Representations of the Academic: Challenging Assumptions in Higher Education

203 Pages·2023·21.641 MB·English

by  Jean McNiff

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REPRESENTATIONS OF
THE ACADEMIC
CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS IN
HIGHER EDUCATION
Edited by Jean McNiff
Representations of the Academic
This thoughtful volume challenges widely accepted, traditionalist scientific
notions of ‘the academic’ – prevalent in higher education institutions globally –
in order to promote best practice, and redefine the field as accessible, inclusive
and forward thinking.
This book situates itself away from the dominant discourse on academia and
eschews the common tropes that have proved prohibitive to furthering the field
and research within. By releasing ‘the academic’ from the restrictive, narrow
boundaries typically imposed, Representations of the Academic opens up a form
of public sphere where the contributors bring together their innovative views to
propose a new normative form. Chapters explore examples of good practice that
demonstrate alternatives ways of thinking and, in doing so, the book continues
an emergent tradition of investigating the origins, nature and purposes of aca-
demic work at a time when critical values are under threat.
The book will be of interest to students, academics and researchers in the
fields of education, educational research and higher and professional education
more broadly. Those involved with interdisciplinary and intercultural studies,
ethics and values in research will also benefit from this volume.
Jean McNiff is Professor Emerita of Educational Research at York St John Uni-
versity, UK.
Routledge Research in Higher Education
Supporting Student and Faculty Wellbeing in Graduate Education
Teaching, Learning, Policy, and Praxis
Snežana Obradović-Ratković, Mirjana Bajovic, Ayse Pinar Sen, Vera Woloshyn,
Michael Savage
Optimising the Third Space in Higher Education
Case Studies of Intercultural and Cross-Boundary Collaboration
Natalia Veles
How Organisational Change Influences Academic Work
The Academic Predicament Model for a Conducive Work Environment
Sureetha De Silva, Donna Pendergast and Christopher Klopper
University Autonomy Decline
Causes, Responses, and Implications for Academic Freedom
Kirsten Roberts Lyer, Ilyas Saliba and Janika Spannagel
The Experience of Examining the PhD
An International Comparative Study of Processes and Standards of Doctoral
Examination
Edited by Michael Byram and Maria Stoicheva
Internationalising Higher Education and the Role of Virtual Exchange
Robert O’Dowd
A Conversation Analytic Approach to Doctoral Supervision
Feedback, Advice and Guidance
Binh Thanh Ta
Representations of the Academic
Challenging Assumptions in Higher Education
Edited by Jean McNiff
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Research-in-Higher-Education/book-series/RRHE
Representations of the
Academic
Challenging Assumptions in Higher
Education
Edited by
Jean McNiff
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Jean McNiff; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Jean McNiff to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
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or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: McNiff, Jean, editor.
Title: Representations of the academic : challenging assumptions in
higher education / edited by Jean McNiff.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. |
Series: Routledge research in higher education | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022042132 (print) | LCCN 2022042133 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138483989 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032440316 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781351053372 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Learning and scholarlship. | Education, Higher. |
Action research.
Classification: LCC AZ103 .R46 2023 (print) | LCC AZ103 (ebook) |
DDC 001.2--dc23/eng/20221025
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022042132
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022042133
ISBN: 978-1-138-48398-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-44031-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-05337-2 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781351053372
Typeset in Galliard
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Contents
Contributors vii
1 Introduction 1
JEAN McNIFF
2 Gamification of personal learning trajectories 10
CAMILLA GYLDENDAHL-JENSEN
3 Unruly thought: Valuing and supporting academics
who manage mental health issues 26
WELBY INGS
4 Whose knowledge counts? The academic, academic
knowledge and epistemic justice 41
MARGARET MEREDITH
5 Encouraging teachers and learning support assistants
(LSAs) to see themselves as researchers 58
CATHERINE McPARTLAND
6 Truth in a time of untruth: The academic as
public educator 74
JON NIXON
7 Cross-cultural doctoral PhD-supervision as transformative
academic practice 91
SIGRID GJØTTERUD AND ATHMAN KYARUZI AHMAD
vi Contents
8 Wrighting an academic life as a practitioner researcher:
Constructing knowledge on the home front, at the
university, throughout the Americas, and in our
global community 106
JOSEPH M. SHOSH
9 The cut: Women and the practice of female genital
mutilation in Kuria, Kenya 120
BOKE JOYCE WAMBURA
10 Developing teacher professionalism in an era of
neo-liberalism 135
HILDE HIIM
11 Total nursing: Reclaiming nursing for the patient 151
PETER McDONNELL
12 Developing new research networks in Latvia 167
LINDA PAVĪTOLA AND LĀSMA LATSONE
13 Afterword 182
JEAN McNIFF
Index 185
Contributors
Athman Kyaruzi Ahmad (PhD) is a Senior lecturer with the Department
of Agricultural Extension and Community Development at Sokoine
University of Agriculture, Tanzania. Ahmad has practiced and researched on
school agriculture for almost 15 years. His research mainly focuses on school
agriculture, agricultural extension, communication of rural innovations and
in Africa. Action research is his main approach to research, both as a way of
researching and enhancing personal competence and as co-operative research
to develop and improve teaching, learning, and community development.
Sigrid Gjøtterud is a Professor of Education, working at Norwegian University
of Life Sciences. Her teaching and research are within teacher education and
higher education. Supervising PhD students doing research at all levels of the
educational system in Norway, Africa and Nepal is a main interest.
Hilde Hiim is Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, Faculty of Teacher
Education and International Studies. Her fields of interest are teacher
education, vocational education, practical pedagogy and action research. She
is the author of several books and articles, some of which are widely used
in Norwegian and Danish teacher education. She has led several extensive
curriculum research projects in vocational education programs.
Welby Ings is a Professor in Design at Auckland University of Technology.
He holds a Ph.D. in narratology and is an elected Fellow of the British
Royal Society of Arts. His research navigates trajectories across linguistics,
typography, education, ethics and visual communication design. Welby is
also a multiaward winning filmmaker, designer and author. In 2002, he
received the New Zealand Prime Minister’s award for Tertiary Teaching
Excellence and in 2013, the inaugural AUT University medal for his
research and teaching. He has in publication over 50 books, book chapters
or research articles that are accessible here: https://academics.aut.ac.nz/
welby.ings
Camilla Gyldendahl Jensen is a PhD, Associate Professor and Post-doc at
UCN University College. Camilla has a Master of Science in Architecture and
Design (Cand.polyt) and works through her research with “design thinking”
viii Contributors
in relation to developing teaching concepts that support, among other things,
Reflective Practice-based Learning, professional didactics and PBL. In her
research, Camilla also has a special focus on game-based learning and digital
learning processes.
La¯sma Latsone is an Associate Professor with the Department of Education
and Social Work at Liepaja University (Latvia). She obtained her MSc and
PhD from Fordham University (New York, USA). She is an expert for the
Scientific Council of Latvia in Educational Science. A main context and
focus of her research is teaching and adult education, with strong links to
inter-cultural issues in society and education, socio-emotional interactions
and spirituality.
Peter McDonnell is a registered nurse who has spent many years in the NHS,
in general and psychiatric settings. He has researched and written on the
changing face of nursing as it evolves.
Jean McNiff is an independent researcher and writer. She is Professor Emerita
at York St John University, UK, and also Visiting Professor at universities in
China, Malaysia and South Africa.
Dr Catherine McPartland has over 25 years’ experience of working in the
Further Education Sector and has worked in a number of roles. Her last role in
FE was as a Higher Education course leader supporting students undertaking
BA and teaching qualifications, something she greatly enjoyed. Currently,
she is involved in mentoring action research projects as part of the ETF’s
Outstanding Teaching, Learning and Assessment initiative.
Margaret Meredith is a Senior Lecturer at York St John University, UK. Her
research currently focuses on her responsibility as an academic to work for
meaningful social change within and through higher education and the
opportunity for universities to deepen their role in serving the wider public.
Jon Nixon is a Visiting Professor at Middlesex University, UK. His main
research and scholarly interests lie in the field of intellectual history
particularly as it relates to educational and political thought. He is the author
of Erich Auerbach and the Secular World: Literary Criticism, Historiography,
Post-Colonial Theory and Beyond (Routledge, 2022); Hannah Arendt: The
Promise of Education (Springer, 2020); Rosa Luxemburg and the Struggle
for Democratic Renewal (Pluto Press, 2018); Hans-Georg Gadamer:
The Hermeneutical Imagination (Springer, 2017); and Hannah Arendt and
the Politics of Friendship (Bloomsbury, 2015). He is also the author of a trio
of books on higher education: Interpretive Pedagogies for Higher Education
(Continuum, 2012); Higher Education and the Public Good (Continuum,
2011); and Towards the Virtuous University (Routledge, 2008). He is
currently working on a study of mid-20th and early-21st century literary
fiction entitled Narratives of Memory and Loss, which builds on his earlier
work on hermeneutics and literary and cultural theory.
Contributors ix
Linda Pavitola is a Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy and Social
Work at Liepaja University (Latvia). She is an expert of the Scientific Council
of Latvia in Educational Science, with a focus on research in the field of
education, and the development of teacher training programs and teaching
at bachelors, masters and doctoral levels. Her research interests relate to
dimensions of teacher education quality and transformative educational
experiences. She believes that research outcomes are significant at both
personal and professional levels and are needed for researchers as well as for
larger communities.
Dr. Joseph M. Shosh chairs the Executive Committee of the Action Research
Network of the Americas (ARNA), an organization he co-founded with
colleagues from Mexico, Canada and the United States. Co-editor of the
Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research, he served as Professor
of Education at Moravian College, where he was founding Director of the
action research-based graduate education program. His contributions to
teacher action research have appeared in Action Researcher in Education,
Educational Action Research Journal, English Journal, Inquiry in Education,
and Teaching Education, among others. Dr. Shosh is the recipient of the
National Council of Teachers of English Paul and Kate Farmer English
Journal Writing Award, the James N. Moffett Award for Classroom Research,
and Cornell University’s Merrill Scholar Teaching Award.
Boke Joyce Wambura is a Lecturer at Tom Mboya University, Kenya. She holds
a PhD (Linguistics) from the University of Leeds (UK). Her main areas
of interest include Language and Gender, Discourse Analysis and Female
Genital Mutilation (FGM) studies. She is a member of the British Association
of Applied Linguistics (BAAL), and a pioneer member of the Language
Association of Eastern Africa (LAEA) and the Association of English
Language Educators & Researchers (ASELER), Kenya.