Academic identity in a changing Australian higher education space: the higher education in vocational institution perspective

Abstract

This article explores the academic identities of college educators of higher education in vocational institutions. Qualitative semistructured interviews generated data from eleven educators in five vocational education institutions. Discourse analysis revealed that educators distinguished their vocational institutions' contributions to HE as different, but equal or superior to those of universities. Educators presented their culture and practices in advantageous ways, contrasted against imagined stereotypes of university experiences, which are perceived to be deficient for supporting the types of students they teach. In adopting academic identities that distinguish their cultures and practices from those presumed prevalent in universities, these educators seek parity of esteem with universities through distinctiveness, and reject research-focused academic identities and academic drift. In embracing teacherly identities supporting students rather than the research-teaching nexus, educators may be contributing to the 'therapeutic turn', diminishing opportunities for students, and furthering the vertical stratification of institutions within the Australian HE space.

‘A degree is a degree’: understanding vocational institution’s bachelor degrees in Australia’s high participation system

“…Using textual analysis based on member categorization, Research Fellow for the project Sinclair and Webb (2020) have worked with educator data collected during the ARC Discovery project. They contribute to the field of academic identity by looking at what academic identities are being built in the context of Australian HE in vocational education institutions and how these identities relate to the context in which higher education in TAFEs is offered.…”

Reflexões Da Docência No Ensino Superior: A Base De Conhecimentos Para O Ensino

“…Tais mudanças repercutem no âmbito educacional, em que, cada vez mais, se reconhece a importância do acesso à informação e à escolarização em todos os níveis. Nesse cenário, a universidade assume papel central na formação de um novo perfil de profissional do ensino, mais flexível, competente e polivalente, capaz de lidar com um conhecimento em construção e de se adaptar a um mundo em constante transformação (CUNHA, 2011;BORGES;HUNGER, 2012;SINCLAIR;WEBB, 2020;WIENS;BECK;LUNSMANN, 2020).…”

Percurso docente: identificando a construção de conhecimentos para o ensino em disciplinas de lutas

“…A principal questão que norteia estas investigações é o que o professor precisa saber para ensinar? Esse questionamento vem sendo respondido a partir de modelos que estão centrados nos conhecimentos do professor (Schön, 1983;Shulman, 1986Shulman, , 1987, em contextos de atuação docente como a educação básica (Nono, 2005;Duek, 2008;Rodrigues et al, 2013) e o ensino superior (Moreira et al, 2020;Sinclair & Webb, 2020;Bayerlein et al, 2021;Beighton, 2021).…”