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Teaching assistant vs adjunct faculty

The differences between teaching assistants and adjunct faculties can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an adjunct faculty has an average salary of $83,069, which is higher than the $36,519 average annual salary of a teaching assistant.

The top three skills for a teaching assistant include lab experiments, laboratory experiments and TA. The most important skills for an adjunct faculty are student learning, syllabus, and philosophy.

Teaching assistant vs adjunct faculty overview

Teaching AssistantAdjunct Faculty
Yearly salary$36,519$83,069
Hourly rate$17.56$39.94
Growth rate-2%
Number of jobs59,46526,791
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age4446
Years of experience-4

What does a teaching assistant do?

Teaching assistants are employees who aid teachers in activities needed to deliver lessons. They are usually junior employees or even students who are doing part-time work. Teaching assistants usually set up classrooms, prepare handouts, and give out these handouts in the classroom. They may also be tapped to help prepare presentation materials, source items for classroom demonstration purposes, and assist in the conduct of the lesson. Teaching assistants also help collect schoolwork from students and may also assist teachers in checking schoolwork.

What does an adjunct faculty do?

Adjunct faculty is the collective term for adjunct professors or lecturers. The adjunct faculty teaches students based on the limited-term of their contract. Oftentimes, they teach preparatory or introductory courses by semester arrangement for the entire academic year. Most of them are employed in higher education. Unlike regular professors, adjunct faculty do not have benefits and are not required to be present in meetings. They can work as either a contract professor or a part-time professor.

Teaching assistant vs adjunct faculty salary

Teaching assistants and adjunct faculties have different pay scales, as shown below.

Teaching AssistantAdjunct Faculty
Average salary$36,519$83,069
Salary rangeBetween $22,000 And $59,000Between $45,000 And $152,000
Highest paying CityPhiladelphia, PASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying statePennsylvaniaCalifornia
Best paying companyPace UniversityHca Hospital Services Of San Diego
Best paying industryEducationGovernment

Differences between teaching assistant and adjunct faculty education

There are a few differences between a teaching assistant and an adjunct faculty in terms of educational background:

Teaching AssistantAdjunct Faculty
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common majorPsychologyNursing
Most common college-University of Pennsylvania

Teaching assistant vs adjunct faculty demographics

Here are the differences between teaching assistants' and adjunct faculties' demographics:

Teaching AssistantAdjunct Faculty
Average age4446
Gender ratioMale, 42.4% Female, 57.6%Male, 40.9% Female, 59.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 10.9% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.5% Asian, 11.6% White, 54.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%Black or African American, 7.2% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.3% Asian, 11.2% White, 66.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage6%16%

Differences between teaching assistant and adjunct faculty duties and responsibilities

Teaching assistant example responsibilities.

  • Lead well-received labs aim at students learning SAS including: data step, general regression models building and plots generating.
  • Develop and lead ELA lessons at the 8th grade level, with an emphasis on critical reading and literary analysis.
  • Assist classmates with developing positive study habits and strategies for managing classroom material.
  • Lead discussion sections for students to understand concepts including introductory quantum theory and statistical thermodynamics as well as their applications.
  • Develop expanded communication and teaching skills on explaining the human anatomy and its functions to achieve student understanding and patient education.
  • Organize and run review sessions design to help students better understand concepts of animal anatomy and physiology.
  • Show more

Adjunct faculty example responsibilities.

  • Lead early childhood program initiatives.
  • Provide detail academic instruction for college students in anatomy & physiology, and medical terminology.
  • Prepare lectures, in-class exercises, and collect entirely new course materials to create a personalize syllabus
  • Inform students about course requirements, evaluation procedures, attendance and participation requirements in a course syllabus.
  • Facilitate teaching of online humanities course examining relationship between philosophy and ethics including issues relating to morality.
  • Provide instruction in accounting, economics, federal taxation, management, personnel and small business management.
  • Show more

Teaching assistant vs adjunct faculty skills

Common teaching assistant skills
  • Lab Experiments, 20%
  • Laboratory Experiments, 10%
  • TA, 6%
  • Organic Chemistry, 6%
  • Mathematics, 6%
  • Undergraduate Courses, 4%
Common adjunct faculty skills
  • Student Learning, 11%
  • Syllabus, 8%
  • Philosophy, 7%
  • Professional Development, 6%
  • Course Syllabus, 5%
  • Course Content, 5%

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