Embracing liminality: academic development for early career academics within a community of practice

ABSTRACT

Academic development is a mammoth undertaking that requires collective effort from all stakeholders, extending beyond academic developers alone. As early career academics, we explore our experiences of academic development within our community of practice. Through a collaborative self-study, we reveal how our community of practice has bolstered our academic progress. Utilizing a metaphoric drawing, we visually represent the rigorous and fulfilling practices within our community of practice. Our illustration underscores the advantages of establishing communities of practice in liminality. Moreover, we advocate for liminal spaces as potent hubs for collaborative initiatives to expedite the academic growth of early career academics.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic development
• community of practice
• early career academics
• liminality

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nokukhanya Ndlovu

Nokukhanya Ndlovu is an academic at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Education. She specializes in teaching postgraduate studies in the Educational leadership, management, and policy discipline. Her research interests encompass the experiences of novice school principals working in underprivileged contexts, as well as the experiences of early career academics. Additionally, she explores self-reflexive methodologies and arts-based methods in her research practice.

Nosipho Mbatha

Nosipho Mbatha is an academic at the School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her doctoral project researches the integration of playful pedagogy for learning at higher education, for teacher-educators and preservice teachers. Her research interests extend to collaborative work with other emerging scholars using arts-based self-reflexive methodologies to understand themselves better as academics and improving their professional practice.

Vusi Msiza

Vusi Msiza is an academic at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Education. His research focuses on men and masculinities in early childhood education, and assessment in education. His research interests also include professional learning that focuses on the experiences of early career academics. He has published in peer-reviewed journals, both national and international, covering his research interests.