The imagined and the real: identifying the tensions for academic identity

Date
2010
Authors
Billot, J.
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
Abstract

Changes within the higher education sector have had significant effects on the identity of the individual academic. As institutions transform in response to government-driven policy and funding directives, there is a subsequent impact upon the roles and responsibilities of those employed as educational professionals. Academic practices are changing as multiple roles emerge from the reshaping of academic work. Institutional pressures to produce specific research outputs at the same time as teaching and undertaking managerial/administrative responsibilities are creating tension between what academics perceive as their professional identity and that prescribed by their employing organisation. Reconciling this disconnect is part of the challenge for academics, who are now seeking to understand and manage their changing identity. Narratives obtained from research in a university with a polytechnic background and an institute of technology (aspiring to be a university), provide some subjective reflections for examining this issue.

Description
Keywords
Academic identity , Academic practice , Higher education , Teaching and research
Source
Higher Education Research & Development, 29(6) pp.709-721
Publisher's version
Rights statement
This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Taylor & Francis for personal use, not for redistribution. See above for full citation and for the link to the publisher's version (the definitive version).