The impact of teaching assistantships
Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are graduate students employed by a university or college to undertake certain teaching responsibilities. These responsibilities may include grading assignments, leading discussion or recitation sessions, or teaching laboratory classes for introductory undergraduate courses. Due to this broad range of responsibilities, GTAs hold a unique position that melds student, researcher, and teacher roles. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 125,100 GTAs currently employed in the United States, a testimonial to the importance of the GTA workforce in higher education. In 2005, a survey of 65 institutes of higher education in the United States found that 91% of undergraduate biology laboratory sections were taught by GTAs in research institutes. Clearly, undergraduate education is now dependent on GTAs. Considering this, I ask, how do teaching assistantships impact graduate assistants and their undergraduate students?