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How do search committees perceive non-philosophy teaching?

In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

I am curious about how non-philosophy teaching on a CV is perceived by search committees.

In other words, is teaching a person may have done in other disciplines irrelevant or is it seen as a positive indication of teaching experience that gets lesser weight than philosophy teaching experience? In particular, I am curious about a scenario where a person might have more teaching experience in a different discipline than in philosophy. Is that person evaluated only according to the philosophy teaching experience or is the non-philosophy teaching experience also factored in somewhat.

I suspect it probably depends on a case-by-case basis. For example, some universities have general education or honors programs with interdisciplinary courses taught by multiple faculty in different disciplines. For jobs at places like these, I imagine non-philosophy teaching experience could be helpful. But I don't know how common this situation may be, and I suspect that by and large search committees are simply looking for evidence of good teaching abilities simpliciter.

What does everyone else think?

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2 responses to “How do search committees perceive non-philosophy teaching?”

  1. philosophy teacher

    I think there is a general preference for philosophy teaching. Our subject is unique in some ways, so we would generally look for assurances that you can teach our subject. But, any teaching is better than NO teaching. The problem is that there are often so many candidates with philosophy teaching experience (and some with lots of it) that it is unlikely that one lacking such experience would be chosen (even long listed), at least at a typical college where teaching makes up a big part of your job.

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  2. Bill V.

    Having experience teaching the subjects you would be hired to teach is always best, but having teaching experience of any kind is good. Knowing how to build a syllabus, manage a classroom, etc., is all useful. However, having zero philosophy teaching would be seen as a major deficit in a lot of places, and experience teaching something else would not overcome that. As long as there is some philosophy in the mix, OP should be okay.
    But note that one of the things search committees weigh when evaluating teaching is competence to teach a certain set of subjects–not having those subjects in your teaching record could be seen as a gap, at least compared to other candidates who have taught those subjects.
    Combining some thoughts from Marcus and Philosophy Teacher, above: In your cover letter you could try to spin your non-philosophy teaching as an advantage to the department or university in some way. Maybe that it would facilitate cross-disciplinary co-teaching and other kinds of collaboration outside the department. (That’s a low-weight consideration, so keep it brief, but it is not nothing.) Maybe it is about having taught students who are like the students at the target university. Maybe it gives you the background to create a new course in Philosophy of That Other Subject (if that is something that would be in demand). If you can find a connection, mention it.

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