From ‘service’ to ‘partnership’: harnessing social capital in support of activity in third space environments

ABSTRACT

In more fluid higher education environments, the concept of third space has been developed to explore the activities of groups of staff who do not necessarily fit formal institutional descriptors. This paper draws on qualitative data from 26 respondents, in eight UK universities, who described significant elements of their work as occurring between professional and academic spheres of activity. Comparing individuals categorised as fully fledged ‘third space professionals’ with those categorised as simply ‘working in third space’, the paper suggests that the way individuals build and use social capital, and the recognition accorded to them by institutions, not only impacts on the way that they develop their roles but also is a significant factor in determining their career direction and aspirations. Furthermore, this has led to a general shift from the concept of service to one of partnership between colleagues, whether they are formally classified as ‘academic’ or ‘professional’.

KEYWORDS:

• Third space
• third space professionals
• professional careers
• social capital
• recognition

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the collaboration of Professor William Locke, Honorary Professorial Fellow of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia, and Dr Giulio Marini Lecturer (Teaching), Social Research Institute, University College London, in the execution of the project outlined above.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data upon which this paper draws is deposited with the UK Data Archive.

Additional information

Funding

This paper draws on a study entitled The future higher education workforce in locally and globally engaged HEIs. The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), the Office for Students (UK) and Research England (UK) [grant reference ES/M010082/1] is gratefully acknowledged, along with support from the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE), IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education, London, UK.