‘Career Chameleons’, celebrating third space professionalism and squiggly career paths

Chameleons? In a blog about third space professionalism? What on earth…?

Well, a chameleon expertly adapts to the environment around it, changing colour in response to a variety of stimuli in order to blend with its habitat, or to communicate with other chameleons. This sprang to mind as a (positive) metaphor for third space professionals when I read Emily McIntosh and Di Nutt’s wonderful book ‘The impact of the Integrated Practitioner in Higher Education. Studies in Third Space Professionalism’. As an aside, it may also have been influenced by the fact that I started my squiggly career path as a veterinary surgeon before eventually becoming an academic developer.

Both the book and the discussions at the launch event helped me to reframe my thinking about third space professionalism. Key concepts and skills have been directly relevant to both my own career and to the team that I’ve been building in my current role. Our team’s ultimate remit is to enhance the student experience and optimize student success at our institution, and it includes both academic developers (staff facing) and learning developers (student facing). We collaborate and co-create initiatives and resources with other third space colleagues including students, learning designers, library teams, student support teams and our Students’ Union, and the team’s ability to skillfully embed the following elements into their roles has been fundamental:

·        to speak and translate the languages (sometimes jargon) of multiple disciplines

·        to identify ‘hooks’ and examples that engage different professional identities

·        to bring ‘fresh eyes’ and neutral facilitation skills to support curriculum discussions

·        to ask insightful yet tactful questions about ‘why do you …?’

·        to connect colleagues and students with common thematic interests

·        to broker complex collaborations both within and across institutions

·        to demonstrate adaptability and tenacity on a regular basis

·        to ultimately ‘influence without authority’ (which, for me, has strong parallels with being positive disruptors, a strength that is cited in numerous chapters of the book).

I’m sure that many third space professional colleagues within higher education may have experienced ‘non-conventional’ career paths that have enabled them to develop a hugely valuable breadth of skills, experiences and perspectives, and which may often have been characterized by adaptability and tenacity with every change of role.

I’ve already mentioned my own ‘squiggly‘ career path which I now recognize as both positive and liberating. Throughout the first twenty-something years of my career I recognize that I was probably a ‘partial chameleon’, residing in the familiar ‘woodland of the veterinary profession’ and adapting to different stimuli and environments within this relatively small area as I moved from mixed practice (treating all species), to a farm animal vet, to a PhD student, to a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Reader in Veterinary Education and developing a reputation for disciplinary-specific academic development. Throughout this time I’d felt constrained to roles within my home discipline, and as a consequence I then felt ‘trapped’ when a particular role became toxic. After initial soul searching and anxiety about the loss of my professional identity, it gradually became liberating to realise that I’d already experienced my transformational ‘glass door’ opportunity (as discussed by Campbell-Perry in chapter 9) in a third space context. This had taken the form of a two year 0.2 FTE secondment into our university’s academic development centre, and I absolutely loved meeting new colleagues, the challenge of learning new disciplinary languages and contexts, and expanding my horizon beyond my ‘disciplinary bubble’. Subsequently this also gave me the confidence and experience to embrace my full ‘Career Chameleon’ and to move from a disciplinary role into a sector level, cross-disciplinary role with Advance HE (sector agency). In turn, although it pushed me well out of my comfort zone, this role also provided a fantastic learning curve which enabled me to develop an understanding of the wider higher/ tertiary education sector, and to observe strategic leaders in action whilst also building my professional network. It also enabled me to identify a shortlist of institutions that I was keen to work for, and this then led to the role that I currently hold as Professor and Director of the Learning Enhancement and Academic Development (LEAD) Centre at Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh.

Since joining QMU in October 2021 in a strategic institutional level role, I’ve been using a number of third space concepts from the book to understand the structures and processes at the university, to identify where decisions are made, how to secure budget and resources, and to establish new ways of working across the university (as many existing structures are currently focused at school level)

Having reflected on key issues raised in the book, at a personal level I think it’s also important for me to acknowledge that in the past I have been deterred from applying for other third space professional roles based on the organisational positioning/structure and the contract basis (due to limited progression options for many professional services based contracts). I was also able to negotiate a Professorial title at the point of recruitment to my current role (after submission of relevant paperwork to the appropriate Professorial committee), and my take home for colleagues in a similar position would be ‘you don’t get if you don’t ask’!

At a broader, sector level, I would encourage all senior leaders within HE institutions to read this book, particularly those who may have come through ‘traditional academic career paths (with a professional doctorate as the first required ‘hurdle’ on this pathway), and may not be aware of the concept of ‘third space’ professionals. I would encourage senior leaders to reflect on the value that these colleagues and teams can bring to their organization, and the range of skills and approaches that they catalyse, all of which are highly relevant for modern institutions in a post pandemic world.  To enhance the Student Experience at our institutions we need a joined-up holistic approach between academic and professional services colleagues. Concepts of third space professionalism are key to respecting and engaging with all key stakeholders in order to co-create impactful initiatives within an institution. Important questions also need to be asked around recruitment, reward and recognition, particularly for colleagues in Professional Services roles – why are they not afforded the same annual leave, career development or promotion opportunities as academic staff?

I wanted to conclude with two questions:

For senior leaders - Is it time to consider our structures and processes and the associated bridges and barriers that these can create for third space professionals in our institutions?

 For third space professional colleagues - is it time to really celebrate our ‘Career Chameleon’ backgrounds which enable us to adapt to a range of roles and situations, and to act as powerful change agents and positive disruptors for our institutions?

References etc

Chameleon photo by anilgopi20 via Pixabay  https://pixabay.com/illustrations/chameleon-reptile-camouflage-8013059/

 Campbell-Perry, S (2022) The Blended Professional: Barriers and Boundaries To Collaborative Institutional Cultures in McIntosh E. & Nutt, D. (eds.) (2022) The Impact of the Integrated Practitioner – Studies in Third Space Professionalism London, Routledge, pp.115-125.

 McIntosh E. & Nutt, D. (2022) The Impact of the Integrated Practitioner – Studies in Third Space Professionalism London, Routledge.