Shifting Roles and Blurring Boundaries: Reconstructing Professional Identities in Higher Education
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Transcript of Shifting Roles and Blurring Boundaries: Reconstructing Professional Identities in Higher Education
Shifting Roles and Blurring Boundaries: Reconstructing Professional Identities in Higher Education
Dr Celia Whitchurch
Lecturer in Higher Education
Institute of Education, University of London
Centre for HigherEducation Studies
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Contexts I
• Study for LFHE on changing roles and identities of professional staff (www.lfhe.ac.uk/publications/research)
• Literature on academic identity • Limited understandings about
professional staff identities…• Focus on professional managers (as
opposed to academic managers)
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Contexts II
• Practitioner literature highlighted:– ‘Professionalisation’ eg accreditation; CPD; code of
standards– Increased specialisation to deal with eg legislative,
audit and market requirements•Neglect of:
– Diversity and mobility of professional staff – Blurring of organisational/functional/professional
boundaries– Emergence of partnership working
• ‘Professionalisation’ process and greater fluidity happening simultaneously
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Conceptual framework(identity)•Conceptual framework of identity:
A reflexive process or project requiring the active participation of the individual
The way that individuals position themselves in relation to eg organisation charts/structures
Interpretation of positioning in relation to others•Therefore, an ongoing, open-ended process (rather than fixed core/belonging), plus•Possibility of multiple aspects or dimensions
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The study
•29 interviews in UK•Three institutions (multi-faculty, green-field campus, post-1992)•Middle and senior career professionals:
– Generalists eg registry staff, departmental managers– Specialists eg finance, human resources – ‘Niche’ managers eg quality, widening participation,
research management•Further interviews in Australia (one sandstone, one post-merger institution: 10 interviews) and US (two public institutions: 15 interviews)
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Key findings I
•Professional identities more complex than implied by eg job descriptions/organisation charts
•People distinguish themselves by the way that they operate around organisational boundaries
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Identity ‘Dispositions’
Identity Dispositions Characteristics
‘Bounded professionals’
(voluntary or involuntary)
Work within clear structural boundaries (eg specialist function, organisational location, job description)
‘Cross-boundary professionals’ Actively use boundaries and cross-boundary knowledge for strategic advantage and institutional capacity building
‘Unbounded professionals’ Lack of awareness of boundaries; focus on broadly-based projects across the university, and contribute to institutional development
‘Blended professionals’ Dedicated appointments spanning professional and academic domains; likely to have mixed backgrounds and academic credentials
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Typology of identities
Activity
dimensions
Characteristics of Bounded
Professionals
Characteristics of Cross-boundary
Professionals
Characteristics of Unbounded
Professionals
Characteristics of Blended
Professionals
Spaces
Knowledges
Relationships
Legitimacies
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Key findings II
•Also found evidence that:
The boundary between professional and academic domains is becoming increasingly blurred
A ‘third space’ is emerging between the two
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The Student Transitions Project
eg Life and welfare Widening participation Employability and careersThe Partnership Projecteg Regional/community development Regeneration Business/technology incubation The Professional Development Project eg Academic practice Professional practice Project management Leadership/management development
Examples of Institutional Projects
Professional Staff
Academic Staff
Generalist functions(eg registry, department/school management)
Specialist functions(eg finance, humanresources)
‘Niche’ functions(eg quality,researchmanagement
Pastoral support
Teaching/ curriculum development for non-traditional students
Links with localeducationproviders
Multi-functional teams“The Higher Education Professional”
‘Perimeter’ roles eg
‘Perimeter’ roles eg
Teaching
Research
Outreach/studyskills
Access/equity/disability
Community/regionalpartnership
‘Third leg’ egpublic service,enterprise
The Emergence of ‘ThirdSpace’
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Implications of Third Space I
•Team working between:– people of different levels of seniority– different specialist and professional backgrounds
•Authority built on personal basis, rather than solely via position in hierarchy or specialist knowledge:
– “There’s no authority that you come with”– “It’s what you are, not what you represent”– “If you solve a problem for us, we’ll come back and
work with you again”
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Implications of Third Space II
•Ambiguous working conditions– “Sometimes an academic unit, sometimes an
office”•Using this to advantage•Developing appropriate language•Assisted by eg:
– Availability of ‘safe space’ in which to experiment– Support of senior figure or mentor (HOA, PVC) – Acquisition of academic credentials (master’s,
doctorates)
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Implications of Third Space III
•Diffusion of ‘management’ and ‘leadership’ •No longer ‘done’ by one sub-set of people to majority •Likely to involve:
– Management/leadership skills at earlier stage of people’s careers
– Bringing together local practice and formal frameworks
– Being creative with existing mechanisms
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Challenges of Third Space
•For individuals:
–Status of boundary work?
–How to gain credit for third space activity in appraisal/promotion processes?
–Risks in getting out of ‘mainstream’?
–Inappropriate reporting lines…
–Networking vs formal relationships eg committee membership
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Challenges of Third Space
•For institutions:–Sources of leverage can be diffuse –How to prevent eg projects developing a
life of their own; or being too dependent on one individual
–Encouraging creativity/innovation while maintaining oversight…
–Lines of communication…–Appropriate mix/balance of identities
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The future?
• Changing concepts of ‘professionalism’…? • ‘Millennial' generation expect:
– Flexibility, creativity, lifestyles, locations– Less elitism– New locales for activity eg outreach– Portfolio careers– Networking– Sharing of good practice…
• A genuine ‘community of professionals’?(See Richard Florida – The Rise of the Creative
Class, 2002)