Multiple professional identities: A personal exploration of the transition from nurse to lecturer

Abstract

This personal reflective account explores my transition from NHS employee to university lecturer based in an Higher Educational Institution. Lave and Wenger's (1991) "Communities of Practice" (COP) model has been used as a framework to highlight both personal and professional development. The account is positioned within a landscape of performativity (Ball, 2003) perceived as a mode of state regulation, where individuals organize themselves in response to targets, performance indicators and the needs of the organization.

Expert nurse to novice academic: Reflections on the first year of transition from practitioner to academic

“…At times it has felt overwhelming, incorporating the complexity of programmes and their structures, academic regulations and quality. In comparison with the literature reviewed, three year post transitional academics did not identify academic processes impacting on their transition (Seal 2017;Logan, Gallimore & Jordan 2016;Duffy 2013). This highlights the importance of this article capturing initial transitional reflection and there is a clear difference between these reflections and post transitional reflections of more experienced academic colleagues.…”

“…In sharp contrast and immediately apparent was the fact, within the university culture the student is wholeheartedly at the centre of the academic role. Interestingly, these observations were not concurrent with the literature reviewed, where there was no reference to students being at the centre of an academic role (Seal 2017;Logan, Gallimore & Jordan 2016;Duffy 2013).…”

“…At times the transition felt complicated and convoluted, resulting in us questioning how this transition could be encouraged and facilitated to support a future nursing academic workforce. The literature affirms these reflections, recognising these feelings are also shared by post transitional academics three years into their academic careers (Seal 2017;Logan, Gallimore & Jordan 2016;Duffy 2013). As nurse education continues to evolve, it is imperative the preparation of a future nurse academic workforce becomes a priority to ensure that this does not become a contributory factor to future nursing shortages.…”

“…Arguably, this seismic shift marked the beginning of a practice academia divide with a new requirement for nurse academics. There is evidence to support this claim with Seal (2017) identifying that this academic practice divide results in practitioners being reluctant to transition to academia due to feelings of inadequacy and insecurity related to teaching within the university sector. This divergence could potentially widen further with recent increased emphasis on the attainment of doctoral level qualifications for academic positions (Seal 2017;Logan, Gallimore & Jordan 2016).…”

“…This On entering the university environment this felt welcoming, professional and encouraging. In contrast Seal (2017) identifies a lack of support within academic settings during transition.…”