Sunday, August 31, 2025
Science
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag
No Result
View All Result
Home Science News Science Education

Targeted career support for care-experienced academics would help create a new “effective pipeline”, study says

July 22, 2024
in Science Education
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
65
SHARES
592
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
ADVERTISEMENT

Care-experienced academics should be given additional support by universities because of the impact their early lives have on their career pathways, a new study says.

Care-experienced academics should be given additional support by universities because of the impact their early lives have on their career pathways, a new study says.

Those who spent time in the care system as children often have high levels of self-reliance and a willingness to seek help. But the uncertainties of academia can have a strong impact on their mental health and many were sceptical about long-term career planning, according to the research.

Academics who took part in the study called for a more effective pipeline to boost the number of future care-experienced people in the profession. The first report from the study by Neil Harrison and Simon Benham-Clarke from the University of Exeter also argues that schools could do more to inspire learners and demystify professional careers, with stronger and more visible ‘second opportunity’ routes for young people whose education is disrupted.

Researchers interviewed 21 care-experienced people working in academia. All had been ‘in care’ when they were children, usually due to neglect or maltreatment within their families, and had therefore faced significant challenges in their educational journeys.

Most highlighted the disrupted nature of their schooling, although school was a place of safety and success for some. This meant the precarities and instabilities of contemporary academia were a strong constraint for participants. It could evoke earlier periods in their lives, generate additional anxiety and risked being a deterrent.

Few participants in the study had anticipated a career in academia. More important were incremental enabling steps that each reinforced ideas of success and opened up new opportunities. Many now valued the scope their academic role gave them to help people, including students in general – but also specifically care-experienced learners and those from other marginalised groups.

Professor Harrison said: “Little attention has yet been paid to career planning for care-experienced graduates or supporting transition into postgraduate study. Care-experienced students often thrive in higher education and achieve highly, although little is currently known about those who build on this success to pursue their own academic career. This study was the first attempt to enumerate and understand the working lives of care-experienced academics.”

“Participants often mentioned the absence of family ‘safety nets’. This meant fewer resources to ‘ride out’ any periods of unemployment or provide back-up housing options.  Compared to their peers, they felt at a marked disadvantage with less freedom to pursue their career. Two had recently left or were considering leaving academia because of the repeating cycle of seeking new short-term contracts and financial insecurity.”

“Universities could do more to recognise and address the constraints faced by care-experienced academics and others who face challenges in building a career in higher education.  It is vital that we have diversity in the profession and many of our participants had drawn on their ‘expertise through experience’ to become effective educators or researchers in disciplines like social work, sociology and education. 

“Higher education is enriched by having more academics from different backgrounds.  Government, research funders and universities need to provide more financial stability and additional support through mentoring programmes.”

 

The study was funded through the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust Small Grants programme.

‘Climbing the ivory tower: agency, reflexivity and the career pathways of care-experienced academics in higher education’ has been published in the journal Higher Education.

 



Journal

Higher Education

DOI

10.1007/s10734-024-01214-0

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Climbing the ivory tower: agency, reflexivity and the career pathways of care-experienced academics in higher education

Article Publication Date

24-Apr-2024

Share26Tweet16
Previous Post

Are AI-chatbots suitable for hospitals?

Next Post

Fundraising: Higher donation returns when asking for units of relief supplies rather than money

Related Posts

Science Education

Evaluating Persian Learning Behavior Questionnaire in Nursing Students

August 31, 2025
blank
Science Education

Bridging Gaps: Supporting Students with Disabilities in College

August 31, 2025
blank
Science Education

Identifying Hidden Subpopulations in Global Assessments

August 31, 2025
blank
Science Education

Evaluating YouTube’s Pediatric Appendicitis Video Reliability

August 31, 2025
blank
Science Education

Ghanaian Graduate Students Embrace Generative AI: Insights Uncovered

August 31, 2025
blank
Science Education

Assessing Uncertainty: How Design Influences ILSA Statistics

August 31, 2025
Next Post

Fundraising: Higher donation returns when asking for units of relief supplies rather than money

  • Mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth, finds NTU Singapore study

    Mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth, finds NTU Singapore study

    27542 shares
    Share 11014 Tweet 6884
  • University of Seville Breaks 120-Year-Old Mystery, Revises a Key Einstein Concept

    956 shares
    Share 382 Tweet 239
  • Bee body mass, pathogens and local climate influence heat tolerance

    642 shares
    Share 257 Tweet 161
  • Researchers record first-ever images and data of a shark experiencing a boat strike

    509 shares
    Share 204 Tweet 127
  • Warm seawater speeding up melting of ‘Doomsday Glacier,’ scientists warn

    313 shares
    Share 125 Tweet 78
Science

Embark on a thrilling journey of discovery with Scienmag.com—your ultimate source for cutting-edge breakthroughs. Immerse yourself in a world where curiosity knows no limits and tomorrow’s possibilities become today’s reality!

RECENT NEWS

  • Connecting Carbon Markets and Agriculture: A Comparative Study
  • Unlocking Genetic Secrets to Corn Disease Resistance
  • Unveiling Dormancy-Enzymes in Tuberculosis via Computational Methods
  • Toads Adapt Metabolically to Altitude Variation

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Athmospheric
  • Biology
  • Blog
  • Bussines
  • Cancer
  • Chemistry
  • Climate
  • Earth Science
  • Marine
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine
  • Pediatry
  • Policy
  • Psychology & Psychiatry
  • Science Education
  • Social Science
  • Space
  • Technology and Engineering

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 5,182 other subscribers

© 2025 Scienmag - Science Magazine

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US

© 2025 Scienmag - Science Magazine

Discover more from Science

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading