Developing Academics

The essential higher education handbook

Shelda Debowski

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317436928
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Academics work in a highly complex world where they must build integrative capabilities and outcomes as teachers, researchers and leaders. As they progress from novice to expert their evolving identities, methodologies and strategies need to be well-attuned to their own strengths and the sectoral expectations: a process that is greatly facilitated by the guidance of leaders and specialist developers. Developing Academics offers guidance to developers, senior leaders and academics on the principles and practices that support high-performing and adaptive academic communities. As the first work to explore the complex nature of academic capacity building, it offers comprehensive development principles, learning theories and specific strategies to support academic growth and development.

Developing Academics explores academic capacity from a range of perspectives, including:

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• What makes a high-performing, well-rounded academic?

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• How can our academics be equipped to meet the demands of their current and future roles?

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• What are the essential characteristics of an outstanding developer and development service?

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• How can leaders support and guide high-performing academics who wish to excel?

This book is divided into five parts. The first explores academic capacity building and the role developers, leaders and academics play. The second part offers comprehensive guidance to higher education developers, providing the theoretical grounding, methodologies and advanced professional techniques that support their service delivery. The third explores the academic development context, mapping the key capabilities that academics need to acquire as they progress from early career to senior roles across their various portfolios. The fourth explores strategies to evaluate and research the impact of higher education development on learners and their performance. In the final part, the design of higher education services and their interaction with university leaders is explored, illustrating the critical importance of building influence and impact across the university community. The positioning of higher education development as a discipline is also mapped.

Developers, leaders and academics will find this handbook to be an essential resource for regular reference: full of useful insights, tips and strategies to help them increase their outcomes and impact. Readers are challenged to reflect on their own leadership and effectiveness throughout this work, as individuals and contributors to academic capacity building.

Part III

Academic capacity building

This part of the book explores the ways in which academics progress from novices to experts across their different areas of responsibility. The foundational capabilities that support this transition are explored, extending beyond the traditional foci of research, teaching and leadership to encompass additional factors that ensure academic acculturation, performance and career progression. Academic identity, collegiality and engagement are examined, illustrating the increasingly complex learning and performance environment in which academics function. This broad review encourages a more holistic understanding of academic work and its positioning within university contexts. The chapters explore how leaders and HE developers can support academic enhancement. Various strategies and more formalised development approaches are outlined, illustrating the value of building a multi-faceted array of support initiatives.

In Chapter 11, the evolving construction of academic identity is explored, illustrating the critical influences that can impact on the individual’s perceptions and articulation.

Chapter 12 then examines the ways in which prospective academics might enter academe, highlighting some of the particular risks that new academics now face. This chapter maps the key forms of support that can assist these newcomers.

Chapter 13 explores the under-discussed notion of collegiality and culture, highlighting the importance of working in constructive work settings that provide the right context for learning. Implications for leaders and developers are explored.

Chapter 14 then examines the different ways in which academics extend their impact and reach to both the university and the broader community, emphasising the importance of building relationships and connections across the academic role and its component functions.

In Chapter 15, the process of moving from novice researcher to research leader is mapped. This is further explored in Chapter 16, where the forms of support and guidance that assist research capability enhancement are examined.

A similar approach is taken in Chapters 17 and 18, which explore teaching and learning capabilities and their development.

Chapter 19 examines the complexities of leadership in academic worlds, mapping the different ways that academics move into influencing roles. This is complemented by Chapter 20, which explores the different ways in which leadership can be developed within the university.

This part of the book will assist developers, academic leaders and academics in guiding academic strategy and capability enhancement.

Chapter 11

The evolution of academic identity

Academics are strongly influenced by their sense of identity. However, unlike many professions where there is a clear view of what the role and career trajectory are likely to encompass, academe is a complicated construct that evolves over time and can be reshaped by different experiences, influences and choices (Dowd 2005; Ylijoki and Henriksson 2015). Over the course of an academic career, there can be many different identities that are tested, adopted and refined as experience, contextual forces and circumstances forge different paths. In some cases, there are also conflicting identities that must somehow be integrated. This chapter outlines some of the ways in which academic identity operates, and the different processes by which identity constructs are shaped. It demonstrates the critical importance of being attuned to these insights when working as a higher education developer or leader, as each participant’s identity will guide their commitment, engagement and motivation. Mentors can also play a key role in guiding self-reflections on identity.

Why be an academic?

There are many factors that encourage people to engage in academic work. Consider, for example the following ambitions:

•contribute to the nation’s productivity agenda;

•leave a legacy in your discipline;

•establish a name as a leading commentator in your field;

•build a high-level profile as a researcher;

•gain patents and other forms of intellectual excellence;

•promote better practice in your discipline/the sector/your specialist role;

•obtain stable employment;

•access a reasonable income;

•be recognised as a leading figure in the discipline;

•enjoy opportunities to learn and grow;

•undertake rich and meaningful work;

•work in an innovative and engaging employment context;

•encourage students;

•make a difference to society;

•work flexibly;

•operate in a research-rich setting;

•acquire new skills and capabilities;

•build a world-wide reputation;

•gain opportunities to write and publish;

•move into academic leadership;

•work with community groups;

•move into consultancy roles;

•find time to think, play with ideas and innovate.

When offered this list, a group of academics will each choose a different combination of motivators: some will seek an opportunity to make a difference, while others may be more focused on becoming known as an expert. Others will be passionate about their teaching and helping new generations to learn and grow. For some, the mystique of academe prevails, encouraging them to seek a contemplative and innovative space where they can transition to more expert forms of thinking and acting. The alluring thing about academic work is that it does offer considerable scope for all of these ambitions to be achieved. The way an individual shapes their foci and priorities will be influenced by these broad intentions. These subjective measures of career success are driven by what matters to the individual (Arthur et al. 2005) and may transcend employment in any one institution or role.

In his seminal work, Flourish, Martin Seligman (2011) argues that people thrive when they are able to engage in activities that support:

•positive emotions and outlook

•opportunities to be fully engaged and immersed

•relationships that are supportive and important

•meaningful work

•the capacity to achieve and build credible outcomes.

Seligman’s model emphasises the importance of establishing an environment that allows the individual to pursue what is important to them, and to be successful in a way that is appropriate to their needs, goals and talents. This model is particularly well suited to academics, who tend to work as self-managing, autonomous individuals. They are responsible for directing their work tasks to meet the necessary outcomes, but in a manner that best suits them. The formation of a clear identity that is motivating, affirming and fulfilling is an important part of this subjective determination of success. Drawing on their particular goals, needs and perceptions, each individual is likely to develop a personal set of success metrics that is motivating and meaningful. In her study of early career academics, for example, Sutherland (2015) identified life satisfaction, contribution to society, freedom, job satisfaction and influencing students as subjective factors that were very important to early career academics. The capacity to integrate one’s own desires and sources of fulfilment greatly assists in building robust and resilient self-conceptions that can be sustained across many different career experiences.

Measuring academic success

While individual academics may seek these intrinsic indicators of success, there are many other forces that determine what matters with respect to academic work. Objective or external metrics of success are also influential in guiding an academic’s priorities and foci. Stupnisky et al. (2015) identified research productivity and teaching success as two key sets of metrics that are used to signify academic success. However, the challenge that is clearly visible across the sector is the strong reliance on these outcome-based measures to the exclusion of other, more distal and attitudinal components. These “objective” forms of success (Arthur et al. 2005) are allied with increased prestige or power, and are normally the key indicators that universities draw on for career recognition or advancement. They operate as significant drivers of sponsorship, feedback, rewards, recognition and ongoing employment. In recent years, research productivity has been particularly influential, given its readily accessible outcome measures relating to publications, grant funding, student research completions, number of citations and research impact (Sutherland 2015). Teaching indicators, on the other hand, are less readily “quantifiable,” hard to compare and more subjective in the definition of performance. They are likely to draw on process measures, such as student evaluation scores, or competitive awards to signal suitable outcomes (Sutherland 2015). Other, more embedded outcomes and activities, such as leadership and relationships that are central to long-term academic success, are less likely to be valued or recognised (Debowski 2010). This dissonance between self and institutional values can generate discord for the individual (Boyd and Smith 2016).

The academic career cycle

Academics face a complex world when they enter academe. For the most part, they are melding disciplinary-knowledge and a competency base, which may have been developed over many years, to a highly specialised level. While some may continue to practice their professional skills (e.g. as a clinician) (Kumar et al. 2011), many will seek to move into ongoing employment as a dedicated academic. A particular challenge is the accommodation of new inputs and messages about what defines success. The individual can find it challenging to either adopt a new framing of their identity or adapt and meld new cues with their previously well-established identity (Boyd and Smith 2016; Duffy 2013). For some, this is a simple transition process, while others may find it much harder to achieve a balance (Levin and Shaker 2011; Smith 2010). The sociocultural cues from the discipline can be a strong influence (Krause 2014), particularly for more mature academics who retain a strong allegiance to their field of knowledge (Martimianakis and Muzzin 2015). Institutional messages about the key roles and activities that academics must prioritise have resulted in increasing tension between the desired (personal/professional) state and the required state of play for many academics (Billot 2010; Gonzales et al. 2014; Shin and Jung 2014). This is particularly challenging for those new to academe, as they must somehow make sense of c...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Figures
• Tables
• Boxes
• Preface
• I Understanding higher education development
• II Designing and delivering quality higher education development
• III Academic capacity building
• IV Evaluating and researching HED practice and impact
• V Positioning the HED service for success
• Index