Pracademics? Exploring transitions and professional identities in higher education

Abstract

Within the context of a competitive UK Higher Education (HE) environment, this paper explores the transitions made by former or current practitioners who are now university academics, referred to in this study (and others) as 'pracademics'. Drawing together the concepts of pracademia, academic selves and professional identity, this paper makes a tri-fold contribution. First, this case study examines pracademics' perceptions from a post-1992, 1 UK-based higher education institution (HEI) through collaborative reflexivity. Secondly, it suggests how pracademics' professional selfidentities can be fluid and context-dependent. Thirdly, it explores affinities and tensions between academia and practice, and identifies opportunities for building links between them. In doing so, the research makes a number of specific recommendations. The authors advocate for the recruitment of academics with practitioner experience and the facilitation of their effective transition into and within the HEI environment.

Social Work Skills Days – ‘Keeping It Real’

“…Why is this piece of work relevant for a special issue on the work of teaching partnerships? The Practice Consultant secondment was funded through the South Yorkshire Teaching Partnership, demonstrating the value of the pracademic voice in Social Work Education (Dickinson, Fowler, and Griffiths 2020), and ensuring the learning environment is 'keeping it real'.…”

Guest editorialPracademia: exploring the possibilities, power and politics of boundary-spanners straddling the worlds of practice and scholarship

“…Possibilities, power and politics Although perhaps tempting to dismiss "pracademic" as simply another buzzword or a meaningless addition to edubabble that "involves the ridiculously fluffy words and silly sloganeering intended to obfuscate issues and confuse non-educators" (Woolman, 2018), the term actually has a thirty-year history and is most often attributed to Nalbandian (1994) who wrote "Reflections of a 'pracademic' on the logic of politics and administration" for the journal Public Administration Review. In the scholarly literature, pracademic has appeared across a number of disciplines and with multiple uses but has only recently begun to gain traction in the field of education (Collins and Collins, 2019;Dickinson et al, 2020;Hollweck and Doucet, 2020;Netolicky, 2020b). Although pracademic has different meanings across the literature, most often the term describes those in their field who simultaneously straddle the dual worlds of practice and scholarship, industry work and research (Powell et al, 2018).…”

Towards a strong professional identity within higher education

“…Reflexivity is central in narrative methods; students reflect on their identity through multiple layers and perspectives and explore how this effects their PI, while comparing the past, present and future (Dickinson, Fowler, & Griffiths, 2020;Layen, 2015;Lim, 2011;Miehls & Moffatt, 2000;Spector-Mersel, 2016). Reflexivity enhances someone's (internal) dialogue with themself, and others, so that written and/ or oral dialogue is of added value to someone's PI (Evans, 1998;Kelchtermans, 2009;Lengelle, Meijers, & Hughes, 2016;Miehls & Moffatt, 2000).…”

“…The development of professional identity (PI) has been extensively investigated in recent years, particularly in higher education contexts (Dickinson et al, 2020;Marín et al, 2018;Trede et al, 2012). Due to economic, societal, interprofessional and technological developments as well as labor market changes, (future) professionals will have to adapt in their professional role more frequently than previously before (Engelbertink, Kelders, Woudt-Mittendorff, & Westerhof, under review).…”

“…The (re)construction of the PI throughout the career is based on reflexivity: Empathizing with another person also changes one's own self because the other person adds something to our own perspective of reality and the self. Therefore, we must distinguish reflection from reflexivity: Reflection is concerned with reflecting on an event in the near past or present, whereas reflexivity means reflecting on multiple layers and perspectives of one's self (Dickinson et al, 2020;Miehls & Moffatt, 2000;Spector-Mersel, 2016). Exposure to several events from the past help to uncover the deeper layers to one's 'self '.…”