Ethical responsibilities of tenured academics supervising non-tenured researchers in times of neoliberalism and precarity

Smithers, Kathleen; Harris, Jessica; Goff, Mhorag; Spina, Nerida; Bailey, Simon

doi:10.1080/00220620.2021.1881458

Cited by 8 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Our analysis identified that PEAs frequently felt they needed to justify, explain or conceal the true hours they were working on projects. The PEAs made every effort to conform to the image of a ‘good’ researcher, which they described as someone who conducted work in a flexible, ultra-efficient, and productive manner (see also Harris et al (2022)).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As tenured academics attempt to keep up with intensifying workloads themselves, they might employ PEAs for short-term tasks that allow the tenured academic to slow down long enough to engage with research and develop their own publication. Precariously employed academics, however, are frequently left out of this form of career-building activity (Smithers et al, 2022). Much of PEAs’ time is concealed, with participants in this research explaining that the academic cultures where they worked were characterised as valuing productivity and scholarship produced in increasingly diminished timeframes.…”

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Paradox Of Time And The Pursu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Castellacci and Viñas-Bardolet (2020) identified that academics working on temporary contracts experienced less job satisfaction than academics employed on permanent contracts. As we have argued elsewhere, those in precarious positions experience Othering (Harris et al, 2022) and variable work conditions that are highly dependent on the managerial relationships of the tenured academics who employ them (Smithers et al, 2022). Other studies have explored the increased expectations of academic careers, identifying that precarious work may impede one’s chances of gaining ongoing employment (McKenzie, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Working every weekend: The paradox of time for insecurely employed academics

et al. 2022

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Wage theft claims against Australian universities have raised awareness of the substantial proportion of academics who are precariously employed and underpaid. The COVID-19 global pandemic has further highlighted the extent of precarity for many working in higher education. It is in this context that we situate this paper, reflecting on how time is experienced for academics in a period of growing uncertainty, and what this means for individuals who work on casual or fixed-term contracts. While previous research has examined how academics experience time, limited attention has been paid to the ways in which time is experienced by those in precarious employment. Drawing on interviews with 24 academics employed on casual or fixed-term contracts, this paper investigates differences between the experiences of time for those in the ‘precariat’ and those in ongoing employment. We describe social acceleration and uncertainty as inherent features of the neoliberal context of academia. This paper builds on Ylijioki and Mäntylä’s categories of academic time to illustrate how the paid work of precariously employed academics consists primarily of ‘scheduled time’. We argue, however, that academics in short-term or casual employment also engage in substantial unpaid work or ‘concealed time’ in order to compete for future employment. While acknowledging the struggles associated with the acceleration of work for all academics, this paper raises significant concerns about the overwork and risk of burnout for those in precarious employment.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Paradox Of Time And The Pursu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Working every weekend: The paradox of time for insecurely employed academics

et al. 2022

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“…Nonetheless, the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on the Australian higher education sector further destabilised higher education for teaching and research staff, which have already been subject to over 2 decades of neoliberal shifts within policy (Bottrell and Manathunga, 2019). Major shifts felt in the sector since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic included staff redundancies, an emphasis on online teaching/learning, and reduced hours for sessional staff, leading to a lack of certainty for many – tenured and non-tenured alike (Smithers et al. , 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precarious inclusion: A collaborative account of casualisation and teaching leadership challenges at the post-pandemic university

Lahiri-Roy

Whitburn

2023

QRJ

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PurposeThis paper emerged from the challenges encountered by both authors as academics during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Based on their subsequent reflections on inclusion in education for minoritised academics in pandemic-affected institutional contexts, they argue that beyond student-centred foci for inclusion, equity in the field, is equally significant for diverse teachers. Working as tempered radicals, they contend that anything less is exclusionary.Design/methodology/approachUsing a reciprocal interview method and drawing on Freirean ideals of dialogue and education as freedom from oppression, the authors offer dual perspectives from specific positionings as a non-tenured woman academic of colour and a tenured staff member with a disability.FindingsIn framing this work dialogically and through Freirean ideals of conscientização, the authors' collective discussions politicise personal experiences of marginalisation in the teaching and researching of inclusion in education for preservice teachers, or more pointedly, in demonstrating the responsibility of all to orientate towards context-dependent inclusive practices. They assert that to enable educators to develop inclusion-oriented practice, the contextual frameworks need to ensure that they question their own experiences of inclusion as potentially precarious to enable meaningful teaching practice.Research limitations/implicationsIt offers perspectives drawing on race, dis/ability and gender drawing on two voices. The bivocal perspective is in itself limitation. It is also located within a very Australian context. However, it does have the scope to be applied globally and there is opportunity to further develop the argument using more intersectional variables.Practical implicationsThe paper clearly highlights that universities require a sharper understanding of diversity, and minoritised staff's quotidian negotiations of marginalisations. Concomitantly inclusion and valuing of the epistemologies of minoritised groups facilitate meaningful participation of these groups in higher education contexts.Social implicationsThis article calls for a more nuanced, empathetic and critical understanding of issues related to race and disability within Australian and global academe. This is much required given rapidly shifting demographics within Australian and other higher education contexts, as well as the global migration trajectories.Originality/valueThis is an original research submission which contributes to debates around race and disability in HE. It has the potential to provoke further conversations and incorporates both hope and realism while stressing collaboration within the academic ecosystem to build metaphorical spaces of inclusion for the minoritised.

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“…An academic's sense of community is undermined by competing with colleagues for research funding, and politicised impact agendas (Chubb & Reed, 2018). Moreover, academics continually face employment uncertainty and precarity (Smithers et al, 2021), and find themselves responsible (i.e., required to perform activities) but not accountable (i.e., not able to determine resources) for outputs (Shore, 2008) because accountability is in the hands of senior university managers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fish‐out‐of‐office: How managerialised university conditions make administrative knowledge inaccessible to academics

Wheeldon

Whitty

Hoorn

2022

Higher Education Quarterly

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Academics report feeling unable to cope in the managerialised university. To confirm these feelings are symptoms of managerialism's tightening grip, we use Bourdieusian concepts of field and capital to compare academics and professional staff experiential statements in an Australian university. We compare their field conditions and examine how their differences enable or hinder the accumulation of capital that defines their field. Findings show that managerialism requires professional staff to share work tasks and be on-campus, which enables them to accumulate the capital they require. Managerialism also permits and resources academics to working out-of-office to accumulate their required capital. Consequentially though, university operational knowledge becomes informal and only accessible to professional staff who accumulate the required social capital to access it. Professional staff are thus fishin-water; easily accumulating social capital through dayto-day activities. But academics become fish-out-of-water (office); they flounder to access operational knowledge, which leads to feelings of not coping.

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Ethical responsibilities of tenured academics supervising non-tenured researchers in times of neoliberalism and precarity

Cited by 8 publications

References 26 publications

Working every weekend: The paradox of time for insecurely employed academics

Working every weekend: The paradox of time for insecurely employed academics

Precarious inclusion: A collaborative account of casualisation and teaching leadership challenges at the post-pandemic university

Fish‐out‐of‐office: How managerialised university conditions make administrative knowledge inaccessible to academics

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