As semester progresses the time pressures are taking their toll and she struggles to find time to complete expected tasks. She turns to the institution guidelines for time allocations. Is lecturing only contact time - where is lecture preparation? Is course coordinator time just for answering emails? Or should it include preparing the coursework and exam questions, chasing other lecturers who failed to answer emails, chasing room sizes when the twice the number of students have enrolled and the original room is not big enough? Where do these things fit? How do people plan their time when the most time consuming activities are not accounted for? How does a new academic find ways to cope when people around her are not coping and the official time allocation is so far out from what is possible?
Depression sets in when she sees how much time is allocated for marking. However despite the extra recruitment of first years there is no capacity to share the load. She is told everyone is overloaded.
At this point Eca has two options: Leave or battle on….