Exploring the Shifting Identities of HE Lecturers who are Completing Doctoral Awards
Author(s):
Ruth Dann (presenting / submitting) Julie Scanlon (presenting) Corinne Woodfine Charlotte Grindon Rachel O'Sullivan Jo Basford
Conference:
ECER 2015
Network:
01. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Format:
Paper

Session Information

01 SES 08 B, Tackling Educational Inequality through Professional Development

Paper Session

Time:
2015-09-10
09:00-10:30
Room:
204.Oktatóterem [C]
Chair:
Mark Hadfield

Contribution

This paper focuses on the impact of lectures own doctoral study on their own and collective identities.

Context. The lived experience of being a university lecture is complex.  Roles and identities become more unstable and multiple as teaching and research seem to become more fractured amidst global neoliberal economic agendas. As consequence of this research becomes more selective and teaching becomes more driven by the student as consumer. (Clegg, 2009; Barnett, 2005; Thomson and Gunter, 2011). For many lecturers in HE across Europe there is a tension in the priorities given to research, teaching and organisational management. Tensions become more fraught as local, national and global accountability systems rank institutions in both teaching and research (Harris, 2005).  Within universities, there are some faculties in which these tensions are heightened. For example in allied health professions and education, taught degree programmes incorporate professional accreditation, such as nursing and teaching.  In the UK, the importance of having expert practical knowledge has often resulted in the appointment of  lecturers whose practical and professional expertise has precedence  over their research standing. (Boyd and Harris, 2010). Within the changing competitive climate in HE, many lecturers, without doctorates, are now engaging in their own doctorate study in order to further develop their own research. Furthermore, institutions focusing on professional qualifications are trying to ensure that all lecturers have research and professional expertise. In the context of this shift, there are significant and under explored issues for lecturers and HE institutions.  The focus in this paper is on six lecturers employed and also undertaking a doctorate on one campus in one of the largest university education faculties in Europe. They have all previously been school teachers. These six lecturers  have voluntarily formed a research group, facilitated by a colleague within the faculty. The purpose of the paper is to:

  • Discuss the perceived impact of ‘doing’ a doctorate on lecturers’ own identity
  • Develop  a shared context for exploring identity, positionality and doctorate study within HE in order to further develop the notion of ‘collective identity’.

Theoretically, the meta theoretical framework relates to notions of identity.  Bauman’s contribution of ‘liquid modernity’ (2004) forms a backdrop for the paper.  There is recognition that there is a restlessness caused by change and the fragility exposed as systems rapidly evolve, and create, more than ever, unknown futures. Thus, identity is seen as liquid and as a process of ‘becoming’. This is explored by the participants through narrative discussion and writing as they consider their own lecturing roles and the ways in which engaging in doctorate study, alongside their lecturing positions, may influence their lives and their work. The research is interpretative and can broadly be located in a social constructionist paradigm.

Each participant has brought his/her own theoretical lens to explore  meanings of doctoral study and shifts in identity, both for themselves and for the group. The paper therefore draws on a range of theoretical perspectives which include: exploring notions of authenticity through realignment and (re)-positioning in relation to knowledge/practice (Britzman 2003….); understanding and recognising  shifting  ‘leading identities’ (Black et.al 2009)  as part of one’s own ‘identity trajectory’ (Mc Alpline et.al., 2014); and examining the social relations through figured worlds (Holland, 2001) within the academy through power hierarchies (Foucault) within the organisation.

Method

Narrative methods are the basis of the paper (Clandinin and Connelly, 2004) However, what adds to this paper is the context of a collective community in which narrative is shared and interpretred (Mc Alpine and Amundsen, 2009) and has shaped the co-construction and interpretation of the narrative and the formation of this resulting research paper. Those involved in the research were self-selected from lecturing staff who were studying for a doctoral award for at least 2 years, at the start of this study. It was agreed by all participants that in one of the group meetings there would be a open discussion about ‘doing a doctorate’ and its impact on life and work. The discussion would be recorded and the narrative become the property of the group. This paper is therefore a means of exploring identities and building identities. It is not intended to be objective and impartial. Quite the opposite it is about how those who are trying to connect identity, practice and research try to articulate their processes of becoming (Wenger, 1998). Identity is shaped by the narrative and the narrative shaped by the identity. There is careful consideration given to actors self-referential remarks (Sfard and Prusak, 2005) so that the research is comprised of individual participants who consider their own views through narrative but also act as “other” and interpreter for other members of the group . Each participant has also brought and contributed different theoretical positions which are also incorporated into the way the paper is framed and the ideas considered. There is a sense of methodical pluralism (Garland, 2014) as the narrative parameters in the research design also permit more individualized voices to offer carried and sometimes competing perspectives for their interpretation. Furthermore, there is an emphasis on negotiation of understandings by and between the individuals who able being researched and are researching for this paper (Habermas, 1984 and 1987).

Expected Outcomes

Expected outcomes reveal transformational shifts in making sense of participants’ changing identities. These range from the desire to reject the ‘academic world’ that undertaking a doctorate supposedly provides a gateway to (Mc Alpine and Amundsen, 2009), which as a lecturer is deeply problematic; to a “character breaking and rebuilding” experience which has completely altered the individuals thinking and engagement with the world. There was a clear sense in which the use of academic language was perceived as a barrier and engaging with doctoral studies brought certain requirements in terms of understanding and using such terminology. Resistance among the participants to become part of what was considered to be artificially elite was also articulated. Participants described the multiple and layered identities that sometimes interconnected and sometimes posed significant tensions in their professional and personal lives. The processes of being engaged in part-time doctoral study at their place of work had resulted in a further blurring of the boundary between personal and private identities. Terminology such as ‘mother/father-researcher’ was used to describe how they were researching whilst mothering/fathering and their roles as mother/father and researcher were being transformed. Additionally, participants spoke of their role within the academy as being limited by not having the doctoral ward which was seen as a ‘gateway’ to being able to be fully immersed in all aspects of faculty work. There was a view that gaining the award would lead to both re-positioning and re-legitimatisation of their roles. Furthermore, the research revealed how the creation of a ‘third-space’ (Mc Alpine and Amundsen, 2009) through a group of lectures undertaking a doctorate and collaborating to articulate and write about their experiences contributed a new sense of academic identity.

References

Barnett, R. ( 2005) (ed.) Reshaping the university: new relationships between research, scholarship and teaching. Buckingham, Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press. Bauman, Z. (2004) Identity. Cambridge: Polity Press. Black, L., J. Williams, P. Hernandez-Martines, P. Davis , and . G. Wake. (2009). ‘Developing a ‘Leading Identity’: The relationship between students’ mathematical identities and their career and Higher education aspirations. Educational Studies in Mathematics 73 pp.55-72 Boyd, P and Harris, K. (2010) Becoming a university Lecturer in teacher Education: expert school teachers reconstructing their pedagogy and identity. Professional Development in Education 36: 1-2 pp. 9-24. Britzman, D. (200) Practice makes Practice A Critical Study of Learning to Teach State.University of New York: Sunny press Clandinin, D.J and Connelly, F.M. (2004) Narrative Inquiry. San Franciso: Jossey Bass. Clegg, S.(2008) Academic Identites under threat? British Educational Research Jouranl 34:3, pp. 329-345 Harris, S. (2005) Rethinking academic identies in neo-liberal times. Teachng in Higher Education, 10:4 pp.421-433. Garland, P. (2014) What can the work of Habermas offer educational researcher development programmes? Studies in Higher Education 39: 1 pp. 87-101. Habermas, J. (1984) The Theory of Communicative action vol 1,Reason and the rationalisation of society. London: Heinemann. Habermas, J. (1987) The Theory of Communicative action vol 2, Lifeworld and system: a critique of functionalist reason. Cambridge: Polity. Holland, D.(2001) Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Harvard University Press McAlpine, L. and Amundsen, C. (2009) Identity and agency: pleasures and collegiality among the challenges of the doctoral journey. Studies in Continuing Education 31:2 pp.109-125. Mc Alpine, L., Amundsen, C and Turner, G. (2014) Identity-Trajectory: Reframing early career academic experience. British Educational Research Journal 40:6, pp.952-969. Murray, J. and Male, T. (2005) Becoming a Teacher Educator: evidence from the field. Teaching and Teacher Education 21 pp 125-142. Sfard, A. and Prusak, A. (2005) Telling identities: in search of an analytic tool for investigating learning as a culturally shaped activity. Educational Research, 34:4 pp. 14-22. Thomson, P. and Gunter, H. (2011) Inside, outside, upside down: the fluidity of academic researcher ‘identity’ in working with/in school. International Journal of Research and method in Education 34:1 pp.17-30. Wenger , E. (1998) Communities of Practice: learning , meaning and identity ( New York, Cambridge University Press.

Author Information

Ruth Dann (presenting / submitting)
Manchester Metropolitan University
Education
Crewe
Julie Scanlon (presenting)
Manchester Metropolitan University
Faculty of Education
Crewe
Corinne Woodfine
Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Charlotte Grindon
Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Rachel O'Sullivan
Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Jo Basford
Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

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