Academic Identities and biographical narratives of Portuguese and Brazilian Professors
Author(s):
Carolina Santos (presenting / submitting) Fátima Pereira Amélia Lopes
Conference:
ECER 2017
Network:
Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Format:
Paper

Session Information

ERG SES G 01, Teacher Identity

Paper Session

Time:
2017-08-22
09:00-10:30
Room:
K4.04
Chair:
Marit Honerød Hoveid

Contribution

Recent years have seen a lot of transformations in the Educational systems everywhere. In the Higher Education sector, it has not been different. Higher Education is undergoing significant changes, mostly related to the neoliberal logic and its effects in the universities. The demands for mass higher education and the imperative of employability, for example, impose new requirements to higher education, which effects have been widely discussed.  

Within the global knowledge economy, universities are implicated in and influenced by globalization (Dale & Robertson, 2009). New challenges are imposed to the university considering market trends and needs. Gibbons et al. (1997) argue that knowledge production has changed and now takes into account the economic relevance, utility and applicability of knowledge. In a consumer-driven world (Dale, 2007), higher education focuses on economy and efficiency (Becher & Trowler, 2011). Framed by what is being called academic capitalism (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004), universities become more utilitarian and specifically vocational (Wheelahan, 2014).

The university new requirements impose changes on academic work (Clegg, 2008). Investigation regarding the academic identities highlights that neoliberal effects bring uncertainties to academic work, changing the notions of academic autonomy, freedom and purpose (Harris, 2005). Teachers’ work becomes associated with a competitive logic (Whitchurch, 2008) emphasizing performance and short term production (Beck & Young, 2008). In the pedagogical area, new challenges focus on entrepreneurship and competencies relevant to industry (Robertson, 2010). Bureaucratic tasks are imposed to teachers (Musselin, 2007), removing time from activities such as research and teaching (Guzmán-Valenzuela & Barnett, 2013). Studies show the need to reconnect research and teaching and to improve the relation between teachers and students, as the work intensification emerges as the scenario for higher education teaching.

This investigation focuses on the effects that changes in Higher Education systems may impose to the academic work. Considering that academic identity is changing in this context of continuing alterations (Barnett & Di Napoli, 2008), the main objective of the present study is to create a clearer picture of Academic Identities in the current scenario. The study aims to discuss about the (re)construction of the academic identity, as some effects of Higher Education changes led University Professors to (re)adapt their work, tasks, profession and Identity. Teachers have to reconstruct their identity by reflecting, trying to surpass the obstacles and reinventing themselves (Dubar, 2006).

Theoretically, to enable more in-depth discussion about the academic identity, it is necessary to debate on the conception of Identity. The study recognizes that identity is not a product, nor something fixed or permanent. It is developed on the basis of the subject-society dichotomy in a dynamic process (Berger & Luckmann, 2014). It is a process of interaction with others, but also with teachers’ work context. The professional identity involves a social identity with specialized knowledge (Dubar, 1997), acquired, for example, in the initial training. Specifically, the study considers the academic identity as an ecological system (Lopes, 2008), constructed and reconstructed concerning multiple aspects (Bolívar, 2006), such as the relationship of the teacher with the context, university, scientific area, colleagues, department (Henkel, 2008).

Methodically, the investigation focuses on professors’ trajectories, in order to promote a reflection about the contemporary higher education teaching. Listening to academics’ voices may represent an opportunity to understand the meaning teachers give to higher education teaching and to identify some expectations regarding the contemporary and the future university.

Method

This presentation aims to discuss in-depth some findings of a doctoral research project entitled “Academic Identities: trends and pathways in Brazil and in Portugal”, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT (SFRH/BD/98812/2013). Recent researches have given attention to universities changes, increasingly driven by market trends that focus on performativity and competitiveness. As an effect of these changes, professors must readapt their work. This study focuses on teachers’ work and aims to understand the reconstruction of the academic identity inside this scenario of continuing alterations and work intensification. Regarding the theoretical framework and the discussion about Identity conceptions, the research highlights the narrative approach as its most important methodological strategy, for being sensitive to social and cultural contexts (Clandinin & Connelly, 1990). The narratives bring academics’ voice and subjectivity into the study, being the possibility of reflection about the academic profession and identity. Also, in order to bring together the European and Latin America perspectives, the investigation focuses on a multi-case study that involves a public university in Portugal and another public university in Brazil. The multi-case configuration enables to deepen knowledge and gain a fuller insight into the two cases (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007). Biographical interviews were conducted with 10 Portuguese and 13 Brazilian professors of the field of Educational Sciences and Pedagogy. Collected data was analyzed in a horizontal and transversal perspective, in a narrative approach. The narrative of each participant was interpreted by the researcher and organized in a text, contributing to the comprehension of the identity of each participant. In addition, the collected data was submitted to content analysis enabling the discussion about academic identity transversally. Beyond the narrative approach, the study involved an extensive literature review on Higher Education Teaching. Also, a documental analysis was conducted about the Brazilian and the Portuguese Higher Education system, as the institution may appear as a central feature regarding academic identity and it is important to reflect on how different contexts and institutions my influence – or not – the effects of Higher Education changes.

Expected Outcomes

Early analysis raise up different issues. Considering some initial findings of the narratives analysis regarding the four dimensions of the academic work, it is blatantly obvious that both Brazilian and Portuguese professors highlight the Research-Teaching nexus as the most important part of their jobs. In both cases, the work intensification makes it difficult to develop research and improve teaching, as the administrative tasks have considerably increased. Hence, management activities are held as the least important dimension for academic work. Despite the discourse of democracy, participation and team spirit that can be raised by management activities, most of participants state that management activities steal time from other “truly important” activities to them, such as teaching and research. In the Brazilian and in the Portuguese context, the democratization and consequently massification of students at the faculty was not followed by the increase of faculty staff. It is possible to observe the bureaucratization of the academic profession from teachers’ narratives. The pressure for publishing, the amount of administrative tasks, the need of internalization and competition for funding create a sense of tiredness of the teachers. In the contemporary profession, Practice and Research Communities emerge as an important figure, as it creates and increases a sense of belonging and makes the relation between peers stronger. Also, professors highlight their relationship with students as one of the most important part of their work. In addition, the commitment with Knowledge seems to be a great question for professors. The public school is, in both contexts, the most important institution for teachers in the Educational field, as the main issue of their work is the higher quality teacher training in order to reach the public schools concerning the improvement of teaching and learning processes, highlighting the importance of Knowledge Exchange as a dimension of the academic work.

References

Barnett, R., & di Napoli, R. (2008). Changing Identities in Higher Education: Voicing Perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge. Becher, T., & Towler, P. (2001). Academic tribes and territories. Second Edition, Buckingham: SRHE & Open University Press. Beck, J., & Young, M. (2008). Investida contra as profissões e reestruturação das identidades académicas e profissionais. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 38(135), 587-609. Clegg, S. (2008). Academic identities under threat? British Educational Research Journal, 34(3), 329-345. Cohen, L., M., L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research Methods in Education. London: Routledge/Falmer. Dale, R. (2007). Changing meanings of “the Europa of Knowledge” and “Modernizing the University”, from Bologna to the “New Lisbon”. European Education, 39(4), pp. 27- 42. Dale, R., & Robertson, S. (Eds.). (2009). Globalisation and Europeanisation in Education. Oxford: Symposium Books. Dubar, C. (2006). A crise das identidades: a interpretação de uma mutação. Porto: Edições Afrontamento. Dubar, C. (1997). A socialização: Construção de identidades sociais e profissionais. Porto: Porto Editora. Gibbons, M., Limoges, C.; Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P., & Trow, M. (1997). The new production of knowledge: The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. London: Sage publications. Guzmán-Valenzuela, C., & Barnett, R. (2013). Marketing time: evolving timescapes in academia. Studies in Higher Education, 38(8), 1120-1134. Harris, S. (2005). Rethinking academic identities in neo-liberal times. Teaching in Higher Education, 10(4), 421-433. Henkel, M. (2002). Academic Identity in Transformation? The case of the United Kingdom. Higher Education Management and Policy, 14(3), 137-147. Lopes, A. (2008). La construcción de identidades docentes como constructo de estrutura y dinámica sistémicas: Argumentación y virtualidades teóricas y prácticas. Profesorado: Revista de Curriculum y Formación del Profesorado, 11(3), 1-25. Musselin, C. (2007). Transformation of Academic Work: Facts and Analysis. In M. Kogan, & U. Teichler (Eds.). Key challenges to the academic profession (pp. 175-190). Kassel: International Centre for Higher Education Research Kassel. Robertson, S. (2010). Challenges Facing Universities in a Globalising World. Bristol: Centre for Globalisation, Education and Societies. Retrieved from http://susanleerobertson.com/ publications. Slaughter, S., & Rhoades, G. (2004). Academic Capitalism and the New Economy: markets, state and higher education. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Wheelaham, L. (2014). Babies and bathwater: revaluing the role of the academy in Knowledge. In P. Gibbs & R. Barnett (Eds.), Thinking about Higher Education (pp. 125-137). London: Springer. Whitchurch, C (2008). Shifting Identities and Blurring Boundaries: The Emergence of Third Space Professionals in UK Higher Education. Higher Education Quarterly, 62(4), 377-396.

Author Information

Carolina Santos (presenting / submitting)
University of Porto
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Porto
Fátima Pereira
University of Porto, Portugal
Amélia Lopes
University of Porto, Portugal

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