Shifting Roles and Blurring Boundaries: Reconstructing Professional Identities in Higher Education

Dr Celia Whitchurch

Lecturer in Higher Education

Institute of Education, University of London

c.whitchurch@ioe.ac.uk

Centre for HigherEducation Studies

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Contexts I

• Study for LFHE on changing roles and identities of professional staff (www.lfhe.ac.uk/publications/research)

• Literature on academic identity • Limited understandings about

professional staff identities…• Focus on professional managers (as

opposed to academic managers)

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Contexts II

• Practitioner literature highlighted:– ‘Professionalisation’ eg accreditation; CPD; code of

standards– Increased specialisation to deal with eg legislative,

audit and market requirements•Neglect of:

– Diversity and mobility of professional staff – Blurring of organisational/functional/professional

boundaries– Emergence of partnership working

• ‘Professionalisation’ process and greater fluidity happening simultaneously

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Conceptual framework(identity)•Conceptual framework of identity:

A reflexive process or project requiring the active participation of the individual

The way that individuals position themselves in relation to eg organisation charts/structures

Interpretation of positioning in relation to others•Therefore, an ongoing, open-ended process (rather than fixed core/belonging), plus•Possibility of multiple aspects or dimensions

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The study

•29 interviews in UK•Three institutions (multi-faculty, green-field campus, post-1992)•Middle and senior career professionals:

– Generalists eg registry staff, departmental managers– Specialists eg finance, human resources – ‘Niche’ managers eg quality, widening participation,

research management•Further interviews in Australia (one sandstone, one post-merger institution: 10 interviews) and US (two public institutions: 15 interviews)

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Key findings I

•Professional identities more complex than implied by eg job descriptions/organisation charts

•People distinguish themselves by the way that they operate around organisational boundaries

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Identity ‘Dispositions’

Identity Dispositions Characteristics

‘Bounded professionals’

(voluntary or involuntary)

Work within clear structural boundaries (eg specialist function, organisational location, job description)

‘Cross-boundary professionals’ Actively use boundaries and cross-boundary knowledge for strategic advantage and institutional capacity building

‘Unbounded professionals’ Lack of awareness of boundaries; focus on broadly-based projects across the university, and contribute to institutional development

‘Blended professionals’ Dedicated appointments spanning professional and academic domains; likely to have mixed backgrounds and academic credentials

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Typology of identities

Activity

dimensions

Characteristics of Bounded

Professionals

Characteristics of Cross-boundary

Professionals

Characteristics of Unbounded

Professionals

Characteristics of Blended

Professionals

Spaces

Knowledges

Relationships

Legitimacies

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Key findings II

•Also found evidence that:

The boundary between professional and academic domains is becoming increasingly blurred

A ‘third space’ is emerging between the two

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The Student Transitions Project

eg Life and welfare Widening participation Employability and careersThe Partnership Projecteg Regional/community development Regeneration Business/technology incubation The Professional Development Project eg Academic practice Professional practice Project management Leadership/management development

Examples of Institutional Projects

Professional Staff

Academic Staff

Generalist functions(eg registry, department/school management)

Specialist functions(eg finance, humanresources)

‘Niche’ functions(eg quality,researchmanagement

Pastoral support

Teaching/ curriculum development for non-traditional students

Links with localeducationproviders

Multi-functional teams“The Higher Education Professional”

‘Perimeter’ roles eg

‘Perimeter’ roles eg

Teaching

Research

Outreach/studyskills

Access/equity/disability

Community/regionalpartnership

‘Third leg’ egpublic service,enterprise

The Emergence of ‘ThirdSpace’

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Implications of Third Space I

•Team working between:– people of different levels of seniority– different specialist and professional backgrounds

•Authority built on personal basis, rather than solely via position in hierarchy or specialist knowledge:

– “There’s no authority that you come with”– “It’s what you are, not what you represent”– “If you solve a problem for us, we’ll come back and

work with you again”

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Implications of Third Space II

•Ambiguous working conditions– “Sometimes an academic unit, sometimes an

office”•Using this to advantage•Developing appropriate language•Assisted by eg:

– Availability of ‘safe space’ in which to experiment– Support of senior figure or mentor (HOA, PVC) – Acquisition of academic credentials (master’s,

doctorates)

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Implications of Third Space III

•Diffusion of ‘management’ and ‘leadership’ •No longer ‘done’ by one sub-set of people to majority •Likely to involve:

– Management/leadership skills at earlier stage of people’s careers

– Bringing together local practice and formal frameworks

– Being creative with existing mechanisms

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Challenges of Third Space

•For individuals:

–Status of boundary work?

–How to gain credit for third space activity in appraisal/promotion processes?

–Risks in getting out of ‘mainstream’?

–Inappropriate reporting lines…

–Networking vs formal relationships eg committee membership

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Challenges of Third Space

•For institutions:–Sources of leverage can be diffuse –How to prevent eg projects developing a

life of their own; or being too dependent on one individual

–Encouraging creativity/innovation while maintaining oversight…

–Lines of communication…–Appropriate mix/balance of identities

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The future?

• Changing concepts of ‘professionalism’…? • ‘Millennial' generation expect:

– Flexibility, creativity, lifestyles, locations– Less elitism– New locales for activity eg outreach– Portfolio careers– Networking– Sharing of good practice…

• A genuine ‘community of professionals’?(See Richard Florida – The Rise of the Creative

Class, 2002)