My sense is that 'academic' is a term that shifts with context
(disciplinary/institutional/cultural) and that there is less agreement now as
to what that means than there may have been in the past.
If we defined an academic operationally in terms of what (s)he does then we
would come up with a long list of roles. Comparisons with other occupations
would show both similarities and differences. When I say I am an academic I
mean researcher, teacher, administrator, worker, trainer, writer, consultant,
specialist, learner. Many of these are roles I also take in my life outside my
paid academic job. I move in and out of institutions as work becomes available
so like a lot of casual HE workers I can't afford to invest too much in the
notion of an academic identity. I have certain skills and capacities that are
brought into play when I enter certain contexts.
The notion of academic identity has been used to explain the situation of
students entering tertiary study ie that this requires them to take on a new
identity, that of HE student. In my past job as an academic adviser I was
expected to facilitate students' acquisition of this academic identity. Working
closely with individual students I began to think that the notion of taking on
a new identity was far too simple. Students already have multiple identities or
if you prefer the experience of living out multiple roles in their personal,
educational, social and professional lives. Students respond to the HE context
in diverse unpredictable ways. The relationship between their identities/role
experiences and the new identities/roles required by the HE context is complex
with alignments, conflicts and accomodations.
In short, I do not find the notion of a single academic identity useful for
analysing the experience of either academics or students in HR contexts
although I think it is true to say that there are some forms of identity are
more likely to be reinforced.
Thanks Roberto for the interesting questions. Just what I need to get the grey
cells moving this sluggish day
Sue Nichols
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