The precarious academic: professional development and academic identity in the neoliberal university

ABSTRACT

Academics are constantly undergoing identity shifts in response to globalisation, marketisation and the impact of technology on academic work. This study investigates the impact of a Graduate Certificate of Higher Education (GCHE) on academic identity development in an Australian University. GCHE graduates and their educators were interviewed to examine whether such extended and reflective professional development might support the negotiation of complex identity shifts. Findings indicated that academic identity development was enabled through this professional development by re-engaging individual academics in the diverse, traditional components of teaching, research and administration, working against the neoliberal trend of role-compartmentalisation for efficiency.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic identity
• academic development
• neoliberal university
• higher education
• Graduate Certificate in Higher Education

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Angela Daddow

Angela Daddow is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Deakin University, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her post-graduate qualifications in Social Work and Education often merge in her research interests.

Alison Owens

Alison Owens is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Education and Innovation at Australian Catholic University and an adjunct Associate Professor (Education) at Central Queensland University. She holds dual PhDs (Education, Creative Arts).

Georgia Clarkson

Georgia Clarkson is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Education and Innovation at Australian Catholic University. Georgia holds a PhD in educational sociology and a Masters in Education.

Vanessa Fredericks

Vanessa Fredericks is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Education and Innovation at Australian Catholic University. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). Her Doctor of Philosophy is in Cultural Studies/Critical Theory from Macquarie University.