I'm a lecturer. It's like being a teacher but without the holidays and with less pay (cue shouts of outrage from teachers!!). Actually, I couldn't be a teacher - I would rather teach older (post-school age) people, and I love my research, but don't even START me on the current lecturer pay dispute because I am rabidly pro-union and fully support the current action short of a strike in the UK.

Okay, I've started. I have no set hours of work, yet I work about 45-50 hours a week. We are allocated 23 days holiday a year (we don't automatically get time off out of term-time - that's a common misconception), yet I rarely take them. When we're not teaching we're carrying out administration, pastoral duties, and trying to get as much research done as possible in order to generate funding and justify our jobs. The students seem to get more demanding every year, especially now that they pay tuition fees (I've had some tell me that they have paid for their degree therefore we shouldn't be boycotting assessment - if only they knew how little the amount they pay contributes to the cost, and if only they realised that their fees do not entitle them to a qualification, but to an education).

Our Vice Chancellor earns 196,000 GBP per year plus a house and car. He had a 31.5% pay rise over the last 3 years. In contrast, academics have taken a 40% pay cut relative to their equivalent professions over the past 20 years, while workloads have increased.

I'm suprised anyone is left to lecture, to teach and to nurse. I do it because I love my job, but there is now a serious amount of badwill in the Higher Education sector and the fallout will be lengthy. There are last-ditch pay negotiations today, so keep your fingers crossed.

(Rant ends...)