A tribe hidden in plain sight: The ambiguous role of the instructor in a Caribbean university

Blair, Erik ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8660-7660 and Briggs, Georgette (2019) A tribe hidden in plain sight: The ambiguous role of the instructor in a Caribbean university. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 41 (3). pp. 292-305. ISSN 1360-080X

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Abstract

The unbundling of the higher education sector has led to an increase in the number of academic tribes. One such tribe is that of the ‘instructor’. This paper examines how instructors at a university in Trinidad and Tobago are conceptualised at the institutional and individual level. Three data sources were examined: a document review of role descriptions as found in job adverts; quantitative self-perception data, and qualitative data on perceptions of job roles. Analysis of the data shows that instructors undertake many of the same roles as lecturers but that this is not recognised in institutional documentation. This local analysis finds that instructors form an academic tribe whose activities appear to be hidden in plain sight. Such a position is likely to have managerial and/or policy implications leading to a re-examination of ‘teaching-only’ positions which may, in turn, result in a move back towards a re-bundled academic identity

Item Type: Article
Identifier: 10.1080/1360080X.2019.1596388
Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management on 24 March 2019, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/1360080X.2019.1596388.
Keywords: Identity, roles, academic boundaries, teacher, unbundling
Subjects: Education > Academic cultures
Education > Academic identity
Education
Education > Higher education
Education > Teaching and learning
Depositing User: Erik Blair
Date Deposited: 11 Apr 2019 15:10
Last Modified: 06 Feb 2024 15:59
URI: https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/5931

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