What’s in a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship? Discursive Framework in a Faculty of Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 52
  In Roundtable Session: Issues in Faculty Development

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a study that documents and critically analyses the institution of Post-Doctoral Research Fellowships (PDRF), within the Faculty of Education of an Australian university: here we focus on the discursive environment. The study is informed by theoretical perspectives of practice architectures and symbolic interactionism, social-constructivist understandings of discourse, and philosophical-empirical enquiry. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with key persons: Professor-mentors, Heads of Schools and Research Centre Director (n=7). The results indicate that PDRFs were constructed as a means of strengthening the research profile of the faculty, though modelling a ‘new’ academic role with a strong emphasis on research. This new role created some tensions both for the institution and the PDRF’s dual identity as researchers/teachers.

Authors

• Tuija Anneli Turunen, Charles Sturt University

• Sandie Wong, Charles Sturt University

• Laurette Maria Stacy Bristol, Charles Sturt University

• Siew Yin Ho, Charles Sturt University