job security, lower pay, and fewer job benefits (Webb, Wong, & Hubball, 2013) . We believe that these often precariously employed faculty at research-intensive universities likely have a different perception of institutional teaching culture than their tenured or tenure-track colleagues and this is the focus of our study. As institutional teaching culture has been found to be related to student outcomes such as persistence, learning, and engagement (Berger & Braxton, 1998; Berger & Milem, 2000; Grayson & Grayson, 2003), Canadian Journal of Higher Education | Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur 49:3 (2019) and as sessional faculty are teaching increasing numbers of students, differences across faculty appointmentsin perceptions of institutional teachi

FAQs

Why do the findings matter for student learning?

The results suggest implications for teaching quality and, ultimately, student learning, especially as sessional faculty teach more students and tenured faculty influence institutional priorities.

Oct 15, 2026

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