Made to measure: early career academics in the Canadian university workplace

Acker, Sandra; Webber, Michelle

doi:10.1080/07294360.2017.1288704

Cited by 69 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Drive to publish is arguably a requirement for obtaining or maintaining research authority in the field, especially given the current 'publish or perish' paradigm, and considering the wellknown effects of cumulative advantage (Allison, Long, & Krauze, 1982;Dobele & Rundle-Theile, 2015;Merton, 1968). Publishing frequently and in high-ranked journals is also becoming a necessity in many countries to meet the conditions set by national research assessments, the results of which influence universities' levels of funding (Kelly & Burrows, 2011), and also to meet career progression criteria, which relies heavily on publication numbers and research profiles (Acker & Webber, 2017). Therefore, both sub-dimensions of scientific ambition are associated with success in today's academia.…”

Section: Research Agendasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association of thinking styles with research agendas among academics in the social sciences

Santos

Horta

Zhang

2019

Higher Education Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research agendas are understudied, despite being key to academic knowledge creation. The literature suggests that the ways that academics determine their research agendas are conditioned by individual, organisational and environmental characteristics. This study explores the cognitive aspects of academics' research agendas in the social sciences by using a theory on thinking styles as an analytical framework. The results suggest that the research agendas of academics in the social sciences are significantly associated with their thinking styles. These findings aid understanding of how academics set their research agendas. This study also represents an important landmark in research on thinking styles, focusing on academic research work as a potential venue for further studies. The findings are relevant for policymakers, research funding agencies, university administrators and academics because they have implications for academic research development processes, outcomes, and for research and academic identity socialisation during doctoral studies.

show abstract

Section: Research Agendasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association of thinking styles with research agendas among academics in the social sciences

Santos

Horta

Zhang

2019

Higher Education Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The current study explores ECAs perceptions of their work environment along with their beliefs about their future career development, then explores relationships between these factors and intrapersonal personality dimensions. This study focuses on two Universities in England and aligns with a growing interest in the experiences of ECAs across multiple international contexts, including Spain (Castelló, McAlpine, and Pyhältö 2017), Australia (Bosanquet et al 2017;McKay and Monk 2017), and Canada (Acker and Webber 2017), as well as the UK (Smith 2017).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Overwhelmed at first’: the experience of career development in early career academics

Hollywood

McCarthy

Spencely

et al. 2019

Journal of Further and Higher Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The higher education sector is undergoing considerable changes to its working conditions. From regular scrutiny of individual research and teaching quality, audits of individual academic performance, to growing expectations arising from the culture of 'student experience', it is widely recognised that higher education is a turbulent sector. Amongst Early Career Academics (ECAs), initial transitions into this sector of work can have considerable consequences for career development and willingness to remain within the higher education profession. Drawing on a mixedmode survey exploring the experience of UK-based ECAs, we highlight distinct intrapersonal and experiential factors which relate to variations in the perceived potential for career development and wellbeing. The data suggest that it is not just situational factors such as the departmental environment and job security that relate to the 'imagined futures' of ECAs; it is also important to gain a deeper understanding of how intrapersonal dimensions, such as an individual's personality, shape the experience of the early stages of an academic career. Our qualitative data shed further light on the experiences that can influence the job satisfaction of ECAs. The findings are discussed in the context of a growing body of international research on ECAs, and the rapidly changing Higher Education sector in the UK. ARTICLE HISTORY

show abstract

“…From such a perspective, the (gradual) adoption of particular forms of subjectivities reflects a form of institutionalisation of performative ideals, whereby they become a natural, normalised and taken‐for‐granted part of what it means to be a teacher (see e.g. Acker & Webber, ; Grealy & Laurie, ; Holloway & Brass, ). Processes through which individuals are initiated into ‘not only a language but a way of understanding the world, through the ideas, cognitive structures and experience expressed in that language’ (Henkel, , p. 157).…”

Section: The Cmis‐frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the literature, empirical studies also testify to the subjectivising work that such a value‐identification mechanism tends to engender. For example, the study by Acker and Webber (, p. 549) indicates that the acceptance of measurements within academia reflects the institutionalisation of performative values and ideals, as actors seem to view accountability, transparency and self‐reflection as something ‘natural’. In a similar manner, one of Ball's informants concludes that ‘I find that one of the most fundamental challenges of my job is trying to avoid becoming incorporated into market modes of thinking.…”

Section: The Cmis‐frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, in the critical educational literature such technologies-which include various forms of rankings and league tables, audits, performance measures and performancerelated pay (see e.g. Larner & Le Heron, 2005;Archer, 2008;Shore, 2008;Acker & Webber, 2017)-are typically referred to as evil forces that exert a form of 'onslaught' (Larner & Le Heron, 2005), 'ideological assault' (Beck & Young, 2005;Smyth, 2006;Shore, 2008;Tang, 2011) or 'violence' on the professionals (Archer, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Performative technologies and teacher subjectivities: A conceptual framework

Englund

Gerdin

2019

British Educational Res J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Critical educational literature suggests that an increased reliance upon performative technologies is currently transforming the very foundations from which teacher subjectivities are constructed. Arguably though, the number of studies pointing to this risk or tendency is considerably larger than the ones theorising why this should be the case. Further, in those cases where the relationship between performative technologies and teacher subjectivities is theorised, the psychological mechanisms that the technologies appeal to are seldom brought to the fore. Based on this, the purpose of this article is to theorise the psychological mechanisms that performative technologies appeal to and work through, by means of identifying, systematising and elaborating extant understandings of such mechanisms in the critical educational literature. The results are presented in the form of a conceptual framework (referred to as the CMIS‐framework) which suggests that one and the same performative technology may play many different roles, where each such role appeals to and works through a particular psychological mechanism. Importantly, depending on the type of psychological mechanism that is appealed to, the CMIS‐framework suggests that this will lead to teachers (un)consciously conducting particular forms of subjectivising work upon themselves, here referred to as compliance, mirroring, identification and self‐realisation (CMIS).

show abstract

Made to measure: early career academics in the Canadian university workplace

Cited by 69 publications

References 38 publications

The association of thinking styles with research agendas among academics in the social sciences

The association of thinking styles with research agendas among academics in the social sciences

‘Overwhelmed at first’: the experience of career development in early career academics

Performative technologies and teacher subjectivities: A conceptual framework

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About