“There is no such thing as a powerless people. There are only those who have not seen and have not used their power and will.” (Okri, 1997, p. 101)

Intensive English programs (IEPs) traditionally have a large number of faculty working as adjuncts on a semester-to-semester basis, and even faculty members who are full-time normally work on yearly contracts that must be renewed each year. Because jobs within IEPs are not often on the tenure track, faculty may feel that they must exercise caution when expressing their points of view on issues that matter to them.

In the English Language Program (ELP) at the University of South Florida, we wanted to focus on creating space and opportunities for the faculty to speak openly about issues important to them. The idea of the Faculty Forum was proposed by our own faculty, who felt that all voices in the ELP (teaching and nonteaching faculty, part-time and full-time faculty, PhD students and MA interns) needed a safe space for views to be expressed. The premise of the Faculty Forum is that when an organization provides space for positive conversations to happen, the results can be extraordinary. By definition, the Faculty Forum is a participatory approach designed to include as many voices as possible in conversations that could lead to change.

The Forum in Practice

The forum is led by a faculty member who volunteers each semester. In our program, the meetings take place four times each semester during professional development time when there are no classes scheduled, so teachers are free to attend. It is important to have time devoted to this activity each semester as it makes it easier for people to attend, and sends the message that hearing what faculty have to say is important. Each meeting is one hour and the chair of the meeting collects topics ahead of time. There are no limits on what topics can be presented, as long as they are relevant to the faculty and the ELP. Teachers can bring forth topics anonymously or they can be open about what topics they want to bring up for discussion. In our Faculty Forum, we have discussed a great variety of topics such as the teacher evaluation system, grading issues, student complaints, and funding for conferences.

During our first meeting, we collaboratively established discourse guidelines. We decided that we would have someone manage turn-taking to ensure that everyone who wants to speak gets an opportunity to do so. Participants do not speak out of turn; rather, they wait until their turn comes up. We also value respectful discourse, which means that even though conversations can be very passionate, participants remain polite and mindful of their tone during discussions. We also emphasize that people should adhere to the principle of brevity so no one holds the floor for a very long period of time. There is also a note-taker at each meeting to capture what was discussed and to be able to follow up on what has been proposed. The notes from each meeting are posted on our faculty handbook website. This has proven very valuable as we can revisit the notes from meetings to follow up on actions that we need to take. We are exploring other venues to make information easily accessible to everyone. For example, we may form a blog where faculty can read what was discussed in the meetings as well as provide feedback.

A Success Story

One example of a successful outcome of the Faculty Forum is our discussion of how student evaluations of teachers are used in the overall assessment of teacher effectiveness. The results of a survey showed that teachers were the most dissatisfied with how the process unfolded. The Faculty Forum served as the platform for an honest discussion of the results of the survey. A committee has been formed to generate ideas about how to improve the current process. The goal is to write a proposal generated by the faculty to be shared with the program director. Everyone concerned with the issue has the possibility of participating, generating ideas, and giving feedback.

The Faculty Forum is not perfect. Even though attendance has been robust, there are faculty members who do not attend the meetings, so it is not possible to say that all members of the faculty have had a say in some of the decisions that have been made at the forum. In addition, as with any conversation, there is the issue of asymmetry. Even though the forum is meant to provide space for important conversations to take place, we must acknowledge “both the impossibilities and problems of dialogue” (Philipps, 2011, p. 183). By this I mean that even though the premise of the Faculty Forum is to foster dialogue, it is also true that not everyone believes this is a valuable activity because they may not believe that true equality in interaction is attainable.

Another potential drawback of the forum is that while many topics are discussed, if there is no follow up on what is discussed, the forum could become just a place to bring up ideas but where nothing concrete happens to implement those ideas. One way to solve this issue is for volunteers among the faculty to look over the notes from the meetings and to write proposals to bring to the program director. This is exactly the action we have taken in our program.

For the Faculty Forum to be effective, the faculty need to feel that this is time reserved for them to express themselves freely. To achieve this, it is best that program directors are not present at these meetings to ensure that participants feel at ease expressing whatever comes to their minds. Of course, for this to happen, program administrators must strongly believe in the importance of openness in communication, and must be comfortable with letting go of some control.

Our goal in creating the Faculty Forum was to provide a space for discussion that embodies the principle of equality for all participants. We recognize that for ideas to flow freely, people need to feel that they can relate to one another in an open and honest way. As the Okri quote at the beginning of this piece says, there are no powerless people, and the Faculty Forum is an example of how an ELP created space for faculty to have their voices heard and be powerful.

REFERENCES

Okri, B. (1997). A way of being free. London: Phoenix.

Phillips, L. (2011). The promise of dialogue: The dialogic turn in the production and communication of knowledge. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Ariadne Miranda is an international educator with 15 years of experience in all areas of program administration and teaching. She works as academic advisor and instructor in the English Language Program at the University of South Florida in Tampa.