Hi,
This questions is for PhD'ers out there who have a lecturing position as well (whether you're still doing your PhD or if you've just completed).

How many hours per week in the average lecturing position do you actually spend lecturing and/or teaching seminars? Does it vary widely from job to job? I guess one factor is how much research you're also expected to do within your position?

I'm a PhD student who does quite a lot of seminar teaching per week, which has increased significantly in the past year. It's really getting me down having to do so much teaching, and I'm starting to reconsider what sort of position I will be in if I take on a lecturers job when (or 'if' I should say!!) I've completed my PhD.
:-(

Hi, thanks for your answers. I'm self-funded, so I have no ties of that sort. I'm wondering if I should just quit, and then start to re-apply fresh, and if this would be a better choice than attempting any sort of 'transfer'?

Hi again.

Sorry for this second post, but I've been thinking about this and just wondering what all my options are.
If I consider changing universities because of a change in my research area, would it be frowned upon in terms of PhD commitment etc (from either institution)? Do you think I would be looking at having to just apply again from scratch (i.e. go back into 1st year)? Not sure how these sorts of situations are viewed in the field of academia!!:-(

Hi! I'm really concerned about changing my research area significantly after my first year, or what constitutes a significant change.

I'm very uncomfortable with my current research area. I know that some changes in direction are nothing out of the ordinary for PhD research, but I had a lot of problems in the first year, and I now feel that taking the research in a very different direction is the only way forward for me without quitting. I'm not changing subjects altogether, just the topic area.
However, I wonder if this change may alienate my superviser, so I'm really anxious about approaching them. I feel that the year of work I already have may be seen as going to waste, although without having done it I guess I wouldn't have got to this point in the first place.

I wonder if anyone on this board has gone through this process, or has any thoughts on what I should do - they would be much appreciated! :-)