Teaching or my job is taking over my PhD
Put limits around teaching and paid work so your research gets its fair share of the week.
In short
Start here, today. Find your contract or assignment letter for this term and write down the total hours it covers. Next to it, write your honest estimate of the hours you've spent so far. This takes about 25 minutes.
After that, work through these steps. Choose one to jump to it.
Step by step
Tick each step as you finish it. Open a step for the how.
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Know what your contract requires
Read your contract, assignment letter or hours-of-work form, and if you're in a union, the relevant parts of the collective agreement. Look for total hours, any workload review process, and what counts as work (meetings and training often do). Your union or graduate student association can explain the language if it's dense.
Log your hours for two weeks
Write down time spent on prep, contact hours, marking, email and meetings. Most people underestimate, especially email and marking. Real numbers turn a vague feeling of overload into something you can discuss.
Time-box marking and prep
Divide the hours you have by the number of assignments to get a time per paper, then set a timer. Build a bank of common comments you can reuse and adapt, and mark against the rubric rather than writing an essay back. Prepare for the session you're running, not the whole course.
Protect research blocks
Before term starts, put two or three research sessions in your calendar each week and treat them like a class you're teaching. Mornings often work best, before student email arrives. In the heaviest marking weeks, keep at least one short session so the thread doesn't go cold.
Set expectations with students
Tell students when you answer email and how soon they can expect a reply, and point them to office hours for longer questions. Most students are fine with clear limits. It's the uncertainty that brings the 11 p.m. messages.
Say no, or not this term
Guest lectures, covering for colleagues and extra paid work all add up. Before agreeing, check the request against your contracted hours and your research outcomes for the term. If your job is outside the university, the same applies to extra shifts, and the conversation is with your manager.
Talk to the course instructor early
If you can see the hours running out, raise it while there's still time to change something, not after you've done the extra work. Bring your log and a suggestion, such as shorter feedback, a shared rubric or moving one assignment to another TA. Most instructors would rather adjust than have you quietly run over.
Words you can use
Is this you? Signs to look for
- Marking swallows whole weekends whenever assignments come in.
- You prepare for tutorials or labs as if you were giving the lecture.
- Whole weeks of term go by without a single research session.
- Students email you at all hours and you reply straight away.
- You've never actually read the document that says how many hours you're paid for.
Why this happens
Teaching and paid work come with deadlines, faces and immediate feedback. Research, most weeks, has none of those. When the two compete, the student waiting for their grade wins, and your thesis gets whatever is left on Sunday night.
Many PhD students also over-prepare, because teaching feels like a test of whether they belong or because they care about their students. Both are understandable. But a teaching or research assistantship usually pays for a set number of hours, and working well beyond them is unpaid labour that comes straight out of your research time. If your job is outside the university, the pattern is the same, often with less structure to push back against.
Where teaching assistants are unionised, the collective agreement often sets out hours, workload forms and what should happen when the work exceeds the contract. Rules differ a lot between universities and countries, so start by finding out what actually applies to you.
Worth a look (3)
- Shut Up & Write!Free writing sessions, online and in person in over 80 countries, where you write quietly alongside others for a set time. It's a gentle push when you keep putting off your thesis.
- FocusmateBook a short video session with another person, say what you'll work on, then work quietly side by side. The free plan gives you three sessions a week.
- Time managementVitae's guide to managing research time, with simple techniques like logging your hours, separating urgent from important, and working back from deadlines.
When to bring someone in
If the instructor can't or won't adjust the workload, contact your TA union or graduate student association. They can explain your rights under the collective agreement where one exists. Tell your supervisor or graduate coordinator if teaching is delaying program milestones. If you're an international student, check with the international student office before taking on extra paid work, because study permits and visas often limit working hours.
Find the right person, or talk to Ify