Casual Staff Inclusion: Improving Workplace Engagement, Wellbeing and the Prevention of Discrimination and Sexual Harassment: 2023 Gender Equity Fund Final Report

This project was a targeted Western Sydney University Gender Equity Fund (GEF) project developed by the GEF Committee in response to the 2021 Gender Equity Fund report, Precarity, pandemic and gender: how did casual academic women experience teaching at the time of COVID-19 in 2020? (Smith, 2022) which identified issues of workplace wellbeing, discrimination and sexual harassment among casual teachers. The two authors/researchers of this project are/were casual academics with almost two decades of combined teaching experience at Western, and therefore had personal experiences with the issues that this project sought to investigate. The key aims of this project were to identify how inductions, wellbeing and inclusion for casual teaching staff could be improved, as well as ways to prevent workplace sexual harassment and discrimination. This research reviewed induction materials from three schools, liaised with four school managers for their insights , and surveyed and interviewed casual teachers for their views, experiences and needs. The findings from the data collected led to the following recommendations:1. Casual teaching staff are missing important information, typically provided in inductions, that then negatively affects their wellbeing and sense of inclusion. Inductions should be available to all casual teaching staff and there should be better communication across the organisation regarding resources and opportunities for casual teaching staff.2. Sexual harassment awareness is high at the university level, but more could be done at the school/subject level and with regard to reporting.3. Anti-discrimination attitudes at Western and in the wider community are assumed, but more needs to be done to address discrimination, including microaggressions and subtle bias that stems from discrimination. 4. Workplace wellbeing among casual teaching staff could be improved with a focus on community and inclusion.