Postdoctoral scholars in a faculty of education: Navigating liminal spaces and marginal identities

Abstract

The last decade has seen a slow but steady increase in the number of postdoctoral scholars employed in faculties of education. In this article, seven postdoctoral scholars who worked in the same Canadian faculty of education explore their past positionings within the postdoctoral space. We share personal narratives related to issues of agency and identity in our relatively ill-defined positions. Similar to other early career academics, our reflections expose key concerns surrounding clarity of expectations, workload and work/life balance, and issues related to community and collegiality. In addition, we identify institutional or structural constraints that need to be reconciled in order to support postdoctoral scholars in their aspirations for success on personal and institutional levels. We provide recommendations and invite dialogue with regard to this emerging role in faculties of education.

Can you tell me more about your postdoctoral experience? A personal narrative review of the postdoctoral position in the social sciences

“…First of all, the majority of the publications presented in this journal are in the field of education (Åkerlind, 2005; Burke et al , 2017; Chen et al , 2015; Gloria and Steinhardt, 2017; McAlpine, 2016; Miller and Feldman, 2015; Nowell et al , 2019). Curiously, there are very few publications in the field of social work (Fenster, 2006; Matthieu et al , 2008) or behavioural sciences (Teelken and van der Weijden, 2018) and psychology.…”

“…There is a documented need to support early career scholars, such as postdoctoral fellows, and to understand their developmental needs, both personally and professionally (Burke et al , 2017; Nowell et al , 2020; Scaffidi and Berman, 2011). The scant literature that does discuss the postdoctoral experience in various fields (Jaeger and Dinin (2017) for a very relevant and broad exploration of this topic) is focused on the impact of quality supervision (Gloria and Steinhardt, 2017; McAlpine, 2016; Miller and Feldman, 2015), a nurturing research environment (Scaffidi and Berman, 2011) and autonomy (McAlpine, 2016) as drivers of productivity, and ultimately, a match with career expectations.…”

“…Chen et al (2015) suggest that personal contexts of postdoctoral scholars, including their prior experiences, institutional environment, family relationships and expected careers, all play a role in having a positive or negative experience as a postdoctoral scholar. In addition, social science scholars such as Burke et al (2017) suggest that because postdoctoral scholarship in the social sciences is much less established than in other fields such as those in Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) (Jaeger et al , 2019; Hudson et al , 2018), it represents a marginal scholarly space and identity. They suggest the necessity of documenting individual circumstances to understand the postdoctoral experience, particularly for researchers in the social sciences.…”

Professional learning and development framework for postdoctoral scholars

“…Several other studies have illustrated the development of strategies for maintaining work-life balance (Bessudnov et al, 2015;Kuhn and Castano, 2016;Matyas et al, 2011). While research suggests that postdocs aspire to develop better time management and work-life balance (Burke et al, 2019), our PLD framework makes explicit the need to develop these abilities as a foundational professional skill. Besides time management, work-life balance relates to leadership skills in our PLD framework.…”

Digital Reality As A Synergistic Paradigm Of Xxi Century Education

“…In addition, it is necessary to take into account how quickly and effectively students develop digital literacy skills, including those students who continue their studies after receiving a diploma. (Burke et al, 2019;Curran et al, 2019).…”