Casual academics: Australia’s hidden academic workforce

Abstract

In the last two decades the Australian academic workforce has become increasingly casualised with a majority of undergraduate teaching now undertaken by casual, non-tenured academic staff. We discuss the extent and nature of this casualisation and examine the key issues and challenges of casual employment for academics themselves, as well as for institutions and the sector more broadly. We conclude by identifying three areas needing careful consideration for the future management and sustainability of the Australian academic workforce.