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Chandler, Judith
(2024).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.00096829
Abstract
Professional Services staff in Higher Education largely engage in administrative activity, with comparisons commonly made between their work and that of their academic colleagues. What is less common is exploration of leadership and management specifically related to administrative managers in Higher Education, and more specifically in the context of distance and online curriculum delivery. Despite the complex and multiple critical functions of HE administrative staff, many aspects of their work lack obvious visibility and thus their professional identity retains an air of mystery. Their presence is obscured more broadly within the sector, as Higher Education Institutions have not been required to report on non-academic staff since the 2019-20 national HE reporting cycle for the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
Since the global pandemic lockdowns of 2020, online education provision has moved higher up the agenda of all educational institutions, including HE. This study set out to explore how administrative managers operate in a distance and online HE setting, during online curriculum delivery. Using a case study approach, data produced in this study are presented using the structural components of Cultural Historical Activity Theory. Taking an activity systems approach to exploring the work of administrative managers shines a light on the intricate links between their professional identity, relationships with their colleagues and power within their institution along with the complexities that lie beneath.
The theoretical framework is a composite of Third Space professional identity, community of practice and cultural historic activity theory which is contextualised using the concept of neoliberalism. Neoliberalism provides this study with a useful means of considering the drivers in the HE sector in regard to productivity and performativity both on an individual and institutional level, which have a direct impact on administrative manager functions. The study offers a contribution to knowledge that is an articulation of administrative educational leadership and management with insights into a distance and online HE setting.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
