Gender, academic careers and the sabbatical: a New Zealand case study (original) (raw)
Related papers
Sabbaticals And Academic Leaves: An Investment In Your Future!
2009 Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings, 2020
Taking a sabbatical or academic leave is becoming less popular owing to the problems associated with dual income families and the need to keep research programs running. This paper advances strong arguments for fitting well-timed leaves into one's long-range academic plans. The author has taken four sabbaticals and four academic leaves during the 37 years of his full-time academic career and has had four extended visiting faculty appointments since his retirement. His experience has included appointments at one U.S. and nine foreign universities, the National Science Foundation and two multinational companies. This paper will discuss the advantages of taking sabbatical and academic leaves to one's teaching, research, cultural, and personal development. Examples will be given on how a leave experience made an irrevocably positive difference in the author's teaching. Information also will be given on how to plan for a leave. In particular, this paper will discuss possible sources of funding for a leave. The author will also discuss how one can handle keeping an active research program going while on leave. Suggestions will also be given on how to involve one's family in the leave experience. The main thrust of this paper is the important point that taking a sabbatical or academic leave is an investment in your future that will pay wonderful and unforeseen benefits.
STEM faculty members' experience of sabbatical leave: a narrative study
2020
Purpose-In this research, which has involved collecting Iranian faculty members' accounts of their experiences of sabbaticals, the authors are seeking to understand how faculty members make sense of events throughout the process of sabbatical, construction these events into episodes and thereby maintaining unity within their lives. Design/methodology/approach-Using narrative qualitative method and episodic interviews the researchers collected and analyzed the data by applying MAXQDA 2020 software. In this study, the impact of sabbatical leave on faculty members' academic achievement was measured in three ways: individually, professionally and organizationally. Findings-Sabbatical leave changed their academic and personal values. In addition, the results of the narrative analysis showed that sabbatical leave experience could enable faculty members to change themselves in terms of their lifestyle and attitudes. A considerable influence on their families was also found. Moreover, from individual dimension, it was found that participants' engagement with their colleagues and their sense of social responsibility especially in environmental protection zone area had increased. Furthermore, in professional and academic area, the participants reported tendency toward more team work, more creative approach and they developed a sense of innovation and willingness to take risks. Practical implications-The findings of the study showed that faculty members sabbatical leave experience could stimulate their global thinking toward foreign overseas universities, their students and colleagues and they could have more publications in foreign languages. Based on the findings of the study some reconsiderations in administrative regulations should be taken into account in order to enable volunteer faculty members to take part in sabbatical leave programs. Social implications-The authors demonstrate that how Iranian higher education regulations and dominated patriarchy, deprive female faculty members from sabbaticals. In addition, the results indicate that using sabbatical leaves by males, and mostly in STEM fields in Iran are fundamental in producing and reproducing inequalities regarding gender and academic field. Originality/value-The paper addresses an important topic and by using a relevant qualitative method for examining participants' views in the study has added complementary information to the literature of faculty members' professional development. The study has been conducted in a particular context with a different understanding of the topic, since studying such a topic in Iran is missing almost in the literature.
New Zealand Sociology, 2018
In neoliberal times the nature of academic employment in universities has shifted dramatically. Precarious (fixed-term and casual) academic employment has proliferated, continuing academic employment has become more scarce and a wide gap has opened between the conditions of work and career trajectories of academics in continuing positions—for whom a semblance of the tenure system remains intact—and the growing number of academics on temporary, insecure contracts, for whom the prospect of academic unemployment ever looms. International research indicates that this shift toward academic precarity is gendered, with academic women typically over-represented in precarious academic employment and under-represented in continuing positions and vice versa for academic men. To further our understanding of the way rising academic precarity and its greater impact on academic women have played out in Aotearoa/New Zealand, this article reports on academic perceptions and experiences of precarious academic employment at a New Zealand university. Statistical and inductive analysis of a mixed-method survey of 914 academic staff reveals extensive academic precarity at the case study institution, an over-representation of women in precarious employment, many more negative than positive experiences of precarious employment, and high motivation amongst precarious academics to gain secure employment.
Political Studies Review, 2020
Supporting increasing equality and diversity in the recruitment and retention of Early Career Researchers from the widest pool of talent available is high on the agenda of universities and policy makers. Notwithstanding this, the demanding nature of academic careers has a disproportionate effect on Early Career Researchers, who may face indirect obstacles in their career development particularly following a period of maternity or parental leave. Our research seeks to expose the nexus of challenges, from job insecurity to the pressures of raising new families that Early Career Researchers face during this critical juncture in their career trajectory. Focusing on Politics and International Studies Departments in the United Kingdom, we document the institutional mechanisms that exist to support Early Career Researchers returning from maternity and parental leave through a Heads of Department and an Early Career Researcher survey to gain an understanding of needs and the impact of institutional measures. Adopting a feminist institutionalist analysis, we map gendered outcomes in the university, through formal and informal rules, which mitigate against those Early Career Researchers taking maternity and parental leave. We end by identifying specific measures which would help to ensure that the university is more supportive of Early Career Researchers taking maternity and parental leave.
A ‘new (ab)normal’?: Scrutinising the work-life balance of academics under lockdown
Journal of Further and Higher Education, 2020
In March 2020 virtually all UK universities were suddenly thrown into an unprecedented and sudden closure of campus and facilities owing to the British Government's Covid-19 pandemic lockdown policies. Further evidence suggests that this exacerbated existing gendered differences. This paper reports on UK academic responses from an international survey examining the work-life balance of academics under Covid-19 lockdown. The aim of the study was to examine the experiences and perceptions of academics, using these to inform how universities can improve the work-life balance of academics during the current and post-lockdown scenarios, as well as in the longer term, given a pandemic-prone future. Rich in qualitative comments, primarily derived from women academics, gendered contrasts in work-life balance appear magnified under conditions of lockdown. Key lessons for HE internationally emerge from the findings.
Sabbatical Leave: Who Gains and How Much
Journal of Applied Psychology, 2010
A rigorous quasi-experiment tested the ameliorative effects of a sabbatical leave, a special case of respite from routine work. We hypothesized that (a) respite increases resource level and well-being and (b) individual differences and respite features moderate respite effects. A sample of 129 faculty members on sabbatical and 129 matched controls completed measures of resource gain, resource loss, and well-being before, during, and after the sabbatical. Among the sabbatees, resource loss declined and resource gain and well-being rose during the sabbatical. The comparison group showed no change. Moderation analysis revealed that those who reported higher respite self-efficacy and greater control, were more detached, had a more positive sabbatical experience, and spent their sabbatical outside their home country enjoyed more enhanced well-being than others.
Negotiating in Silence: Experiences with Parental Leave in Academia
Relations industrielles, 2000
Summary This paper presents a case study of pregnancy/parental leave arrangements among faculty members at a mid-sized Canadian university. Pregnancy/parental leaves and associated benefits are often taken for granted, particularly among unionized employees in Canada; however, this research shows that continued vigilance is required to maintain the standard and equity of these rights. The data consist of self-report accounts of faculty experiences in making leave arrangements over the period 2000-2010. The results show inequity in leave arrangements across faculties, across and within departments and for individuals who had more than one leave. Much of this inequity stemmed from individualized “creative” negotiations and problem-solving when the leave was scheduled to begin or end in the middle of an academic term. Many of these solutions penalized faculty members for unassigned teaching duties. Faculty members were requested or felt personally obligated to “cover-off” the teaching ...
The University of Auckland, 2021
Increasing employee access to paid parental leave (PPL) is an important step to achieving gender equity in higher education. Although Aotearoa/New Zealand has recently increased PPL to the 26 weeks recommended by the World Health Organisation, the level of payment is capped at below minimum wage. For parents working or seeking to work at universities in Aotearoa/New Zealand, information about the PPL policies of these workplaces is essential for informed decision-making. This article reviews the PPL policies of the eight universities in Aotearoa/New Zealand, analysing these in terms of structural work-life support and cultural work-life support. The authors contribute autobiographical reflections to supplement the policy analysis with examples of real-life effects of the policies that are reviewed. The article finishes with a set of recommendations that would enhance employee wellbeing at universities in Aotearoa/New Zealand, including expanding access to leave and removing both gendered language and requirements to repay leave.
A Sabbatical: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology
a former president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and a leader in liver fibrosis research. He speaks often of the transformative role his sabbatical played in his career, and this month encourages other researchers to consider similar academic experiences, providing advice on what to do-and not do-to make a sabbatical worthwhile.
Education Sciences, 2020
In light of policies and programs designed to address the domination of academic positions by male, frequently white individuals, we review the participation of women, one of multiple minority identities within the academy, in Aotearoa New Zealand's academic workforce using employment data from eight universities from 2002-2017. While the number of women employed continues to improve, the rate has slowed in recent years and senior roles remain heavily dominated by men. Women were more likely to be employed at lower levels of seniority, to advance to seniority more slowly than male colleagues, and were more likely to be employed part-time. We call for active strategies to address the cultural and structural bias in universities that favour the hiring and promotion of men to improve workforce diversity at all levels of seniority.