Casualised academic staff and the lecturer-student relationship: shame, (im)permanence and (il)legitimacy

Read, B. and Leathwood, C. (2020) Casualised academic staff and the lecturer-student relationship: shame, (im)permanence and (il)legitimacy. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 41(4), pp. 539-554. (doi: 10.1080/01425692.2020.1748570)

Abstract

This paper is based on findings from an email interview study with 20 academics (17 women, 3 men) in the UK on short-term, insecure or ‘casualised’ contracts. The paper focuses on their perceptions of the effect their contract status has on the lecturer/student relationship: particularly in regard to student perceptions of their legitimacy and status. Using a poststructuralist theoretical lens, we explore lecturers’ concerns or anxieties as to whether they may be interpreted as less legitimate than permanent staff; and the emotional labour involved in the work done to ‘cover’ for the difficulties that a lecturer’s contract status causes for the quality of their teaching content and organisation. We also explore the considerations of some participants to voluntarily ‘disclose’ their status to students and the possibilities of such acts as a form of resistance to dominant discourses of the legitimate academic.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Read, Professor Barbara
• Authors: Read, B., and Leathwood, C.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Professional Learning and Leadership ; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Educational Leadership & Policy
• Journal Name: British Journal of Sociology of Education
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 0142-5692
• ISSN (Online): 1465-3346
• Published Online: 27 April 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor and Francis Group
• First Published: First published in British Journal of Sociology of Education 41(4):539-554
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy