The focus of this workshop is to analyse the experience of academic staff, and the impact of the changes taking place at the university on their teaching practices, professional identity, well-being and career paths in three different European universities. This workshop is based on the findings from an international research project “Pathways of academics in the context of educational innovations and institutional changes. Exploring professional lives, identities, experiences and well-being” (2021-2023). This project is the result of the international research collaboration with researchers from Malta University and two research groups: ÕPPES TECH-METH (Tallinn University) https://eduspace.tlu.ee/en/learn/ and Higher Education in Transition (HET) research group https://research.tuni.fi/het/ from Tampere University. 

Higher education institutions across Europe have been the subject of continuous transformation. Many higher education reforms, institutional innovations, and revised institutional focus have produced profound changes to academic roles and work (Deem & Lucas 2007). Higher education institutions and academic staff are being continuously challenged due to these kinds of changes to re-define their roles, practices and identities. The socio-cultural paradigm (James and Biesta 2007) explains the development of identity and experience concerning environments and relations between people and groups. Contextual factors may strengthen or constrain academic development possibilities. For example, Lankveld et al. (2017) have identified various levels of contextual effects in their review, ranging from students, the direct work environment, and staff development activities, to the wider context of higher education. Adapting to these changes and new roles always involves re-considering and re-constructing professional identities.

What it is to be an academic is at risk in a changing environment when there is no automatic respect for academic values, especially when they have not been articulated clearly (Blackmore 2009, 3). The changes taking place at universities are affecting the well-being of academic staff, entrenching existing professional identities and thus teaching and learning cultures and practices. At the same time, identities are variable and evolve in parallel with teaching practices. Teaching practices are mainly formed through experience and are part of both the professional identity of the university teachers and the institutional culture of learning and teaching in the university. The professional identity influences how academic teachers teach and support student learning.  Academic staff need to meet high standards of academic excellence and professionalism, to understand how to support student learning, be able to do this in real teaching practices, and use novel educational and technological approaches.

The theoretical-conceptual framework of our study is based on neo-institutional (Scott 2008) and socio-cultural approaches (James et al. 2007), learning culture theory (James & Biesta 2007), and the cognitive model of change (Spillane et al 2002). Forming the identity means becoming aware of what matters most in their professional practice and what experience, values, relations, and interests shape the development of identities (Trede, Macklin & Bridges 2012). There is tension between personal identities and the university environment surrounding it. The significance of the identity of academic staff is related to how their identity may contribute to their teaching and research practice, and how they experience the university environment, relations and well-being. The interplay between the identity, teaching-researching practice and the university environment has not been much explored in an international context (Jõgi et al 2020). As researchers, we are interested in the comparative aspect of this problem. Therefore, the purpose of this workshop is to critically reflect on the interplay between the experience, identity and teaching-researching practice of university teachers and the university environment in the context of three European universities: Tallinn University, Estonia; Tampere University, Finland and Malta University, Malta.

Methodologically we are based on a phenomenological understanding of experience, highlighting the participant’s interpretations of the lived experiences (Webb & Welsh 2019). Phenomenology is a methodological starting point of research, which is used to study the essence of human experience (Adams & van Manen 2008). From the point of view of interpretations, the interplay between identity, experiences and teaching-researching practice became central in the studied diverse university contexts. The guiding research questions were: How did academic teachers experience themselves at the university? How did they experience changes in the university environment, teaching and research activities, relations, and well-being? What were the future selves and how did they construct their future perspectives? The sample group consisted of 40 academic staff from different disciplines, career stages, and fields of studies. Altogether, 20 academic teachers from Tallinn University and 10 teachers from Tampere and Malta universities were in the sample group. Data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with narrative and thematic questions to understand the personal meanings and perceptions regarding the experience of the academic work at three European universities. The data collected through the interviews was analyzed using the thematic content analysis (Braun & Clark 2006) by each national research team. In the later stages, the major themes were compared reflecting similarities and differences in becoming and being an academic and negotiating one's identity in different institutional contexts and changing forces of higher education in different countries. Organisation of the workshop The workshop will be structured in three parts, which will be facilitated in interactive and dialogical ways: I. Introduction. We will start with an introduction to the topic of the workshop and give an overview of the major findings of the research project. II. Discussion. We welcome participants to discuss their professional and academic work experiences using the learning cafe approach which allows dialogues, sharing experiences, listening to others, and reflecting on the joint experiences. III. Reflection. We will share the main highlights from the study, and discuss with the participants of this workshop the ethical issues of such type of research. Finally, we pose the questions for future research.

Universities are unique and complex places of change. Adaption to the change requires a system for supporting the professional development of academic staff (Barnett 2003, 179) and active support for innovation from the management level (Ümarik & Jõgi, 2021). Three European universities that were a basis for the empirical data collection are dynamic and modern higher education institutions with different environments and focuses in their missions and visions. But there are some common meanings that we found in the findings. The findings highlight that the beginning of the academic career is inspirational, but also demanding, related to the academic environment, to the formation of academic roles and identity. In the process of adaptation and formation of identity, academic staff have to cope with the contradictions, and uncertainties of dual roles, and the high workload. Identity construction is a complicated, never-ending, sense-making process in a personal and social context. The constant need to negotiate identities can bring frustration, resistance, peaceful reconciliation, and quiet quitting. Academics are looking for a balance in terms of personal and professional life; between different work roles, and required meaningful tasks. University environment and academic requirements, dual roles and personal experiences create emotional and social tensions and identity traps. Research and teaching activities require a greater focus on renewing and developing teaching practices, and thus on self-analysis and professional identity.

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