Integrating theory and practice to increase scientific workforce diversity: a framework for career development in graduate research training

Few, if any, educational interventions intended to increase underrepresented minority (URM) graduate students in biological and behavioral sciences are informed by theory and research on career persistence. Training and Education to Advance Minority Scholars in Science (TEAM-Science) is a program funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the twin goals of increasing the number of URM students entering and completing a PhD in BBS and increasing the number of these students who pursue academic careers. A framework for career development in graduate research training is proposed using social cognitive career theory. Based on this framework, TEAM-Science has five core components: 1) mentor training for the research advisor, 2) eight consensus-derived fundamental competencies required for a successful academic career, 3) career coaching by a senior faculty member, 4) an individualized career development plan that aligns students' activities with the eight fundamental competencies, and 5) a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats personal career analysis. This paper describes the theoretical framework used to guide development of these components, the research and evaluation plan, and early experience implementing the program. We discuss the potential of this framework to increase desired career outcomes for URM graduate trainees in mentored research programs and, thereby, strengthen the effectiveness of such interventions on participants' career behaviors.     

Producing PhD Graduates in Australia for the Knowledge Economy

Using survey and interview data on PhD student course experience, career plans and views on university-industry research links, this paper evaluates the success of Australian research-intensive universities in producing PhD graduates for the knowledge economy. Student satisfaction with their course experience is surprisingly low and this appears to be strongly linked with the quality and effectiveness of thesis supervision. Although the PhD degree is meant to provide high level research career training, only slightly more than half the respondents expect to follow research careers. Many PhD students have negative views about academic careers based particularly on their perceptions of the impact of reduced government funding levels on universities and the increased workload pressures on supervisors. On the other hand, a high proportion of students hold positive views about university-industry research links, with students with industry research funding showing higher levels of course satisfaction than other students.     

Redefining ‘early career’ in academia: a collective narrative approach

‘Early career’ in academia is typically defined in terms of research capability in the five years following PhD completion, with career progression from post-doctoral appointment to tenure, promotion and beyond. This ideal path assumes steady employment and continuous research development. With academic work increasingly casualised, experiences of ‘early career’ are changing and definitions in use by institutions and research bodies do not reflect the lived experiences of early career academics (ECAs). This paper presents five collective narratives and a thematic analysis of survey data from 522 ECAs in three Australian universities. The results offer insights into the diverse experiences of the early stages of academic careers and provide an opportunity to reconsider current definitions. We argue that the employment context in higher education makes it crucial to consider scholars’ self-definitions alongside existing objective indicators to redefine early career in academia.     

The PhD – is it out of alignment?

ABSTRACT

Globally there is recognition that doctoral programmes need to offer the opportunity for career pathways beyond academia, as PhD graduates are entering a range of careers. Consequently, some doctoral programmes now provide opportunities to develop a broader skill set. However, most PhD programmes in the United Kingdom and Australasia still concentrate on disciplinary knowledge and developing research skills. Moreover, the assessment has remained narrowly focused on a written thesis and an oral examination. Here we apply the notion of ‘constructive alignment’ to doctoral education and find that, even in terms of preparing PhD graduates for academic and research careers, the curriculum lacks opportunities to develop and assess relevant skills. The situation is even more extreme for wider careers beyond academia. To achieve alignment, we suggest providing more structured learning opportunities and personalised professional development plans with formative portfolios. If wanting true alignment in the PhD, a portfolio would be the summative assessment, but this is likely a step too far for a conservative academy.     

A Model of Factors Contributing to STEM Learning and Career Orientation

The purpose of this research was to develop and test a model of factors contributing to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning and career orientation, examining the complex paths and relationships among social, motivational, and instructional factors underlying these outcomes for middle school youth. Social cognitive career theory provided the foundation for the research because of its emphasis on explaining mechanisms which influence both career orientations and academic performance. Key constructs investigated were youth STEM interest, self-efficacy, and career outcome expectancy (consequences of particular actions). The study also investigated the effects of prior knowledge, use of problem-solving learning strategies, and the support and influence of informal educators, family members, and peers. A structural equation model was developed, and structural equation modeling procedures were used to test proposed relationships between these constructs. Results showed that educators, peers, and family-influenced youth STEM interest, which in turn predicted their STEM self-efficacy and career outcome expectancy. STEM career orientation was fostered by youth-expected outcomes for such careers. Results suggest that students’ pathways to STEM careers and learning can be largely explained by these constructs, and underscore the importance of youth STEM interest.     

What makes academic careers less insecure? The role of individual-level antecedents

The early stages of an academic career are fraught with insecurity. By focusing on the individual and his or her background, this article sets out to analyse and develop theories for this insecurity. We see academic career insecurity as a mix of how much someone wants to pursue a job in academia and what they feel is the probability of reaching their goal. The article draws on concepts of boundaryless careers and protean careers to theorise about the antecedents of insecurity. Empirical analysis is based on survey data from early-career researchers at a large Austrian university. The findings indicate that the most important individual factors that reduce academic career insecurity are the willingness to be geographically mobile, self-attribution of previous career success, a high proportion of working time devoted to research and networking, as well as being at an advanced career stage. The article demonstrates the potential and limits of the boundaryless and protean career concepts for studying academic careers. Practical measures are that universities should provide early-career researchers with temporal space for research and networking, facilitate stays at other universities, inform them about career success factors, and tailor faculty development programmes to the distinct stages of academic careers.     

The impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK for doctoral and early career researchers

Higher Education - Doctoral researchers and early career researchers (ECRs) are crucial to producing scientific advancements and represent the future of academic leadership. Their research...     

Serving many masters: The PhD on the labour market, the everlasting need of inequality, and the premature death of humboldt

The paper addresses the processes and outcomesof doctoral training and their impact on thesubsequent careers and work affiliations ofdoctoral degree holders on the bases of theresults of the first large scale survey amongthis target group in Germany. It assesses theGerman experience with the doctoral degree as aticket to multiple journeys on the labourmarket inside and – quantitatively moreimportant – outside academe. Links between`traditional' inequalities in the framework ofthe equality of opportunity discourse,`non-traditional' inequalities in the frameworkof the life-cycle discourse, transition toemployment and advanced career stages, areaddressed. The overall picture that derivesfrom the survey results shows a quite positiveoutcome of the PhD on the labour market. By andlarge, PhD matters if we compare doctoraldegree holders and graduates. Selectionfor doctoral training is biased by socialorigin while later career attainment amongPhD-holders is not. Thus, the `need ofinequality' is mainly satisfied by respectiveselection processes within the educationalsystem. In contrast, the analysis supports the`entry-job hypotheses' that suggests asignificant impact of early career stages onlater stages. The analysis shows as well that adeviation from continuous full-time employmentis a clear career hindrance.     

The effects of a teaching development institute for early career researchers on their intended teaching strategies,course design,beliefs about instructors’ and students’ knowledge,and instructional self-efficacy: The case of the Teaching Institute at Johns Hopkins University

Despite the importance of both research and teaching, doctoral and postdoctoral programs tend to focus on research. One approach to address the lack of teaching development for early career researchers (ECRs) is to train them on instruction. The purpose of this two-year study was to examine the effects of a Teaching Development Institute (TDI) on ECRs’ intended teaching strategies, course planning, beliefs about instructors’ and students’ knowledge, and instructional self-efficacy. We used the Approaches to Teaching (ATI) and the College Teaching Self-Efficacy (CTSE) instruments in a one-group pretest-posttest design. The sample was 109 and 140 ECRs who participated at the Teaching Institute at Johns Hopkins University in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The results of the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test indicated that the TDI intervention was effective. The theoretical implications of the paper include (a) reinterpreting the ATI according to the interactive, constructive, active, and passive (ICAP) cognitive engagement framework, and (b) proposing the professional development to student achievement (PDSA) model.     

Pre-service Teacher Education for University Lecturers: The academic apprentice

This paper proposes re-structuring the professional education of PhD students who wish to prepare for future academic careers. Universities should consider going beyond research training and offer an alternative route to becoming a university lecturer. This would take the form of an apprenticeship underpinned by a qualifications framework in the three main areas of academic practice, namely research, teaching and administration. Pre-service education of this nature would provide better qualified and more experienced applicants for new lectureships. It would also help to overcome existing social and cultural barriers to the acceptance of PhD students as professional teachers. These issues are discussed in the context of a two-year part-time professional course in university teaching for PhD students at a university in the UK. It is suggested that programs of this nature could form a key component of a full academic apprenticeship.     

Academic careers for graduate students: a strong attractor in a changed environment

Professorship has traditionally been the single most valued career path for graduates of PhD programs. Policies now encourage graduate students to directly or indirectly engage with non-academic organizations to encourage the next generation of researchers to explore alternative careers, including opportunities in industry and government. In this article, we use data from a survey of Quebec science and engineering graduate students to examine the impact of their participation in university-industry-government research partnerships on their professional preferences. We assess the degree to which exposure to non-academic realities through different training arrangements relates to career preferences, and how these preferences evolve over time. We show that the proportion of students who did not change their preferred career path over time is high, indicating that by the time students engage in a research-training program they already, for the most part, know what career they want to pursue. However, and although students with close ties to non-academic partners may initially be more interested in non-academic career paths, over time all categories of students become more attracted to academic careers. We conclude that faculty positions continue to dominate the professional dreams of fledgling researchers, a power of attraction that increases as students advance in their program, even when it involves industrial contacts.     

Deepening our understanding of academic inbreeding effects on research information exchange and scientific output: new insights for academic based research

This paper analyzes the impact of academic inbreeding in relation to academic research, and proposes a new conceptual framework for its analysis. We find that mobility (or lack of) at the early research career stage is decisive in influencing academic behaviors and scientific productivity. Less mobile academics have more inward oriented information exchange dynamics and lower scientific productivity. The analysis also indicates that the information exchange and scientific productivity of academics that changed institutions only once do not differ substantially from that of “mobile inbred academics”. This emphasizes the need for mobility throughout scientific and academic careers and calls for policies to curtail academic inbreeding.     

Students’ perceptions of career conversations with their teachers

Internationally, schools acknowledge their responsibility in guiding students not only in their academic growth, but also in their lifelong career development. In relation to this development, vocational schools in the Netherlands are implementing integral career guidance in which teachers receive a new task in guiding students in developing their own learning and career paths. A questionnaire was developed to investigate students’ perceptions of career guidance by teachers during career conversations, and data involving 28 teachers were collected from 579 students. The study identified four different teacher guidance profiles. Remarkable is that teachers spoke very little about career issues, and school issues were mostly on the agenda. The results indicate that teachers struggle with the transition towards becoming a career guide of students, and aspects influencing the transition into this new role need to be considered.     

The unacknowledged value of female academic labour power for male research careers

Academic work in Sweden's higher education system is changing character. Distinctly different career pathways are emerging, as facilities for developing research careers and capital have become both more restricted and more dependent on external funding. These developments are in focus in the present article. Based on ethnographic research and a series of semi-structured interviews with new academics and senior academic mentors in education faculties, the research suggests that several factors intercede in how careers are developed and experienced. The unacknowledged exploitation of female academic labour is perhaps amongst the more significant of these.     

Snakes and ladders: stressing the role of meta-competencies for post-modern careers

Major global changes during the last decades have influenced the individual’s work-life and career. As a result of globalisation, increasing societal complexity and flexibility, careers have lost their linearity and predictability. Traditional models of career development no longer provide a comprehensive explanation for an adequate career development. New theoretical concepts such as protean and boundaryless career attitudes are presented as options to cope with the new situation. In addition, the development of career meta-competencies and skills are introduced as an approach to foster career self-management.     

Gendered transitions,career identities and possible selves: the case of engineering graduates

This article, drawing upon the Paired Peers project, a longitudinal qualitative study (n = 90), examines how seven UK engineering graduates, four women and three men, construct their career identities during the transitionary period from university to work. It explores how gender and the occupational cultures that reside within the sector, and the wider sociocultural context, affect women’s careers identities, choices and trajectories. The longitudinal design, characteristics of the cohort and the theoretical framework of possible selves contribute to the originality of this empirical research. In this paper, we show how female graduates gradually adapted their occupational aspirations and career identities to fit with socio-cultural expectations and how they struggled to construct viable ‘engineering’ selves in the vital career identity development phase of their first years of employment when most female STEM graduates change careers.     

Insights from teacher leavers: push and pull in career development

This article examines the career pathways of US teacher leavers, individuals who have voluntarily left classroom teaching prior to retirement. Based on the perspective that teachers construct their own career pathways through an ongoing negotiation among intrinsic and extrinsic factors, this research captures the experiences of 24 teacher leavers from geographically diverse regions of the United States. Using life history interviews, this study inquires into individuals’ experiences before, during, and after classroom teaching. Unexpectedly, only one of the 24 individuals initially intended to enter teaching. Data also indicate that teachers’ career pathways were shaped by dynamics pushing and pulling their careers into and out of the classroom. These life history interviews suggest that teachers were pushed and pulled into teaching, pushed and pulled out of teaching, and pushed and pulled around their passions. The trajectories of these teacher leavers, who have now moved into fields as diverse as non-classroom education, medicine, government, and caregiving, suggest important theoretical and practical implications for understanding and shaping teachers’ careers in today’s workforce.     

To Be or Not to Be an Academic: The Academic Professional Intentions of PhD Students and Influencing Factors

Abstract

Using survey data on academic PhD students, influencing factors for PhD students’ academic career intentions are explained from the perspectives of individual features and the academic labor market. The study found: (1) There is a diversification of PhD employment, with nearly one-third of academic PhDs going to nonacademic organizations; (2) female PhDs tend to favor stable academic professions, and rural and low-income PhD groups are more inclined to choose employment in academic organizations to become academic elites and realize upward social mobility; (3) PhD students who identify with academic majors tend to choose academic professions, but a considerable portion of top quality PhDs go to nonacademic organizations; (4) academic interests and enthusiasm are important influences on choosing an academic profession; (5) worsening job environments in academic institutions and weakening professional attractiveness had a cooling effect on the academic employment intentions of PhDs.     

Career readiness: An analysis of text complexity for occupational reading materials

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the broader college and career readiness agenda encourage educators, researchers, and other stakeholders to focus on preparing students for life after high school. A key emphasis is literacy, as the ability to read and comprehend written language is critical to success in college and careers. Understanding the level of reading comprehension needed for college and careers has important instructional implications. This study examined text complexity levels of various career texts using the Reading Maturity Metric and compared them to expectations in the CCSS. Text samples were selected for jobs from the five job zones in the Occupational Information Network database. Text complexity demands for all careers were generally in the CCSS range of college and career readiness and increased as job zone and required preparation increased. Results could provide specific career-related targets to make the CCSS reading requirements more relevant for students.     

Attracting tomorrow’s engineers: an evaluation of a scheme to enhance recruitment into engineering

This paper reports a survey of 16 to 17 year old students who took part in a school based project activity designed to motivate them to consider a career in engineering. The scheme can be considered a success in that an uppermost estimated figure of 19% more students were recruited to engineering undergraduate courses than might otherwise have been the case in the absence of the scheme. The price that was paid for this was that for every additional engineer recruited to an undergraduate course there were ten participants on the scheme. The way that youngsters make decisions about career choices is discussed in an attempt to throw some light on the mechanisms for uptake (and abandonment) of careers in engineering.