The contemporary academic: orientation towards research work and researcher identity of higher education lecturers in the health professions

Abstract

Internationally, the increasing emphasis in universities on the quality of teaching, on student employability and on a corporate approach to entrepreneurial income generation has created a tension around the primacy afforded to published research outputs as a focus for academic work and status. In this study, a framework for academic socialisation is developed and used to understand how lecturers in health professional fields attempt to ‘juggle’ four areas of work – teaching, leadership, knowledge exchange and research activity. Studying academics in professional fields, with a well-developed focus on employability and strong partnerships with employers, provides useful insight into contemporary academic work and identity. A significant proportion of lecturers in health professional fields, even of those working in research-intensive universities, appear to ‘subvert’ the paradigmatic primacy afforded across the higher education sector to research outputs and identity as a researcher.

Keywords:

• academic development
• workforce development
• academic work and identity
• healthcare education and training
• professional learning

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and Professor Hilary Constable for their help in developing this paper. This research was supported by funding from the Higher Education Academy, York, England.