Lecturers' everyday writing as professional practice in the university as workplace: new insights into academic identities

Lea, M.R. and Stierer, B. 2009. Lecturers' everyday writing as professional practice in the university as workplace: new insights into academic identities. Studies in Higher Education. 34 (4), pp. 417-428. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070902771952

TitleLecturers' everyday writing as professional practice in the university as workplace: new insights into academic identities
AuthorsLea, M.R. and Stierer, B.
Abstract

This paper reports on an investigation into the workplace writing of university lecturers as a significant element of their professional practice. The research has focused on lecturers' routine, everyday writing, as opposed to their more prestigious or scholarly writing. In order to gain an understanding of writing as professional practice, about 30 lecturers in three different UK universities have been interviewed, focusing on a small number of their everyday workplace documents, chosen by the participants themselves. This reflected a particular perspective on written documents in the university workplace - namely, that they actually instantiate practice rather than merely carry along meaning. The paper discusses some of the substantive, methodological and theoretical ideas emerging from the research. It is argued that the focus on lecturers' experience of producing and working with workplace documents in specific institutional contexts suggests new ways of framing the relationship between academic practice and academic identities, as textual, communicative and situated. This in turn has important implications for the way academic development is conceptualised.

JournalStudies in Higher Education
Journal citation34 (4), pp. 417-428
ISSN0307-5079
Year2009
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070902771952
Publication dates
Published2009

Related outputs

Changing academic identities in changing academic workplaces: learning from academics’ everyday professional writing practices
Lea, M.R. and Stierer, B. 2011. Changing academic identities in changing academic workplaces: learning from academics’ everyday professional writing practices. Teaching in Higher Education. 16 (6), pp. 605-616. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2011.560380

(Guest Editors) Special Issue: leaving the academy
Clegg, S., Hunt, C., Parker, J., Rowland, S., Skelton, A. and Stierer, B. 2011. (Guest Editors) Special Issue: leaving the academy. Teaching in Higher Education. 16 (5), pp. 469-470. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2011.599183

Changing academic identities in changing academic workplaces: what we can learn from academics' everyday professional writing practices
Stierer, B. and Lea, M.R. 2009. Changing academic identities in changing academic workplaces: what we can learn from academics' everyday professional writing practices. Beyond Teaching and Research: inclusive understandings of academic practice. University of Oxford 13 - 15 Dec 2009

(Guest Editors) Special issues on the theme 'Purposes, knowledge and identities'
Clegg, S., Hunt, C., Parker, J., Rowland, S., Skelton, A. and Stierer, B. 2009. (Guest Editors) Special issues on the theme 'Purposes, knowledge and identities'. Teaching in Higher Education. 14 (5), pp. 467-585.

Writing as professional practice in the university as workplace: new insights into academic identity
Stierer, B. and Lea, M.R. 2008. Writing as professional practice in the university as workplace: new insights into academic identity. Higher Education Close Up 4. University of Cape Town, South Africa 26 - 28 June 2008

Learning to write about teaching: understanding the writing demands of lecturer development programmes in higher education
Stierer, B. 2008. Learning to write about teaching: understanding the writing demands of lecturer development programmes in higher education. in: Murray, R. (ed.) The scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education Maidenhead Society for Research into Higher Educaton & Open University Press. pp. 34-45

HE lecturers researching HE issues: issues and dilemmas for academic developers
Stierer, B. 2008. HE lecturers researching HE issues: issues and dilemmas for academic developers. Educational Developments. 9 (1), pp. 22-24.

An analysis of "hybrid" scholarly journals: new spaces for developing distinctive ways of knowing?
Stierer, B. 2008. An analysis of "hybrid" scholarly journals: new spaces for developing distinctive ways of knowing? Society for Research into Higher Education Annual Conference 2008. Liverpool 09 - 11 Dec 2008

Special Double Issue: Diversity and commonality in higher education
Stierer, B., Clegg, S., Hunt, C., Parker, J., Rowland, S. and Skelton, A. 2007. Special Double Issue: Diversity and commonality in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education. 12 (5&6), pp. 555-797. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510701595069

University lecturers learning to "write education": issues of academic literacy and professionalisation
Stierer, B. 2006. University lecturers learning to "write education": issues of academic literacy and professionalisation. Annual Research Symposium of the Literacies in Higher Education Research Group, University of Westminster. London, UK 30 Jun 2006

Reflective writing in higher education: a case study
Stierer, B. 2005. Reflective writing in higher education: a case study. Academic Literacies Symposium, University of London Institute of Education. London, UK Jul 2005

Are there distinctive methodologies for pedagogic research in higher education?
Stierer, B. and Antoniou, M. 2004. Are there distinctive methodologies for pedagogic research in higher education? Teaching in Higher Education. 9 (3), pp. 275-285. https://doi.org/10.1080/1356251042000216606

HE teachers researching their own practice: the possibilities for hybrid methodologies in practitioner research
Stierer, B. and Antoniou, M. 2003. HE teachers researching their own practice: the possibilities for hybrid methodologies in practitioner research. Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association. Edinburgh, UK 11-13 Sept 2003

Teaching university/research university: the debate
Stierer, B. 2003. Teaching university/research university: the debate. Annual Teaching and Learning Conference of the Council for Hospitality Management Education. Eastbourne, UK Nov 2003

Managing the impression of authenticity: students' construction of an authorial persona in reflective writing
Stierer, B. 2001. Managing the impression of authenticity: students' construction of an authorial persona in reflective writing. in: Graal, M. (ed.) Changing contexts for teaching and learning, proceedings of the 8th Annual Writing Development in Higher Education Conference Leicester, UK Teaching and Learning Unit, University of Leicester.

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/90y31/lecturers-everyday-writing-as-professional-practice-in-the-university-as-workplace-new-insights-into-academic-identities


Share this

Usage statistics

106 total views
0 total downloads
These values cover views and downloads from WestminsterResearch and are for the period from September 2nd 2018, when this repository was created.