A STUDY OF THE LIVES OF CASUAL TAFE LECTURERS IN METROPOLITAN PERTH. Priscilla Shorne. Masters of Business Administration,

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1 A STUDY OF THE LIVES OF CASUAL TAFE LECTURERS IN METROPOLITAN PERTH Priscilla Shorne Masters of Business Administration, Graduate Diploma Business Administration (Arts), Bachelor of Arts, Diploma in Teaching, Certificate Four Training and Assessment Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In accordance with the requirements of School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia. February 2008

2 I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not previously been submitted for a degree at any tertiary education institution. Priscilla Shorne Page 2 of 349

3 Acknowledgements There are many people who have helped me with this work. I would to acknowledge and thank all those casual TAFE lecturers who participated in the survey giving me both their time and encouragement and who suggested areas I might follow up. I would like to thank Annie McNab, who as then Program Manager in Management at Central TAFE, gave me support and help with the project which enabled me to increase the numbers of participants in this project. I would especially like to thank Associate Professor Michael Campion, my longsuffering supervisor, who besides teaching much about the process of writing a thesis, never seemed to give up the expectation that I might one day finish the project. His help and advice are greatly appreciated. I would also like to acknowledge my friends and colleagues who read sections of this work and made suggestions; your encouragement kept me going. Page 3 of 349

4 ABSTRACT A STUDY OF THE LIVES OF CASUAL TAFE LECTURERS IN METROPOLITAN PERTH. Towards the end of the last century in Australia one aspect of the restructuring of work has been a major increase in the number of people who are employed on a casual basis. The traditional full time permanent job is no longer available to many people. This project examines aspects of the personal and work lives of casual TAFE lecturers in the Perth metropolitan area. It provides a specific case study of workers who have been affected by the changes in the workforce which have developed over the past 25 years. In particular, these are workers who, given their tertiary education and work experience, would not necessarily have expected to be employed on a casual basis but who are now part of the roughly 27% of the workforce employed in this mode. Supporters of the restructured workforce claim that work flexibility has advantages for the economy and for both the employer and the employee and argue that many are happy to work in this mode. This project seeks to test this assertion, to examine briefly the economic and political features that led to casual work being adopted as the preferred employment model at TAFE in Western Australia, and to consider in detail its consequences for some of those employed in this manner. Page 4 of 349

5 Through a series of interviews of 40 casual TAFE lecturers it investigates some of the particular features of such employment; such as how people obtain and maintain work, and whether they regard themselves as having a career, as well as looking at broader aspects such as stigma, insecurity and the place of risk in the workplace. The research reveals that while this mode of employment suits a subset of casual employees, others pine for greater security and certainty in their working lives. Page 5 of 349

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One- The Introduction 10 Part One The Project 10 Part Two - Casualisation and Work in Australia 12 Part Three- TAFE Background 22 Part Four- The Thesis Overview 32 Chapter Two Methodology 40 Issues of Methodology 40 The Theoretical Approach 42 The Interviewing process 46 Selection of Participants 52 The Participants 56 Developing the Questionnaire 58 The Content of the Questionnaire 60 Location of Interviews 61 Conclusion 64 Chapter Three Who are the Casuals? 65 Biographical Details 65 Age 66 Main Breadwinner Status 68 Education 70 Profiles 72 Alice The woman with family responsibilities 72 Ben The retiree 75 Page 6 of 349

7 Clive The finance broker 76 Donna The full time student 78 Elizabeth The portfolio job holder 81 Fiona The sole income earner 85 Conclusion 88 Chapter Four Getting and Keeping Work or the Moral Career of 90 the Casual TAFE Lecturer Total Institution 93 Moral career 95 The pre-patient Stage 96 Seeking Admission/ Getting work 96 The Mediator 98 Contingency 100 The Inpatient Stage 102 Progression through the ward system 102 Learning the ropes 105 Apologias 108 Negotiating the ward 111 Power Relations 113 Conclusion 115 Page 7 of 349

8 Chapter Five Career and the Casual TAFE Lecturer 118 What is a Career? 120 Careers in the Post Nineties 121 Conclusion 136 Chapter Six Homeless at work 138 The Importance of Home Space 139 Work Space 139 Space and the Casual Lecturer 144 The Meaning of Space 147 Health Issues 155 Conclusion 159 Chapter Seven Risk and the Casual TAFE Lecture 160 The Government and Risk 164 The McDonaldization of TAFE 171 Risk as Probability 176 Conclusion 188 Chapter Eight Stigma in the workplace 189 Why Stigma? 190 Stigma in the Workplace 192 Stigma at TAFE 197 Consequences of Stigma 209 Conclusion 222 Chapter Nine Insecurity at work 223 Job Insecurity 224 The Literature 224 Page 8 of 349

9 Insecurity and Casual TAFE Lecturers 232 Conclusion 251 Chapter Ten Casual Commitment 253 Defining Commitment 253 Trust 257 Commitment and Work 258 Commitment and Casual Lecturers 261 Conclusion 281 Chapter Eleven Why people prefer casual work 283 Generally Female 288 Generally Younger 288 Working Part Time 289 Having Family or Study Commitments 290 Other Sources of Income 290 Some Control and Input Over Their Hours 291 In General 291 Conclusion 302 Chapter Twelve - Conclusion 303 Appendix One The Questionnaire 319 Appendix Two Table of Participants 327 Bibliography 328 Page 9 of 349