Pracademics? Exploring transitions and professional identities in higher education

ABSTRACT

Within the context of a competitive UK Higher Education (HE) environment, this paper explores the transitions made by former or current practitioners who are now university academics, referred to in this study (and others) as ‘pracademics’. Drawing together the concepts of pracademia, academic selves and professional identity, this paper makes a tri-fold contribution. First, this case study examines pracademics’ perceptions from a post-1992, UK-based higher education institution (HEI) through collaborative reflexivity. Secondly, it suggests how pracademics’ professional self-identities can be fluid and context-dependent. Thirdly, it explores affinities and tensions between academia and practice, and identifies opportunities for building links between them. In doing so, the research makes a number of specific recommendations. The authors advocate for the recruitment of academics with practitioner experience and the facilitation of their effective transition into and within the HEI environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Practice-informed teaching
• professional identity
• imposter phenomenon
• career transitions
• pracademic

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 Post-1992 refers to HEIs in the United Kingdom who were granted university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. This includes both former polytechnic colleges and institutions created since 1992.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Law and Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University.