Law and the Early Career Law Teacher: Part 2

Cameron Giles and Noel McGuirk

In Part 1, written at the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year, we suggested a need to apply a broad mindset to the label “early career”.[1] Articulating what constitutes the “early career” for legal academics provides an opportunity to question some of the presumptions that are made about career entry and trajectory. At the ALT’s recent 2024 Early Career Symposium, self-identified early career academics from across the country came together in Leeds to hear from a variety of speakers—some early career academics themselves—on teaching practices and overcoming the challenges encountered by those in the early stages of a legal academic career today in 2024.

One theme of the 2024 symposium was the lack of a single pathway “through” the early career stage and the extent to which early career academics might face pressure in balancing different aspects of academic roles. The diversity of activities that those in the initial stages of a career in HE may be undertaking highlights the importance of identifying early career academics as opposed to researchers.[2] To those identifying with the early career label, this aspect of their professional identity might sit alongside other identities, for instance, as a legal practitioner.[3] Furthermore, casual and fixed term employment can further disrupt conceptions of a “typical” academic career and career progression.[4]

Delegates participating in a session on innovative teaching practices.

The increasing pressures present in the Higher Education sector and the ways in which these can acutely effect those in the early career stage were also observed in some of the sessions which took place at the event. Writing in a US context, Dugas et al. discuss a degree of ‘identity strain’ among academic researchers, particularly among early career academics who may feel ‘pushed to place the needs of the institution over their own individual identity concerns’,[5]whilst also highlighting how institutions with teaching or research focuses ‘embody a differing set of priorities that must be navigated both on the level of institutional goals and individual identities.’[6] In the UK, the dynamic between research and teaching activity can be seen across various contexts, including the Research Excellence Framework and it’s precursors, as we highlighted in Part 1.

The emerging guidance for REF 2029 has explicitly sought to prevent ‘any disincentive for institutions to hire individuals without a substantial track-record of outputs considered suitable for REF submission, such as early career researchers or those joining from outside academia’.[7] The acknowledgement that those entering academia from other professional settings may experience similar challenges to those traditionally labelled early career,[8] in part, responds to concerns raised by some that the REF exercise could lead to the exploitation of those in roles without designated responsibility for research.[9] This does not, of course, eliminate the pressures that exercises such as REF, TEF and KEF place on academics, within the Law School and beyond in the wider higher education landscape.

Speakers at the 2024 Symposium discussed the challenges of navigating the higher education landscape today and overcoming the challenges faced by early career academics. Delegates participated in sessions focused on developing innovative teaching in increasingly challenging times and enhancing teaching practices through insights from pracademia. As well as sessions on career development and planning the next stage of their academic careers, the symposium addressed the importance of mental health and well-being remaining a central consideration throughout the high and low points of the academic year.

We’re immensely grateful to our co-organisers, Kat Langley and Jess Guth, who also participated in panels at the event, as well as to other speakers—Daniel Bansal, Lydia Bleasdale, Lucinda Bromfield, Maribel Canto-Lopez, Jill Dickinson, Rachel Dunn, James Greenwood-Reeves, Emma Jones, Arwen Joyce, Aysha Mazhar, Adeniyi Olayode, Caroline Strevens, Katy Vaughan and Chloe Wallace—for sharing their time, knowledge and experience. In addition to subsidy by the ALT, the event was sponsored by Leeds Trinity University, CILEX, The College of Legal Practice, Edinburgh Law School and London South Bank University: who have our thanks for their support.

The Symposium Organising Committee: Kat Langley, Noel McGuirk, Cameron Giles and Jess Guth.

[1] Cameron Giles, Stella Coyle and Noel McGuirk, ‘Law and the Early Career Law Teacher – Part 1’ (Association of Law Teachers Blog, November 6th 2023) <https://www.lawteacher.ac.uk/post/law-and-the-early-career-law-teacher-part-1>.

[2] Emma Price, Brian Coffey and Amy Nethery, ‘An Early Career Academic Network: What Worked and What Didn’t’ (2015) 39 Journal of Further and Higher Education 680, 682.

[3] See, Jill Dickinson, Andrew Fowler and Teri-Lisa Griffiths, ‘Pracademics? Exploring transitions and professional identities in higher education’ (2022) 47(2) Studies in Higher Education 290, 299-300

[4] Agnes Bosanquet and others, ‘Redefining “Early Career” in Academia: A Collective Narrative Approach’ (2017) 36 Higher Education Research & Development 890, 891–892.

[5] Daryl Dugas, Amy E Stich, Lindsay N Harris and Kelly H Summers, ‘”I’m being pulled in too many different directions”: academic identity tensions at regional public universities in challenging economic times’ (2020) 45(2) Studies in Higher Education 312, 315.

[6] Daryl Dugas, Amy E Stich, Lindsay N Harris and Kelly H Summers, ‘”I’m being pulled in too many different directions”: academic identity tensions at regional public universities in challenging economic times’ (2020) 45(2) Studies in Higher Education 312, 323.

[7] REF 2028, ‘Research Excellence Framework 2029: initial decisions and issues for further consultation’ (REF 2028/23/01, June 2023), para 75 (emphasis added).

[8] On which, see, Amelia Hollywood and others, ‘“Overwhelmed at First”: The Experience of Career Development in Early Career Academics’ (2020) 44 Journal of Further and Higher Education 998.

[9] REF 2029, ‘Analysis of responses to Initial decisions consultation’ (REF 2029, 21 June 2024) <https://www.ref.ac.uk/publication/analysis-of-responses-to-initial-decisions-consultation/>, para 30.