Fragmented Identities and Professional Growth: A Postmodern Exploration of Academic Development

Abstract

[thesis in 2 volumes] As higher education evolves, and league tables dominate conversations, the professional development of academic staff is both essential and complex. It could be the pathway to improving how the university functions, enhancing the research generated, and evolving teaching practices for increased student advantage. This thesis takes the opportunity to critique professional development through a postmodern lens and to understand and celebrate diverse, context-specific staff realities. Through Reflexive Thematic Analysis, the lived experience of academic staff will be examined, with a focus on addressing power dynamics, personal agency, and institutional pressures. It is considered here how professional growth is dynamically negotiated, whilst battling with institutional demands, individual aspirations, and shifting professional identities. Through in-depth interviews, using the Franz Model of Engaged Scholarship as a guide, the study explores the tensions between teaching, research, and engagement, as well as the impact of external frameworks like REF or TEF on academic identity and agency. This research challenges traditional linear models of growth, presenting instead a fluid and fragmented view of professional development in line with postmodern ideals. By reframing professional growth as ongoing, reflective and contextual, this study invites higher educational professionals to shift from prescriptive frameworks to approaches that honour individual agency. Here, we suggest that professional development, within the College of Business and Social Science (Aston University), evolves towards a personal, transformative process, one that demands reflection, resilience, and an acute awareness of the institutional forces shaping individual success.