The accountability and professional security of the South African higher education lecturer

Abstract

The widening of access to higher education (HE) for more students has been a strategic priority of the South African (SA) Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) over the past decade. Simultaneously, lecturers are increasingly held to account for providing quality teaching and delivering employable graduates. Yet their work environment is characterised by poor support, lack of recognition for teaching efforts, and absence of legal protection when failing to fulfil the undefined yet high accountability expectations in their teaching-related work. Within existing HE research the authors could not find a clear definition of accountability or of professional security specifically related to the work of the HE lecturer. This study thus aimed to develop definitions for these concepts by means of a review of the legal framework for accountability and security in SA HE, and a qualitative empirical study. The latter was approached from an interpretivephenomenological perspective to develop a clear understanding of how SA lecturers involved in undergraduate teaching at three SA universities perceive accountability and security within their labour environment. From the analysis and interpretation of semi-structured and focus group interview data, seven meaningful themes were identified, associated with either lecturer accountability or security. The findings thus offer not only a clear delineation of internal and external teaching-related accountability, but also a comprehensive definition of lecturer professional security.

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