To be a lecturer in higher education has always been a challenge especially at the start of one's career. However a multitude of pressures have arisen over the past two decades which make this task significantly more onerous. Comparatively low pay is contrasted by long hours increasing teaching loads ever larger class and tutorial sizes numerous layers of administrative duties and an institutional obsession with world class publications and attendance of high quality conferences to benefit the school's RAE standing. Ironically no reward is provided for good teaching. Quite the contrary: time spent on preparing for classes takes away from tasks which are crucial for one's career - crucial in order to keep one's job. There is no financial compensation for the continuous increase in workload experienced by this profession over the past 20 years and there has not even been an increase in real pay for lecturers over that period. A general lack of respect for the profession perhaps contributes to a dismal career outlook.
