Why Is Teaching seen as an Interruption of Research

Why is Teaching seen as an Interruption of Research
Many a scholar has lamented the beginning of a new teaching term that arrives long before all the research and writing planned for a vacation has been accomplished. Free time to pursue one’s research is always far too short, after all, and the demands of teaching usually tend to exceed expectations even without the administrative and other duties associated with employment at institutions of higher education. However, the time and effort dedicated to teaching can be far more than a hindrance; indeed, teaching activities can contribute significantly to your research and preparing it for publication.

For one, conducting advanced research tends to be expensive, and an active teaching position opens the possibility of research funding available through your institution. Your success as an instructor can, like your success as a researcher, increase your chances of earning such funding. In addition, teaching many courses one year can earn you time off for research the next year, and taking on extra duties such as advising students or mentoring thesis candidates will earn you additional research time. When it comes to funding from bodies outside of your institution, a faculty position can improve your credentials and provide as much authority as successful publications can, so it is always wise to hold onto that day job no matter how appealing abandoning it for your research may seem at times.

Actively teaching also introduces you to new students who share your interests and are eager to embark upon their own careers. Such students are often keen to learn about the processes of research, writing and publication, so they make excellent assistants. Since many of them also survive on rather tight budgets, you will be doing them a financial favour as well by hiring them to assist with references, proofreading and other activities for which the best of your students will be well qualified.

Teaching students can also be beneficial in ways pertaining to the content of your research. In almost all courses but especially the more advanced you will probably be able to bring aspects of your most recent research into the classroom and bash them about, as they say, with your students. Although most of your students are unlikely to be as sophisticated and informed as many of the readers of your publications may be, they will make an excellent testing ground for the reception of your methods, discoveries and ideas. An assignment can be structured, for instance, to make use of innovative methodology developed in your research, thereby introducing your students to new methods while testing the applicability of those methods in varying contexts. Your most unusual or unexpected ideas and discoveries can also be discussed in the classroom, a strategy that often inspires fascinating comments from students – comments whose seeming simplicity can be deceptive, so do give the ones that may promote a knee-jerk aversion more thought before dismissing them out of hand.

When you were a student yourself you may have discovered that the best policy when faced with a looming deadline, an unwritten essay and a sense of confusion that can lead to inactivity or even writer’s block was not to skip classes, stay at home and wrestle with yourself. Instead, leaving your assignment behind for a few hours and attending those classes could resolve the problem, often because something closely related to your topic would come up, but sometimes because something completely unrelated was addressed in ways that provided a new way of viewing or approaching a major issue. In other words, contact with like-minded individuals is almost always productive, and this certainly applies to contact with your students as long as you remember that you too are still a student in your field, feverishly working to improve both yourself and knowledge within your discipline.