Seeking Compassion in the Measured University
Generosity, Collegiality and Competition in Academic Practice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14297/jpaap.v6i3.384Keywords:
academic practice, collegiality, excellence, resistance, compassionAbstract
In the context of league tables, national student surveys and increasing competition for students and resources, measurement and comparison is an ever-present – and ever more significant – aspect of contemporary academic life. Institutional definitions of prestige and success intertwine with individuals’ sense of value, career-progression and everyday work activity in varying ways, from active championing of particular dominant visions of ‘excellence’ through to varying forms of resistance, both passive and active. Faced with such challenges, increasing attention is being given to where academics find support, value and motivation in their working lives. This paper explores academics’ narratives of the relationship and practices that shape their career decisions and frame their academic practice, highlighting the everyday pressures that squeeze space for compassionate collegiality.
The paper draws on narrative interviews that explored how academics experienced kindness and collegiality as they transition through their careers, examining detailed personal narratives of 23 academics based at Scottish universities. Participants shared their CVs and three artefacts (pictures, objects, or events) that were significant to their career journey. The resulting narratives offer detailed insight into how participants negotiate institutional pressures and frame relations with colleagues in order to create meaning, value and (degrees of) ‘happiness’ in their work.
The paper argues that while there is recognition of the impact of universities’ strive for ‘excellence’ on staff interactions and work priorities, this is largely de-politicised in institutional contexts, with attention given to personal resilience, finding work-life balance, and individuals developing soft-skills to manage everyday interactions. The more socially-oriented concept of ‘compassion’ offers a fresh perspective from which to explore the everyday interactions within the university and consider the practical and political steps required to create supportive work environments.
References
Blackmore, P., & Kandiko, C. B. (2011). Motivation in academic life: a prestige economy. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 16(4), 399-411.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2011.626971
Bloom, L.R., & Sawin, P. (2009). Ethical responsibility in feminist research: challenging ourselves to do activist research with women in poverty. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(3), 333-351
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390902835413
Bothwell, E. (2018) ‘Work-life balance survey 2018.’ Times Higher Education Supplement. 8/2/2018. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/work-life-balance-survey-2018-long-hours-take-their-toll-academics
Bresciani Ludvik, M. (2017). Learning About Consequences, Community, Creativity and Courage: Cultivating Compassion in Higher Education Leadership. In: Gibbs P. (Eds) The Pedagogy of Compassion at the Heart of Higher Education. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57783-8_11
Brink, C. (2018). The soul of a university: Why excellence is not enough. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv56fgwf
Cannizzo, F. (2018). ‘’You’ve got to love what you do’: Academic labour in a culture of authenticity. The Sociological Review Volume, 66(1), 91-106.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026116681439
Clark, A., & Sousa B. (2018). How to Be a Happy Academic: A Guide to Being Effective in Research, Writing and Teaching. Sage: London.
Deem, R. (1998). ‘New managerialism’ and higher education: The management of performance and cultures in universities in the United Kingdom. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 8(1), 47-70.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/0962021980020014
Doucet, A., & Mauthner, N. (2012). Knowing responsibly: Ethics, Feminist Epistemologies and Methodologies. In M. Mauthner, M. Birch, J. Jessop & T. Miller (Eds.), Ethics in Qualitative Research. Second Edition, pp. 123-145. London: Sage.
doi: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473913912.n9
Gibbs, P. (2017). Higher Education: A Compassion Business or Edifying Experience? In P. Gibbs (Ed.) The Pedagogy of Compassion at the Heart of Higher Education, pp. 1-16. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57783-8_1
Gill, S. K., & Ursuleanu, A. (2017). Compassion and the Student Experience. In P. Gibbs (Eds.) The Pedagogy of Compassion at the Heart of Higher Education. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57783-8_16
Gourlay, L., & Stephenson, J. (2017). Teaching excellence in higher education, critical perspectives. Teaching in Higher Education, 22(4), 391-395.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2017.1304632
Grove, J. (2015). Stefan Grimm inquest: new policies may not have prevented suicide. Times Higher Education Supplement. 9/4/2015 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/stefan-grimm-inquest-new-policies-may-not-have-prevented-suicide/2019563.article
Grove, J. (2018a). Zombie academic on the march. Times Higher Education Supplement. 5/7/2018. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/zombie-academic-march
Grove, J. (2018b). Half of UK academics ‘suffer stress-linked mental health problems’. Times Higher Education Supplement. 6/7/2018. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/half-uk-academics-suffer-stress-linked-mental-health-problems
Harding, S. (1987). Feminism and methodology: Social science issues. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Ingold, T. (2010). Bringing Things to Life: Creative Entanglements in a World of Materials (Working Paper 5/10). Swindon, UK: ESRC National Centre for Research Methods.
Jensen, J. (2017). Write No Matter What: Advice For Academics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Jones-Devitt, S. (2017). ‘The University of the Living Dead: zombie leadership is alive (?) and well.’ Wonkhe. 24/08/2017. https://wonkhe.com/blogs/the-university-of-the-living-dead-zombie-leadership-is-alive-and-well/
Kandiko Howson, C. B., Coate, K., & de St Croix, T. (2017). Mid-career academic women and the prestige economy. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(7).
Kim, J. (2006). For whom the school bell tolls: Conflicting voices inside an alternative high school. International Journal of Education and the Arts 7(6), 1-19.
Leavy, P. (2015). Method Meets Art. Guildford Press: New York.
Lucas, L. (2014). Academic Resistance to quality assurance processes in higher education in the UK. Policy and Society, 33(3), 215-224.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polsoc.2014.09.006
Manathunga, C., Selkrig, M., Sadler, K., & Keamy, K. (2017). Rendering the paradoxes and pleasures of academic life: using images, poetry and drama to speak back to the measured university, Higher Education Research and Development, 36(3), 526-540.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2017.1289157
Martin, B. (2011). On Being a Happy Academic. Australian Universities Review. 53(1), 50-56.
MacFarlane, B. (2016). Collegiality and performativity in a competitive academic culture. Higher Education Review, 48(2), 31-50.
Murphy, S. (2017) Zombie University: Thinking Under Control. London: Repeater
Nixon, J. (2008). Towards the Virtuous University. London: Routledge.
doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203415979
Ortner, S. B. (2016) “Dark anthropology and its others: Theory since the eighties.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 6(1) (Summer 2016), 47-73.
doi: https://doi.org/10.14318/hau6.1.004
Pells, R. (2018). Lecturer’s suicide a ‘wake-up call’ on overworking in academia.’ Times Higher Education Supplement. 14/6/2018. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/lecturers-suicide-wake-call-overworking-academia
Ravetz, J., & Ravetz, A. (2017). Seeing the wood for the trees: Social Science 3.0 and the role of visual thinking. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 30(1), 104-120.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2016.1224155
Reed, M. S. (2017). The Productive Researcher. Huntly: Fast Track Impact.
Scott, J. C. (1990). Domination and the arts of resistance: Hidden transcripts. New Haven, CT:Yale University Press.
Scott, J. C. (1998). Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University.
Scott, J. C. (2010). The Trouble with the View from Above. Cato Unbound (08/09/2010). https://www.cato-unbound.org/2010/09/08/james-c-scott/trouble-view-above [Accessed 21/6/18]
Smyth, J. (2017). The Toxic University: Zombie Leadership, Academic Rock Stars, and Neoliberal Ideology. London: Palgrave Macmillan SMYTH 2017
Sutton, P. (2017) Lost souls? The demoralization of academic labour in the measured university. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(3), 625-636.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2017.1289365
Smith, J., & Rattray, J. (2016). ‘Mapping the Terrain of Identity-Work Research’. In J. Smith, J. Rattray, T. Peseta & D. Loads, Identity Work in the Contemporary University. Sense Publishers.
The Happiness Research Institute, (2017). The Job Satisfaction Index 2017. HRI. Copenhagen.
Tight, M. (2014). Collegiality and managerialism: a false dichotomy? Evidence from the higher education literature, Tertiary Education and Management, 20(4), 294-306.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2014.956788
Watson, D. (2009). The Question of Morale: Managing Happiness and Unhappiness in University Life. England: McGraw Hill/Open University Press
Whelan, A., Walker, R., & Moore, C. (2013). Zombies in the Academy: Living Death in Higher Education. Bristol: Intellect Press
Zembylas, M. (2017). In Search of Critical and Strategic Pedagogies of Compassion: Interrogating Pity and Sentimentality. In P. Gibbs (Eds.) The Pedagogy of Compassion at the Heart of Higher Education. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57783-8_12
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice has made best effort to ensure accuracy of the contents of this journal, however makes no claims to the authenticity and completeness of the articles published. Authors are responsible for ensuring copyright clearance for any images, tables etc which are supplied from an outside source.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
