The challenges of academic development as a first graduate job: ‘am I doing it right?’

ABSTRACT

This article explores the experience of 10 graduate interns employed in an academic development team at a modern British university. The interns came from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds with no previous experience of academic development. We worked intensively with them to build their research and professional capabilities. They learnt to design questionnaires, lead focus groups, interview academics, and write ethnographic field-notes. The public-facing and visible achievements of the graduate interns told a brilliant story; behind the scenes they wrestled with the challenges of being and becoming. Here, we analyse a series of reflections charting their journeys as new professionals.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic development
• graduate interns
• professionalism
• educational research

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Caroline Barfoot, Head of Employability and Student Enterprise at Solent University for gifting us with 10 graduate interns. We are enormously grateful to the 10 interns who taught us more than we can tell.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tansy Jessop

Tansy Jessop is Professor of Research Informed Teaching at Solent. She has led TESTA, a widely used research and change process about programme assessment for since 2009. She publishes on social justice in education, narrative research and assessment and feedback. She is a National Teaching Fellow.

Claire Saunders

Claire Saunders is a Senior Lecturer in the Solent Learning and Teaching Institute, leading a Research Informed Teaching module on the Postgraduate Certificate for new lecturers. She is pursuing doctoral studies about the writing identities of academics using an ethnographic approach.

Christel Pontin

Christel Pontin is a Learning and Teaching Support Officer in the Solent Learning and Teaching Institute. She is pursuing a Masters’ degree in International Business Management. Her research is a stakeholder analysis exploring the response of employers to Solent’s new curriculum framework.