Better definition of roles for third space practitioners
Following the amazing success of the Journal of Learning and Development Third Space Special Edition No. 33 (2025): Special Edition, Third Space In HE | Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education the editorial team have undertaken to write a series of blog posts to explore and extend some to the themes which emerged during the launch event. Kelly-Louise set the ball rolling earlier this month JLDHE Special Issue – Third Space in HE — Third Space Perspectives - Exploring Integrated Practice, with a post to set the scene for these initial pieces of writing. The area I would like to explore here is that of definition of roles. This was much discussed in the special issue and formed a key topic of conversation at the launch event, both in the discussion, and the ‘chat’.
It may be useful to begin by revisiting the origins of the term ‘third space. Bhabha (1994) first coined the phrase, deploying it to highlight colonial power struggles in India, his home country. Whitchurch (2013) extends this thinking, to open a discussion about the liminal space between Professional Services and academic roles in Higher Education. Begun (2025) discusses this further in the special issue, highlighting the cross cultural context of Bhabha’s work, and contrasting that with Whitchurch’s more limited perspective. While it is certainly the case that the inequalities discussed by the two writers are different, many contributors to the special issue were keen to grasp the opportunities to address inequality offered up by Whitchurch’s framing. Baldwin et al suggest that we can actively use a third space to challenge hegemonies. Using that very ‘in betweenness’ to provide support, and create a common ground between teaching and learning. This use of the liminal space to support inclusivity is further discussed by O’Shaughnessy and McAvinue (2025), where they suggest that inclusivity practitioners may be drawn to the third space, as a space that provides an opportunity to bridge the gap between institutional responses and the individual support that students often need.
Traditionally professional services staff were those individuals who brought their, much needed, professions into the higher education space – finance professionals, HR professionals, legal professionals etc. Increasingly, however, there is a new breed of professional services staff, whose ‘profession’ is more aligned to the academic, they are often pedagogues in their own right, they have a teaching practice, research endeavour, often doctoral level qualifications, but their contract states ‘Professional Services’ thereby aligning them with the accountants, HR specialists and lawyers, rather than the teachers whose practice they share. When we launched the third space issue, there was much conversation in the chat about individuals’ loss of identity when moving between academic roles and PS roles. Often the same job description, and job title, will be in different contract families on moving to a new institution. All academic developers are not equal it seems, they are sometimes professionals, and sometimes academics. Interestingly the launch chat highlighted the reverse to also be true, when an individual moved from PS to an academic contract, the same loss of identity could be experienced (Kaniadakis & Denney, 2025). There can also be occasions where Learning Developers are deemed to be academics, yet are not awarded research time, or the option of promotion through normal academic channels. At the same time one participant in the launch talked of his institution, where PS staff could be promoted according to the normal academic routes, while Briggs describes his route to professorship (2025b) from a Learning Developer role.
It is no wonder there is a call for rationalisation of identities across the HE landscape, in Mitchell et al’s (2025) autoethnography the situation is summed up as ‘muddiness’, job roles are unclear, perceptions of roles differ, and a variety of hierarchical understandings emerge. Briggs (2025a), describes the variety of activities carried out under the general heading of Learning Development as creating ‘fuzziness’. Whether in response to muddiness or fuzziness, a new form of influence is discussed, ‘stealth influence’. I wonder if this includes the, perfectly sensible, strategies: ‘don’t ask the question unless you are ready for the answer’, or ‘better to ask for forgiveness than permission’, both of which seem to be prevalent in HE institutions.
Norman (2025) sums this up neatly “Not quite an academic, not quite professional services” describing her liminal role, in supporting student peer mentors. Likewise other third space practitioners are teaching the same students as their academic colleagues (eg Jones et al., 2025; Toogood & Hale, 2025), but must make extra efforts to establish their right to inhabit their space, being described as ‘outsider’, ‘marginalised’ or ‘imposter’. Hosseini’s article (2025) gives a personal reflection on marginalization, and the ‘pernicious ignorance’ behind it.
There are established ‘identifiers’ of a professional, Whitchurch refers to these as “boundaries of professionalism” (ibid. P105). These badges of professionalism could be adapted to encompass the roles of third space professionals, and indeed in the special issue this was a recurrent theme, for example gaining recognition through Fellowship (Ball & Ribchester, 2025), joining together to highlight the importance of other accreditations (Morley & Grayson, 2025). But more about this type of professional recognition in a later post.
Efforts are required to carve out a space of recognition for Third Space professionals, which practitioners rightly believe should not really be necessary. Despite having qualifications, including doctorates, knowledge, experience, it is still the role of the third space practitioner to prove themselves. Scholarship can support this endeavour (Bishopp-Martin & Johnson, 2025), although the time and space for this type of activity are often hard to achieve, with institutions suggesting that Academic Developers are involved in evaluation – it is up to the academics to carry out research. Occasionally we have strong advocates, in my own institution a previous Dean for Taught Students would regularly, vocally, give recognition to the professional services staff who had ‘done the work’, but this recognition is notable due to its rarity in practice.
While the majority of work in the special issue is describing the experiences of Professional Services colleagues, it is useful to remember that those in Technical Services roles are subject to the same kind of experiences. Savage and Vere (2025) explore the teaching roles of technicians in both creative arts and STEM, and expand upon the need for institutions to acknowledge the pedagogic contribution made by technical staff.
Institutions can work together to address some of the challenges and inequities discussed. Simpson (2025) makes a clear case for this to be done across the sector, to try to find clear descriptions of roles. As a first step clarifying the job titles, and contract types may go some way to improving recognition of what work is carried out in this ‘third space’. With that clarity, perhaps institutions could then address some of the barriers identified by Gagne (2025). While she speaks of a complex cross disciplinary portfolio in Canada, similar situations persist in HE institutions in other countries, and are documented in the special issue. Management of individuals in complex, cross disciplinary roles is often referred to as Matrix management, where responsibilities come from different teams, and reporting lines are not always clear. In practice this can mean multiple pressures, competing priorities, and tensions which cause stress to individuals. Gagne does however highlight the collaborative potential inherent in complex positions, and I will dwell on this a little more in the next blog post.
The launch event concluded with a clear call to action, a desire to connect with others across these different, but connected, roles. A [place for community, and support. The editorial team has created a LinkedIn Group, Third space in HE, which we invite readers to join. In the meantime, do add your thoughts to this post, and the LinkedIn group. My next piece will consider the benefits and opportunities that are offered by the third space. Again I will draw upon the Special Issue and Launch to inspire comment and discussion.
References
Ball, C., & Ribchester, C. (2025). ‘It feels like you’ve joined the university club’: the transformative potential of Fellowship recognition for professional services staff. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1232
Begun, M. (2025). Truly emergent? A critique of ‘third space’ in cross-cultural context. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1236
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. Abingdon: Routledge Classics.
Bishopp-Martin, S., & Johnson, I. (2025). From ‘no space’ to ‘scholarly space’: a reflection on the place of scholarship in the third space. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1189
Briggs, S. (2025a). Redefining the role of Learning Development practitioners. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1203
Briggs, S. (2025b). Trajectory to professorship for third space practitioners: a learning developer perspective. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1201
Gagne, A. (2025). Existing in hyperliminality: supporting educational developers with complex cross-disciplinary portfolios. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1225
Hosseini, D. (2025). Pernicious ignorance and the marginalisation of third space professionals: reflections on lived experience. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1234
Jones, J., Cureton, D., Hughes, J., Jennings, J., Pearce, M., & Virdi, H. (2025). Professionalising the contribution of HE third space professionals – developing themselves to support others. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1224
Kaniadakis, A., & Denney, F. (2025). Education-focused academics in pursuit of third-space visibility: a five-step process. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1193
Mitchell, K., Dave, K., Hinze, M., & Tsirgialos, A. (2025). A narrative account of third space technology enhanced learning and teaching roles working in Australian higher education. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1272
Morley, C., & Grayson, N. (2025). Harnessing the power of professional associations to unite the third-space community. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1273
Norman, E. (2025). Not quite an academic, not quite professional services: supporting students’ wellbeing and development in the ‘third space’ as a peer-mentoring coordinator. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1207
O Shaughnessy, T., & McAvinue, T. (2025). Bridging the gap: inclusive practitioners in the third space and the embedding of universal design. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1247
Savage, T., & Vere, K. (2025). Why is it problematic for technicians to say they teach in higher education? Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1191
Simpson, C. (2025). Why can’t higher education agree on terminology for third-space professionals? Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1268
Toogood, C., & Hale, K. (2025). Empowering professional identity and positive outcomes through Third Space collaboration: A subject lecturer and EAP practitioner case study. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education(33). doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1196
Whitchurch, C. (2013). Reconstructing Identities in Higher Education: The Rise of Third Space Professionals. London: Routledge.
