Imagining a future: changing the landscape for third space professionals in Australian higher education institutions

Abstract

In the last decade there has been a shift in the discourses around professional staff in higher education that has been influenced by neoliberal agenda that focused on driving education reforms. Earlier discussions centering around nomenclature variations have progressed to those about creating and developing borderless professionals operating in the third space -a notional space where professional staff and academic staff with diverse and valuable skills work as equal professional partners on complex and multifaceted projects. This article looks at the evolution of the debates around professional staff. It considers how the notions of professionalism and professionalisation are being reconceptualised in the third space. Discussion progresses towards capability building and developmental opportunities of aspiring third space professional staff in higher education settings. Possible pathways of engaging with and empowering professional staff in designing their future careers and professional identities are considered. Building a community of research practices under the auspices of ATEM and engaging postgraduate students in the university third space project work are proposed as potential areas for further research in the field of professional staff capability building.

A descriptive study of professional staff, and their careers, in Australian and UK universities

“…However, there are more participants with doctorates in the UK compared with Australia and it is not immediately apparent why this might be so, or what effect this may have on the profession. Is the continued rise of thirdspace or blended professionals increasing at a higher rate in the UK than Australia for instance (Veles and Carter 2016;Whitchurch 2009)? Thirdly, that there are some key expectations from their roles, that is high levels of responsibility, skill development, skill utilisation, and interesting work. This relates closely to the new contemporary career orientations of protean and boundaryless careers with scholars arguing that employees are now more motivated by attitudes such as value match, interesting and challenging work, and interesting work (that is intrinsic motivators) compared with more traditional careers which include motivators such as promotion, pay and job security (extrinsic motivators; Arthur 2014; Briscoe and Hall 2006 [see Table 1]).…”

Crossing Divides: Professional Development for Third Space Professionals

“…Collaborative short term on ongoing project work provides a number of opportunities for staff to communicate with colleagues and develop professionally. This type of work has been recognized in the literature as a key characteristic of the third space (Whitchurch 2008;Veles and Carter 2016). It is common in the sector to have teams which bring together different professional staff who might also be considered third space professionals and who share common issues in gaining legitimacy across the institution (Whitchurch 2008).…”

Professional Staff Identities in Higher Education

“…Their credibility and indeed authenticity derives from these sources of identity, and in particular their ability to cope with ambiguities that derive from their positioning. This in turn has led to a literature on a range of professionals seen as operating in Third Space, for instance Veles and Carter (2016) and, more particularly, information technologists (Graham 2013;Botterill 2017); educational designers (Bissett 2017); research managers (Knight and Lightowler 2010;Shelley 2010;Trinidade and Agostinho 2014;Vidal, Laureano and Trinidade 2015); teaching and learning professionals (Bennett et al 2016;Silvey, Pejcinovic and Snowball 2017;Hallett 2017), and institutional researchers (Calderon and Webber 2013).…”