The academic career: contradiction as a key player in nursing education

ABSTRACT

Background: Within Europe, substantial changes in academia in recent years have transformed the work of academic nurses. The most important change has been a result of the Bologna Process, launched in 1999, as it has led to the implementation of significant reforms to higher education across participating European countries.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop a theoretical understanding of the effect of the Bologna Process on academic nurses’ professional development and explore academic nurses’ perceptions of the challenges and opportunities they encounter in the teaching and research arena.

Method: A qualitative study was conducted. The participants were eight academic nurses and data were collected through 24 in-depth, semi-structured weekly interviews. The analysis was performed using the constant comparative method, leading to the construction of categories based on the constant comparison of similarities and differences between the participants.

Findings: The coding process led to the identification and interpretation of the core category. This category, identified as ‘The academic career: Contradiction as a key player’, emerged as a result of analysis of the interaction of four categories: (1) opportunity for change, (2) unnecessary difficulties, (3) growth of the discipline and (4) institutional requirements. Findings indicated that the academic nurses in the study viewed the Bologna Process positively but noted several obstacles to its implementation. According to the participants, the changes also led to conflict in terms of their work–life balance.

Conclusions: This study is of relevance to nursing education and to clinical nursing practice. It suggests that the implementation of the Bologna Process in nursing studies has helped nurses to regard research as part of their autonomous professional role, and to be aware that research contributes to improve clinical practice, providing an evidence base on which to design and assess nursing interventions. However, the notion that academic nurses consider research within a contradiction paradigm is a potential barrier to the advancement of nursing science and evidence-based practice.     

Profitable portfolios: capital that counts in higher education

Under-representation in UK higher education of students from less privileged social backgrounds is an enduring problem. While there are examples of productive participation, the pattern of collective trajectories of this group differs sharply from that of traditional entrants. The onus falls largely on students to adapt to established practices that remain strongly oriented towards traditional white middle-class populations. Bourdieu's theory of practice informed the analysis of data emerging from a longitudinal case study, and empirical insights are offered into how students with non-traditional academic backgrounds experienced and negotiated the demands of studying in one of the UK's research-intensive universities. A new conceptual framework identifies academic, linguistic, social and professionally-oriented capital as underpinning the logic of practice of this sub-field of higher education, and their influence on the positional tendencies and trajectories of the students operating within it are highlighted.     

Capital,inequality and education in conflict-affected contexts

Abstract

Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-first Century has brought the issue of inequality to the centre of political debate. This article explores contemporary research on the relationship between education and inequality in conflict-affected contexts with a view to seeing how Piketty’s work speaks to these issues as a field of research and practice. The article provides a critique of Piketty’s approach, arguing for a broader, interdisciplinary and holistic approach to exploring and addressing inequality in education in conflict-affected contexts in their multiple economic, cultural and political dimensions. In doing so the article also lays out an analytical framework inspired by cultural political economy for researching education systems in conflict contexts which seeks to go beyond narrow human capital framings of education and address the multiple potential of education to promote sustainable peace and development in and through education.     

从学者治理、学校治理到学术治理 ——高等教育普及化时代的研究型大学治理

从精英阶段、大众化阶段到普及化阶段,研究型大学的治理发生了较大变化,主要特征是从学者治理发展为学校治理再发展到学术治理。治理变迁与研究型大学的内外部动力机制变化密切相关：单一外部机制和静态内部机制造就学者治理,多重外部机制和稳态内部机制要求学校治理,多重外部机制和动态内部机制催生学术治理。当前研究型大学的治理普遍面临内部自由探索与外部问责张力加强、全球规范机制与本国实践矛盾加深这两大时代挑战,中国研究型大学要回应好普及化时代的挑战,先要涵育理性、自主的现代品质。     

Caught in the middle: faculty and institutional status and quality in state comprehensive universities

Faculty members at state-related comprehensive universities (SCUs) are ‘caught in the middle,’ caught between the demands of a research university model of higher education and other models such as that of the liberal arts or community colleges. They are caught in the ambiguity of not having determined their own identity. The SCUs are a major for?e in higher education that resulted from historical trends and the demands of parents, students, and state legislators for services. But the emerging form of these institutions has yet to complete its metamorphosis. During their transformation, the SCUs have emulated the high-status research universities as their own low status forced a search for an identity different from their origins, commonly as teachers colleges. The unfortunate consequence of the SCUs' quest for status has been low faculty satisfaction and additional loss of institutional self-esteem. Furthermore, an emphasis on published research has led to a disparagement of scholarship as it is manifested in teaching and service. As faculty members focus more on disciplinary research, their involvement with students and in university governance and other campus affairs diminishes. What can SCUs do? Five alternative approaches that SCUs could use to develop distinct identities appropriate to their constituencies are examined. The concept that connects these different approaches is ‘scholarship,’ in its traditional sense. A broader definition of scholarship could enable the SCUs to achieve excellence in ways not dictated by the research university model. There is some reason to hope that there is increasingly effective internal and external pressures for SCUs to develop and enact such distinctive identities.     

Professionalising Ph.D. education to enhance the quality of the student experience

Ph.D. student numbers have been increasing in Australia as has government interest in the economic and social outcomes of graduate education (Moses 1994, Cullen et al. 1994). Yet the position of Ph.D. students can still be seen as marginal within universities and the institutional organisation of Ph.D. education as problematic. This situation can be related to the highly individualistic nature of research and supervision which is both a barrier to and part of the argument against efforts to examine and discuss in general the processes of research training and supervisory interactions across disciplinary and departmental boundaries. This article positions all Ph.D. students, in all fields of study, as learners in a form of professional education -a perspective which offers a way out of this apparent dilemma. Drawing on data from a study reported in Cullen et al. (1994) the following topics are explored: Ph.D. students as learners of the knowledge and skill of the professional practice of research and scholarship; the role of the supervisor in assisting students to become independent practitioners; and the complementary professional role of student participation in the academic community. Implications for policy and practice to professionalise Ph.D. education and enhance the quality of the student experience are discussed.     

Points for Debate: God's Child

Considerable resources and intellectual attention have focused on seeking to raise the status of teaching in higher education over the last two decades. Initiatives at an institutional level have included the funding of pedagogic research, teaching awards and the creation of teaching professorships. In a broader context, the scholarship of teaching and learning movement has campaigned for a reconfigured and more inclusive understanding of scholarship. However, despite the good intentions of these initiatives, the effect been to lower still further the status of teaching, bifurcating universities between ‘teaching’ and ‘research’. It is argued that efforts should instead be directed at integrating academic practice as a more effective way of raising the status of teaching.     

STAFF DEVELOPMENT: SOME THOUGHTS ON RESPONSIBILITY

To many teaching in universities in this country, the whole idea of developing staff seems slightly absurd. After all, did we not choose to work in a university because we had already reached a position of some academic standing in our own specialisation; and surely is not the essential function of an academic to extend the boundaries of knowledge through scholarship and research? Perhaps this is too narrow a view of staff aims, but certainly it is still the widely held belief that promotion comes more readily this way. It is only recently that interest has been shown in the nature of teaching in universities. Doubts have been expressed by Bligh (1972) and others about the effectiveness of the traditionally accepted lecture approach; and attention has recently been given to small group teaching, individualised instruction, the Keller plan and other alternative methods. The emphasis placed on such methods could suggest that staff development is concerned largely with teaching‐‐yet is this not an absurdity in an environment which values mainly scholarship and research? This conflict is one of the major problems facing staff development, and solving it may‐‐to some extent‐be at the heart of the problem of responsibility

In this paper, I will look briefly at some of the early work done in universities in the field of staff development, and suggest certain important character traits needed by anyone involved in this work, before posing questions of responsibility     

Institutionalising campus diversity in South African higher education: Review of diversity scholarship and diversity education

Increasingly the social, educational, cultural,linguistic, religious and racial diversity ofSouth African society is finding expressionwithin South African institutions of highereducation. Consequently, ``diversity'',``diversity issues'' and ``diversification'', havebecome part of the education debate and policy,and pose new challenges to South Africantertiary institutions. Most institutions areattempting to respond to these challengeswithin the context of a transformation processwhich impacts on every aspect of academic lifefrom student access and support, outreachprogrammes, staff recruitment and retention, toacademic programme development, research,scholarship and the social and learningenvironment on campus. This paper looks at howSouth African higher education institutionshave met these challenges. It highlights howthe ideas, initiatives or practices arounddiversity have been appropriated and made partof the mainstream intellectual and academicdiscourses. It also investigates the social andepistemological conditions of possibility formeaningful scholarship and curriculum practicesin addressing the challenges posed by socialdiversity on campuses. More specific questionsin this regard include: What counts asknowledge in diversity scholarship? Whoproduces and disseminates it? Who accesses itor utilises it? What is its space in thecurricula?     

Understanding the real barriers to technology-enhanced innovation in higher education

Background: Academic staff have a key role to play in the innovation efforts of universities aiming to exploit the potential of web-based learning technologies. Although learning technologies are an important building block of educational innovation, the eLearning adoption rate of European academic staff appears disappointing. The majority of curricula in European universities are stalled in the traditional pedagogical model of knowledge transmission, which continues to dominate teaching and learning.

Purpose: This conceptual paper explores underlying structural and cultural barriers to technology-enhanced innovation in higher education.

Sources of evidence: Starting from the underdeveloped state of eLearning in European universities, the paper challenges arguments that visible barriers such as technical issues, budget constraints or lack of interest in technology amongst academic staff represent the actual reasons for the slow advancement of learning technologies in university curricula.

Main argument: The paper argues that the lack of faculty interest and engagement for eLearning are visible symptoms for deeply rooted causes, which hinder current innovation efforts of universities. It explores theoretical viewpoints for structural peculiarities of universities, motivational and habitual traits of academic staff, and long-standing cultural values in the academic community in an attempt to understand their impact on technology-enhanced innovation in higher education.

Conclusions: The real dilemma for eLearning innovation is caused by macro-level influence factors that even committed universities can hardly overcome at institutional level. University leaders have to take the underlying innovation barriers into account when they try to engage academic staff for the use of learning technologies. With a realistic view on existing limitations, institutional eLearning adoption efforts have to be tailored to serve real learning needs and motivations of academic staff; and they have to consider specific goals and contexts within different universities.     

Academic developers: an academic tribe claiming their territory in higher education

In this paper we review the current debate regarding the work of academic developers in higher education and their rightful “place” in higher education, particularly with regard to notions of the discipline, research and scholarship of teaching. We describe and compare the work of discipline academics and academic developers and argue that the two are more similar to each other than different. We acknowledge the challenges and tensions that exist in the overlap between the domains of expertise of discipline academics and academic developers, and attempt to articulate sources of these tensions in a conceptual model. Ultimately we defend two propositions: (1) that academic developers are, by the nature of their work, academics, and (2) that the discipline that academic development is a part of, namely the discipline of higher education, is a legitimate academic discipline in its own right. The consequences of these two propositions are explored.     

The Restructuring of Academic Work in Australia: Power,management and gender

This paper examines how the restructuring of Australia's university system and the introduction of corporate managerialism has changed the work performed by academic staff. The paper illustrates how the emergence of higher education as both a major export industry and a vehicle for attaining greater international competitiveness has led to more intense regulation of academic work. Within a context of funding cutbacks, substantial inequities have emerged between and within universities, as they compete more aggressively for higher education markets. Hierarchical line management, with clear divisions between different categories of academic staff, has substantially replaced collegial forms of administration. This paper demonstrates how these processes have worked to undermine the effective implementation of Equal Employment Opportunity initiatives, as women remain concentrated in the lowest paid and least secure positions within universities.     

Examining scholarship in China’s academe: an exploratory study

We selected five Chinese university-based journals and five Western university-based journals to examine the extent of contributions by editorial board members and faculty from the universities in which the journals are published over a 6-year period from 2001 to 2006. A disproportionate contribution of faculty papers was from editorial board members in the Chinese university-based journals and faculty in the universities the journals are affiliated to. We speculate that this could be attributed to various reasons, including issues of protectionism, academic accountability, and the social capital of guanxi in the specific context of China. We suggest that editorial review boards of university-based journals in China may need to re-examine professional roles, responsibilities and ethics that may require new thinking on scholarship in higher education.     

Globalisation and science education: Rethinking science education reforms

Like Lemke (J Res Sci Teach 38:296–316, 2001), I believe that science education has not looked enough at the impact of the changing theoretical and global landscape by which it is produced and shaped. Lemke makes a sound argument for science education to look beyond its own discourses toward those like cultural studies and politics, and to which I would add globalisation theory and relevant educational studies. Hence, in this study I draw together a range of investigations to argue that globalisation is indeed implicated in the discourses of science education, even if it remains underacknowledged and undertheorized. Establishing this relationship is important because it provides different frames of reference from which to investigate many of science education's current concerns, including those new forces that now have a direct impact on science classrooms. For example, one important question to investigate is the degree to which current science education improvement discourses are the consequences of quality research into science teaching and learning, or represent national and local responses to global economic restructuring and the imperatives of the supranational institutions that are largely beyond the control of science education. Developing globalisation as a theoretical construct to help formulate new questions and methods to examine these questions can provide science education with opportunities to expand the conceptual and analytical frameworks of much of its present and future scholarship. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Presidential Address: The academic discipline of education. Reciprocal relationships between practical knowledge and academic knowledge

This article explores the nature of education as a vital part of human knowledge. The argument that is presented addresses the critique of education as having epistemological weaknesses as an academic discipline. The argument is framed by scholarship that has categorised the discipline of education as derived from three main traditions of knowledge. In order to explore the coherence of education as a discipline, contrasts are made with other disciplines such as mathematics and sciences. The article also reviews scholarship in relation to the concept of education research that is close-to-practice, and the relevance of this to understanding education as an academic discipline. The article concludes by suggesting a new model that shows the relationships between practical knowledge and academic knowledge that are an intrinsic part of education. A more confident portrayal of education as an academic discipline is also advocated.     

Teaching and Learning Generic Skills in Universities: The case of 'sociology' in a teacher education programme

The paper examines the links between a recent focus in Australian universities on 'generic skills' or 'graduate qualities', and national employment policies directed at developing employment-related 'key competencies'. It examines the attempt by a team of teacher educators in Australia to develop curricula that would meet the goals of national workplace policy initiatives, while retaining the traditional university concern of teaching critical evaluation of information and social practice. The specific example is the teaching of sociology within a teacher education programme. However, the examples and analysis offered here would be of interest to university teachers working with students in any professional degree programme where there is an expectation that students will be able to understand and apply sociological knowledge within their professional field. The project was framed within the policy context of 'meeting students' needs' .     

Contesting the Limond thesis on British influence in Irish education since 1922: a comparative perspective

This paper is a response to David Limond's exposition, “[An] historical culture … rapidly, universally, and thoroughly restored”? British influence on Irish education since 1922', which appeared in Comparative Education, Vol. 46, No. 4, November 2010, pp. 449–462. Limond's overall thesis is that ‘a post-colonial overhang affects Irish policy-makers and bureaucrats in their educational policies and practices’. This paper contests three main aspects of Limond's exposition. First, in his analysis of the period 1831–1922, he fails to place sufficient emphasis on the extent to which the educational system was favoured by the Catholic Church, which operated in a manner which served not only its own interests, but also those of the middle classes of Irish Catholic farmers, merchants and business people. Secondly, he does not sufficiently indicate the extent to which the structure of Irish education from the early years of independence until the mid-1960s, and associated curriculum changes, were very different from the situation in Britain at the time. Thirdly, while he is correct in stating that, since the 1960s, Ireland has imported certain ideas on educational policy and practice from Britain, he neglects to demonstrate that there were also other sources, and that they were probably more dominant than the British ones. Hopefully, as a rejoinder, the paper will be read in a positive light by indicating how the historical study of Irish education within a comparative context is a neglected area of scholarship, and thus stimulate researchers to address the situation.     

The School in Question: a comment

Abstract

In Germany the tradition of university autonomy goes back to Humboldt's reform rather than the privileged corporations of the middle ages. Humboldt's concept of the university is still fertile as a model and a method for today's universities. The social significance of science in the modern world, increased expenditure on higher education, and the academisation of a growing number of professions seem to undermine the traditional legitimation of university autonomy. On the other hand good new reasons for autonomy can be derived precisely from scepticism with regard to a naive belief in the progress of science and to an all‐too‐narrow professionalisation of university education. The ever closer interconnection between ‘academic’ and ‘public’ functions of the universities has led to the replacement of the traditional ‘dualistic administrative structure’ by a ‘unified'one under a rector/president. The dualism of functions has, however, reappeared in the distinction between ‘legal’ and ‘more extended’ supervision by ministers. For the future a more precise distinction between global regulations legitimately claimed by the state and self‐government within the framework thus set should be aimed at.     

Rising to the occasion: publishing diversity-focused scholarship in adult education

Publication of diversity-focused scholarship has increased over the last decade, yet marginalized groups are still inadequately represented in academic journals. In addition, research about diversity has become increasingly complex and its definition varies greatly. This poses obstacles for the emerging scholar interested in submitting diversity-focused scholarship to academic journals. A rarely investigated resource that offers insight into this task are peer reviewer written comments. This study explores the practice of publishing diversity-focused scholarship from a peer-review perspective. A grounded theory approach was used to conduct a content analysis of reviewer comments. From the findings four major categories emerged about the nature of publishing diversity-focused research: (a) clarification of terms; (b) explicit bias by the author; (c) formulaic approach; and (d) reviewers' standpoint. This article offers an understanding about the reviewers' approaches to diversity-focused submissions and suggests considerations when publishing in this area.