Identities of research-active academics in new universities: towards a complete academic profession cross-cutting different worlds of practice

This study explores how academics who expanded their teaching-only positions to include research view their (re)constructed academic identity. Participants worked in a higher professional education institution of applied research and teaching, comparable with so-called new universities. The aim is to increase our understanding of variations in academic identity and to be better able to support academics’ ‘role making’ within and across different worlds of practice. Data from semi-structured interviews with 18 academics at a Dutch new university were analysed using a grounded theory approach. This revealed six well-rounded academic identities reflecting participants’ personal scholarly objectives: the ‘continuous learner’, ‘disciplinary expert’, ‘skilled researcher’, ‘evidence-based teacher’, ‘guardian of the research work process’ and ‘liaison officer’. The researcher role served to promote the overall development of participants’ identities. The ‘disciplinary expert’ matured through participation in the academic world and research activities. Participants discovered what ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ a researcher in the new university might entail, and contributed to the professions’ knowledge base. Participants learned to apply various research-based teaching approaches. As brokers, they linked research projects to practices in meaningful ways. The six identities embodied an emergent power in creating and preserving a complete academic profession. Participants’ accounts showed tensions inherent in an extended role portfolio and constraints in ‘role making’ given inconsistencies between the university’s espoused research mission and the one in use. These imply challenges for university managers in aligning policies and practices, and scaffolding academics’ attempts to integrate their academic roles in different worlds of practice.     

Governance in Higher Education Corporations: A Consideration of the Constitution Created by the 1992 Act

This article argues that the constitutions of higher education corporations created by the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act are flawed. It argues that the constitutions were created with insufficient regard both for precedents for the creation of universities and also for emerging problems and principles of corporate governance. This resulted in a model of governance which maximised the role of the vice–chancellor or chief executive and 'independent members' of governing bodies, limited the participation of staff and students, and allocated a restricted role to academic boards. This article examines a number of the problems arising from inadequacies in governance in a number of post–1992 universities and their similarity with problems arising in further education colleges who shared common governance arrangements from the 1992 Act. This article compares these problems with governance problems in Australian universities and concludes that there is a need to reform the governance arrangements created by the 1992 Act.     

Life on the Coalface: the aftermath of amalgamation

The ongoing ‘rationalisation’ of tertiary education in Australia is symptomatic, it is argued here, of the deeper tensions inherent in corporate capitalism. This paper examines one aspect of the rationalisation process — amalgamation — based on research carried out at two amalgamated colleges, with the aim of ‘demystifying’ the rhetoric of ‘efficiency and effectiveness’ underpinning current managerialist approaches to education.

The impact of amalgamation on college life — increased bureaucratisation and centralisation of power harnessed to a form of ‘entrepreneurial zeal’, resulting in administrative inefficiencies and increasing staff alienation — may be partly explained, it is suggested, by the contradictions and limitations of the ideological/economistic parameters within which the amalgamation policy was conceived, namely the ‘Razor Gang’ proposals of the former Liberal government. This in turn, it is suggested, reflects something of the interrelationship between education policy, the fiscal crisis’ of capitalism, and the ‘legitimation crisis’ of the State.     

Student Participation in Shared Governance: A Means of Advancing Democratic Values?

Student participation in shared governance of higher education institutions is considered in the context of a civic role for higher education in a democracy. Statutory provisions for the governance of Irish higher education institutions are reviewed by reference to models of shared governance. Findings from a survey of actual levels of student participation within higher institutions in the Republic of Ireland are discussed and compared with patterns in Europe. The rationale for student participation in governance is critically examined with particular attention to the consequences of the client/customer paradigm. The case is made that participation in shared governance is a necessary but insufficient condition for the realisation of the democratic ideal. The relationship between academic democracy and political democracy is explored, highlighting the key role which academics have to play in creating the conditions for the nurturing of democratic values.     

Friends,peers and higher education

Theorists of friendship in contemporary society have suggested that our relationships with peers are characterised by their emphasis on openness, disclosure and emotional communication. Moreover, Beck and Beck‐Gernsheim argue that friendship, as a deliberately sought, trusting partnership between two people, can play an important role in countering some of the negative consequences of a market‐driven society, ‘acting as a shared lifeline to take the weight of each other’s confusions and weaknesses’. However, drawing on a series of in‐depth interviews with students from nine different higher education institutions, this paper will argue that such theorists overlook significant complexity in the ways in which young adults choose to ‘order’ their friendships. Indeed, it will suggest that highly individualised and ruthlessly competitive approaches to academic study can be maintained alongside more socially cooperative relationships with friends and peers, played out in non‐academic arenas. The paper will discuss the implications of this for both sociological theorising about friendship, and policy and practice within the higher education sector.     

Tensions and striving for coherence in an academic’s professional identity work

The emergence of ‘new managerialism’ in academic institutions and professions has given rise to tensions between one’s professional self and work context. Such tensions often originate from a misalignment between institutional and personal values. This study builds on a dialogical approach to identity and discusses the role of inner tensions and conflicts in terms of making sense of one’s professional identity. These aspects are explored and exemplified by introducing a sample case of one individual student and university researcher/teacher, Anna, who participated in one-year Pedagogical Studies for Adult Educators. Leaning on the narratives of Anna’s learning diaries and a later interview, the article describes tensions and critical conflicts in her professional I-positioning. The study shows how tensions and their resolutions, at their best, can lead to constructive identity work, thereby finding a new personal sense resulting in a more integrated professional identity.     

完善职工参与公司治理的思考

职工参与公司治理是经济民主发展的趋势，有其深厚的理论依据。在中国推行职工参与制度更有现实意义。在详实分析我国职工参与公司治理现状的基础上，提出完善我国职工参与公司治理的相应建议。     

In a silent way: student perceptions of silence in community

Abstract

This paper explores young people’s perceptions of the role and value of shared ‘gathered’ silence in the corporate life of a school community. It draws on a small-scale qualitative investigation in a Quaker school setting. There may be particular things to learn about the practice of stillness and silence inherent in the ethos of a Quaker school. The silence referred to in this discussion of its value in schools is a rich, positive ‘strong’ type of silence. This study suggests that shared silent spaces can be both personal and interpersonal. In terms of the former, they may offer valuable opportunities for young people to be still and open to their inner life. Regarding the latter, interpersonal shared community silence may enhance a sense of closeness and connection to one another and perhaps offer some opportunity for freedom from the intrusion of the ‘noise’ of everyday life and the demands of others.     

Parental involvement in mathematics: giving parents a voice

Understanding why parents become involved in their children's education is crucial in strengthening the relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement. The present study focuses on the parental role construction and parental self-efficacy. The resulting trends suggest that parents, regardless of their self-efficacy, may assume the ‘equal partnership-focused’ parental role regarding their children's mathematics education. The results also demonstrate that there may be a conflict in the way parents and teachers construct this parental role. While parents assumed the ‘equally shared’ role, teachers maintained the belief that the responsibility, although shared to a certain degree, should be primarily on teachers.     

美国高等教育“学生参与”研究述评:内涵、立场与追求

“学生参与”是推进高等教育治理体系现代化的重要一环,伴随着研究者对内涵认知的不断深化,参与的内涵从学习时间的投入扩大到学生所处生态圈各项活动的参与。研究者从个人视角和社会视角两个立场出发,研究的价值追求历经20世纪30年代以来研究“学生参与”以促进学生学业成就提高,到20世纪60、70年代的参与以彰显学生权力,再到80年代以来的参与以促进学生能力的全面发展,培养合格的社会公民。对已有研究进行述评之后,提出后续研究的空间:扩充参与研究的理论基础,展现参与的主体学生与客体的互动过程,倾听作为主体的学生的声音。     

完善大学治理结构的思考与建议

当前,我国大学内部治理存在着内部权力配置不当,党、政、学关系不顺,学生、教工民主参与途径不畅等问题,极大地阻碍了高校的发展。完善大学内部治理结构,必须处理好大学内部政治权力、行政权力、学术权力、民主权力四种公共权力的配置与制衡关系;进一步优化由党委领导、校长负责、教授治学、共同参与、全委决策、民主管理六大要素构成的大学内部组织结构关系;建立和健全坚强有力的领导机制、民主科学的决策机制、行政权力与学术权力和谐发展的机制、深度对话与平等协商的共同参与机制和公开透明的权力调控机制。     

Governing University Strategy: Perceptions and practice of governance and management roles

Intertwined trends of massification, internationalisation and marketisation constitute and drive change in higher education at all levels. Consequences at the institutional level include: increased competition, adoption of corporate management forms, accrual of power to executive management, and greater emphasis on strategy. As Government policy focuses on accountability and a stronger role for university governing bodies, some new interfaces and tensions between governance and management roles have emerged, particularly in relation to strategic direction‐setting and planning. This article reports on results from an empirical, theory‐building study of role construction in university governance, arguing that cultural norms in conjunction with members’ attributions based on social identity are key influences on members’ perceptions of management and governance roles in relation to strategic processes.     

Does Higher Education Need a Hippocratic Oath?

Taking as a starting point Eric Ashby's proposal that academic staff should swear to inculcate ‘the discipline of constructive dissent’, this paper explores the question of whether or not contemporary society's ethical expectations of higher education should be codified. Three types of relationship between the university and its communities are explored: ‘first order’, arising from the university just being there; ‘second order’, being largely structured by contracts; and ‘third’ order, between the institution and its members. This leads to discussion of partnerships, stakeholding, of governance, of the public interest and of academic citizenship. Ashby's approach to academic values is then contrasted with that of the Institute of Business Ethics and the Council for Industry and Higher Education, as well as Macfarlane's concept of academic virtues. The author concludes with a proposed set of ‘10 commandments’ for members of universities and colleges.     

论大学学术治理能力现代化

学术治理能力涵涉多元利益主体参与大学学术场域实践活动的积极性、参与方式、治理的运行制度设计、治理主体的权责划分以及利益分配、治理程序等多重因素。提升学术治理能力现代化水平已成为全面推进高等教育治理能力现代化的关键,主要包括学术治理制度的善意理解力、冲突解决力、共在执行力、责任悦纳力以及创新驱动力等要素特征。然而,实然境遇下的大学学术场域由于诸多权力的交错混杂与寻租以及外部法律制度供给缺位,造成学术治理能力出现“虚假治理”困境,阻滞了现代大学制度建设的步伐。真正实现学术治理能力现代化需要在具有民主契约的共生环境中秉持善治理念,塑造多中心学术治理格局,确保学术治理动态过程的手段善与结果善统一。     

Large-scale implementation of formative assessment practices in an examination-oriented culture

Singapore’s education system has often been characterised as exam-oriented. This paper describes efforts (‘windmills’) made by the Government to constructively respond to the ‘winds of change’ in the education system. A committee called the Primary Education Review and Implementation (PERI) Committee was appointed to study and recommend the priorities, programmes and resources needed to revise primary education in Singapore. The Committee recommended that a balanced school-based assessment system that provides constructive feedback, enabling more meaningful learning in support of both academic and non-academic aspects of a pupil’s development, be carried out under the label of ‘Holistic Assessment’. This paper is an attempt at surfacing the challenges (‘walls’) in implementing ‘Holistic Assessment’ on a large scale, highlighting in particular, the tensions perceived by stakeholders concerning the interaction between formative assessment and accountability systems. It documents how stakeholders, namely teachers and parents, perceive and typify the concept of ‘Holistic Assessment’. The findings provide insights into the consequent realities of a nationwide shift in assessment purpose and discourse on teachers and parents.     

Boffin and geek identities: abject or privileged?

High achievement, and in particular, the role of the academically diligent and successful ‘boffin’ or ‘geek’, are notably under-researched areas in the sociology of education. Issues around gender and other aspects of identity in relation to such pupils are particularly under-researched. In this Viewpoint article we draw on evidence from our recent research projects including young people interpolated to, or identifying with, the subject position of ‘boffin/geek’ and media representations of such positions. We debate some tensions between our work, drawing out shared findings. The article considers issues around capital, experience, and the extent of exclusion/inclusion for boffins/geeks, discussing to what extent such young people can be considered marginalised and abjected or agentic and privileged. We argue that structural factors such as gender, social class, ‘race’, age, and institutional location impact on these constructions and outcomes.     

Universities and the humanities,then and now

Over the centuries, universities have functioned as gatekeepers and treasurers of received knowledge, while concomitantly furthering innovative contributions to society. Yet, when cultivating research ‘silos’, universities encourage scholars to explore in seeming isolation. Out of such tensions, universities have supported, and will continue to pursue, different kinds of, and approaches to, furthering knowledge and creativity. In the past, the humanities had been central to this mission. More recently, however, the efficient and global acceleration of consumer-oriented ‘knowledge production and consumption’ seems to form a critical factor upsetting the centrality of the humanities in university cultures. In this context, exploring the academic communities of the late middle ages proves to be a useful exercise. Forged in strong relationships with ecclesiastical and secular powers, mediaeval universities nonetheless share critical concerns with today’s academic institutions; thus, they too were constrained by the need to attract and exact excellence, to navigate relationships with their immediate environs, and to train professionals, who could ensure continuity in academic communities, the church, and the imperial courts. In other words, mediaeval universities also experienced polarising tensions that reveal consonances between then and now and that can gloss today’s acceleration driving the consumer model of knowledge production and consumption, while also encouraging scholars to form more explicit links to external constituencies.     

The last place to look: the place of pupil councils within citizen participation in Scottish schools

This article critically examines pupil councils as a means of developing pupils’ citizenship participation. It draws on findings across two research projects. The first study is a mixed method study commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) that reviews the range of participatory activities in Scottish schools and their contribution to Scotland’s major curriculum revision, the Curriculum for Excellence (CFE). The second is a longer ethnographic study examining young people’s experience of participation projects in more detail. The findings lend strength to the argument that pupil councils as a stand-alone approach are not an effective means of citizenship participation. When pupil councils are complemented by other participation activity across spheres of school interaction, young people’s understanding of and interest in participation can be greatly enhanced. The article examines the cross curricular linkages schools are making, the barriers that impede such linkages and the benefits derived from successful coordinated approaches in light of criteria for ‘graduated participation’ developed through decades of work internationally on children’s participation.     

Numeracy Coordinators: ‘Brokering’ Change Within and Between Communities of Practice?

ABSTRACT:?

This paper draws on a study of numeracy coordinators in primary schools in the UK in the second year of the implementation of the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS). It identifies them as working between three main tasks: embedding the Strategy, sustaining teacher collegiality and auditing accountability. We identify tensions in ‘being a coordinator’ in relation to these tasks, especially for discourse and identity. We assess the usefulness of the metaphor of ‘brokering’ in ‘communities of practice’ (Wenger, 1998) to theorise such tensions. We conclude with some reservations about the metaphor, especially in the way the tensions are discursively performed in relation to the rate of change, complexity of notions of professional identity, and the problematic ‘community’ status of audit in the educational context.     

Challenging discourses of aspiration: The role of expectations and attainment in access to higher education

Raising the proportion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds progressing to higher education has been a key policy objective for successive governments in the UK since the late 1990s. Often this has been conceptualised as a problem with their ‘aspirations’, with the solution being seen as the provision of ‘aspiration‐raising’ activities to promote higher education to those thought to have the potential to progress. Recent large‐scale studies cast strong doubt on this hypothesis by demonstrating that aspirations are not generally low, that different social groups have similar levels of aspiration and that school attainment accounts for nearly all the differences in participation rates between social groups. This article draws on data from a national project exploring efforts to widen participation across two generations of practitioner‐managers in England, focusing on their conceptualisations of the field and their constructions of ‘successful’ activities. It uses the lens of ‘possible selves’ (Markus & Nurius, 1986 ) to argue that too much policy emphasis has been placed on the aspirations of young people, rather than either their academic attainment or their expectations, which are shaped by the normative expectations of the adults surrounding them. In addition, the more expansive concepts of widening participation that were present a decade ago have become less common, with a shift towards activities with a clear role in institutional recruitment rather than social transformation. The article concludes with alternative suggestions for policy and practice.