Being a teacher in a managerial university: academic teacher identity

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to the current discussions on academic teacher identity in universities. In the managerial university and in the context of expanding HE, teaching has become a more complex, more problematised and more managed activity. This article approaches identity as identification on different levels of academic work and asks: What values and conceptions of teaching work do academics identify with? What kind of elements strengthen or constrain the teacher identity of academics? Research data consist of 14 in-depth interviews with eleven academics at one Finnish multidisciplinary university. Academics recognised meaningful and rewarding elements of teaching work and also pointed out problems and tensions associated with being a teacher. Those elements informing academic teacher identity often appeared to be empowering and constraining at the same time. Furthermore, the perceptions and experiences of interviewees were strongly contextualised. Obviously, academic teacher identity is more a local question than that of researcher identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic work
• identity
• managerialism
• teacherhood

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.