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Research Questions

Inviting stories of difference: An inquiry into the experiences of new international academic staff using narrative analysis Wendy Green & Paula Myatt w.green@uq.edu.au & p.myatt@uq.edu.au The University of Queensland (UQ) Australia . Research Questions . Understanding the new IAS experience

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Research Questions

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  1. Inviting stories of difference: An inquiry into the experiences of new international academic staffusing narrative analysisWendy Green & Paula Myattw.green@uq.edu.au & p.myatt@uq.edu.auThe University of Queensland (UQ)Australia

  2. Research Questions Understanding the new IAS experience What is the professional/personal experience of new IAS? What are the challenges, and how do they deal with them? How do they conceptualise T&L, and their role as teachers? Does any/ all of this change over time? Implications for (our) practice What currently available support (if any) is helpful? What additional measures would they find helpful?

  3. Narrative Methodology • Why narrative methodology in this study? • because we wanted to capture and analyse a complex, non-linear and necessarily contextual processes. • What is narrative research? • not concerned with the ‘facts’, but the meaningful shape emerging from the selected (re)telling of inner & outer experiences a complex, non-linear and necessarily contextual processes.

  4. Methodology • Data collection • story collection (from participants); • story analysis (by researchers); • member checking • proposed solutions (from participants and researchers). • First analysis – reading across to stories • results in ‘taxonomies of types of stories, characters, or settings’ (Polkinghorne, 1995, p.12), but • honours the ‘overall shape of narrative’ (Chase, 2005, p.663)

  5. First analysis: Making sense of commonalities Preparing - A time of excitement & uncertainty Time Arriving - A time of disorientation & survival Re-establishing - A time of new equilibrium Reflecting - A time of self-acceptance Generating - A time of action and change Green and Myatt, 2011

  6. A second analysis • But – the niggling question • Despite similarities between the stories, why did one narrator seem happier and more successful than the others?

  7. Making sense of difference Paradigmatic case* an unusually positive case – an exemplar for good practice Annie-Kate US citizen, mid thirties, cross-cultural marriage, mother of young children, lived/worked in several countries Critical case* one that typifies the experiences of most participants Susie US citizen, mid thirties, cross-cultural marriage, mother of young child, lived/worked in several countries *Flyvbjerg, B (2001).

  8. Making sense of difference Preparing - A time of excitement & uncertainty Time Arriving - A time of disorientation & survival Re-establishing - A time of new equilibrium Reflecting - A time of self-acceptance Generating - A time of action and change Green and Myatt, 2011

  9. Making sense of difference Preparing - A time of excitement & uncertainty Time • Susie • moved for career • naïve expectations of Australia • Annie-Kate • moved for life-style • naïve expectations of Australia

  10. Making sense of difference Time Arriving - A time of disorientation & survival • Susie • immediate start at work • ‘expectancy violation’ at work • & in the community • no induction (benign neglect) • ‘traditional academic’ (Smith 2010) • self-doubt • Annie-Kate • time to settle before looking for work • ‘expectancy violation’ in community • some administrative induction • ‘accidental academic’ (Smith 2010) • no sense of self-doubt

  11. Making sense of difference Time Re-establishing - A time of new equilibrium • Annie-Kate • family’s transitional difficulties • effective supervisor/mentor • in-school induction, including • reduced workload & training • sense of success • Susie • family transitional issues • continuing ‘benign neglect’ • increasing sense of failure

  12. Making sense of difference • Annie-Kate • critical acceptance of new country • ‘composite identity‘ • focus on what she brings to the • Australian HE culture • sense of success Time • Susie • lessening ‘expectancy violation’ • sense of foreignness/ otherness • focus on adaption to the • Australian HE culture • sense of failure Reflecting - A time of self-acceptance

  13. Making sense of difference Time Generating - A time of action and change

  14. Making sense of difference • Annie-Kate • Expectations – ‘accidental • academic’ (Smith 2010) • Time to settle • Systematic induction Susie Expectations – ‘traditional academic’ (Smith 2010) Immediate start ‘Benign neglect’ in the School (Lee & Williams 1999)

  15. Implications for practice • Implications for Heads of Schools • support PD, especially re teaching • ensure temporary reduction in workload • make new IAS feel welcome • clarify expectations • provide mentor in workload • Implications for Academic Developers • support reflective practice • importance of narrative for ‘identity work’ (Sears, 2010)

  16. Reference List • Bhabha, H. (1994). The location of culture. London: Routledge. • Byram, M. & Feng, A. (Eds.) (2006). Living and studying abroad: research and practice, Clevedon, Buffolo & Toronto: Multilingual Matters • Chase, C. (2005). Narrative inquiry: Multiple lenses, approaches, voices. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincloln, (Eds.), The sage handbook of qualitative research, (3rd ed.), pp. 651-679. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. • Clandinin, D.J. & Connelly, F.M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research, San Fransico:Jossey-Bass • Collins, J. (2008). Coming to America: Challenges for faculty coming to United States’ universities. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 32(2), 179-188. • Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making social science matter: why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Foote, K.E., Li, W., Monk, J., & Theobold, R. (2008). Foreign-born scholars in US universities: Issues, concerns and strategies. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 32 (2), 167-178. • Green, W. & Myatt, P. (2011). Telling tales: a narrative research study of the experiences of new international academic staff at an Australian university. International Journal for Academic Development, 16(1), 33-44. • Grimshaw & Sears (2008). ‘Where am I from?’ ‘Where do I belong’: The negotiation and maintenance of identity by international school students. Journal of Research in International Education, 7(3), 259-278. • Kohler-Riessman, C. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences, Los Angeles: Sage Publications. • Lee, A. and Williams, C. (1999). ‘Forged in fire’: Narratives of trauma in PhD supervision pedagogy. Southern Review, 32 (1), 6-26. • Lund, D., Hibbins, R. & Barker, M. (2007). Organisational effectiveness of immigrant staff in Australia: Sustaining a culturally diverse workforce. The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability, 3 (3), 79-88.

  17. Reference List • Nicholson, N. (1990). The transition cycle: Causes outcomes, processes and forms. In S. Fisher & C. Cooper (Eds.) On the move: The psychology of change and transition, pp. 83-108. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. • Pitt, M. (2006) ‘The role of everyday talk in sojourner adjustment: An ethnography of communication among US sojourners’, proceedings from the 56th Annual International Communication Association Conference, Dresden. • Polkinghorne, D.E. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5-23. • Richardson, J. & Zidic, J. (2007). The darker side of an international academic career. Career Development International, 12 (2), 164-185. • Sanderson, G. (2008). A foundation for the internationalization of the academic Self in higher education. Journal of Studies in International Education, 122(3), 276-307. • Sears, C (2011). Integrating multiple identities: Narrative in the formation and maintenance of the self in international school students, Journal of Research in International Education, 10 (1), 71-86. • Smith, J. (2010). Forging identities: the experiences of probationary lecturers in the UK. Studies in Higher Education, 35 (5), 577-591. • Trowler, P. & Knight, P. (2000. Coming to know in higher education: Theorising faculty entry to new work contexts. Higher Education Research & Development 19 (1) 27-42. • Yourn, B. & Kirkness, A. (2003). Adapting to a new culture of education: not just an issue for students. Proceedings of the Higher Education Research & Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) International Conference, Canterbury, New Zealand, July, 2003. Retrieved August, 11th, 2008, from http://surveys.canterbury.ac.nz/herdsa03/pdfsref/Y1202.pdf • Zhou, Y., Jindal-Snape, D., Topping, K., & Todman, J. (2008). Theoretical models of culture shock and adaptation in international students in higher education, Studies in Higher Education, 33(1), 63-75.

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