From professional support to academic pathway – negotiating professional identity in a time of organisational change (case study of two middle managers at a UK university language centre)

In the past five years some UK Universities have introduced the Academic Education Pathway contracts (AEP), incorporating the elements of leadership, teaching and scholarship for recognition and promotion of professional services staff with teaching responsibilities. While colleagues have been encouraged to apply for the new contracts at the departmental level, the University policy guidelines have been conflicting and ambiguous. Many newly AEP transferred departmental middle managers have reported stress related to the application process, uncertainty about career progression, increased workload, and professional identity regulation largely due to the element of research added to the new role. The novelty of the AEP contract and the anecdotal evidence of the burden placed upon the individuals experiencing role incongruity has identified the gap in the knowledge of professional identity construction of UK University middle managers at a time of contractual organisational change. This study will investigate the previously unresearched area of University Language Centre managers with teaching responsibilities. Despite similarities in experiencing organisational change, the participants of the study make different identity claims aligning or resisting the dominant societal and organisational discourses, such as the discourse of New Managerialism, thus highlighting the nuanced and culturally specific approach to professional identity negotiation. The study is framed by the concepts of Educational Leadership, Middle Management and Organisational Change. While the findings may not be generalized beyond the context of this study, the implications can be significant for UK Higher Education policy makers.