From industry to academia: Some Indigenous autoethnographic
insights
(note: modified title)Byron Rangiwai, Caroline Baker, Helena Murphy
School of Healthcare and Social Practice
Unitec-Te Pūkenga
• Helena Murphy (Te Rarawa), Registered Social Worker & Lecturer (Unitec)
• Caroline Baker (Ngāti Hine), Registered Social Worker & Lecturer (Unitec)
• Byron Rangiwai (Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Whare, Ngāti Porou, Ngāi
Tūhoe), Kaupapa Māori researcher & Associate Professor (Unitec)
Methodology and methods
• Kaupapa Māori theory (Smith, 2021)
• Wānanga (Māori knowledge-making) (Mahuika & Mahuika, 2020)
• Indigenous autoethnography (Rangiwai, 2021)
• Mōhiotanga (experiential knowledge)
• Mātauranga (acquired knowledge)
• Māramatanga (emerging knowledge)
Question
• There are three particular questions we were meant to discuss
(featured in the abstract). However, we decided to focus, instead, on the following question:
Why is it so difficult to transition from
industry to academia?
Why is it so difficult to transition from industry to academia?
• All three of the presenters transitioned from industry to academia.
Helena and Caroline have been in academia for 4 months. Byron transitioned from industry in 2017.
• Our experiences of transitioning into academia were consistent with those expressed in the literature.
• Dr Louise Wilson’s (2022) PhD thesis, Becoming university academics
from professional practice: Finding, learning, playing , has helped us to
better understand our transition experiences.
Our experiences
Industry to academia
• Moving from industry to academia is fraught with challenges (Smith et al., 2000).
• New teachers are expected to teach, publish, complete service to the institution and balance time between these activities (Smith et al., 2000).
• The transition from industry to academia is complex, varied, and
individual (Wilson, 2022).
Industry to academia: Challenges
• Moving from industry to academia is extremely challenging (Smith et al., 2000l; Baker, 2014; Ong, 2022; Wilson, 2022).
• Challenges for new teachers include:
• large class sizes, classroom management, classroom conditions, equipment (Smith et al., 2000)
• lack of training (Baker, 2014)
• lack of transition process, academic induction, on-boarding, career
progression pathways (Wilson, 2022)
Industry to academia: The importance of self- efficacy
• Self-efficacy - a teacher’s belief in their capacity to teach – is critical (Khanshan &
Yousefi, 2020).
• New teachers must develop skills in teaching methods, have adequate space and time to prepare for classes, engage with data from student evaluations, and learn classroom management skills (Baker, 2014).
• Teacher self-efficacy is linked to motivation, and shapes outcomes for both teachers and students (Baker, 2014).
• Self-efficacy derived from industry experience may empower new teachers regarding teaching, research and industry connection (Ong, 2022).
Dr Louise Wilson’s (2022) work
• Concerning transition from industry to academia, Wilson’s (2022) research identified three phases:
• Finding
• Learning
• Playing
Conceptualising the Early-Transition Experience (Wilson, 2022, p. 309).
Finding
• Practitioners realise that they can transition into academic life from professional fields and careers (Wilson, 2022).
• In academia, practitioner realise they teach what they know about and “subjects they love” (Wilson, 2022, p. 220).
• Practitioners want to make a difference through education (Wilson, 2022).
• Transitioning comes with risk - no guarantee that teaching will work out (Wilson, 2022).
• Practitioners assume that higher learning institutions know how to transition workers from industry to academia; however, this is not the case (Wilson, 2022).
• Specific transition programmes needed (Wilson, 2022).
Learning
• Practitioners “unplug” from their professional lives and enter academic life (Wilson, 2022).
• Practitioners experience “delays, struggles and frustrations” (Wlson, 2022, p.
264), due to a lack of transitional support from institutions.
• Practitioners unable to effectively transition or engage in growing their academic life/profile (Wilson, 2022).
• Practitioners experience a sense of shock regarding the differences between
industry and academia (slow decision-making, ineffective processes etc) (Wilson, 2022).
Playing
• Transition from industry to academic life is a complex and emotional journey (Wilson, 2022).
• Practitioners find their place and identity in the institution, failing, learning, and adjusting, and rebounding and evolving in the academic world (Wilson, 2022).
• New academics come face-to-face with the reality of their decision to the enter academia (Wilson, 2022).
• Includes “times of disillusionment, discontentment, displacement, shock, fear of being stuck or of financial or personal risk, and not knowing what the future
holds for them career-wise” (Wilson, 2022, p. 304).
Industry to academia: Conclusions
• Transition from industry to academia is a complex process that needs to be addressed by institutions (Wilson, 2022).
• It is important for universities, and other tertiary institutions, to create policies and execute practices that effectively facilitate the transition of new teachers from industry to academia (Ong, 2022).
• Māori frameworks, such as Te Noho Kotahitanga and Te Tipare, could be used to develop and structure training for new teachers.
• More research is needed, and in particular, Te Pūkenga has an opportunity to create training programmes that more effectively supports new teachers
transitioning from industry.
References
Baker, R. (2014). What is the relationship between participation in an Introduction to teaching skills course for new practical nursing instructors and teaching efficacy? [Doctoral dissertation]. A. T. Still University.
Khanshan, S. K. & Yousefi, M. H. (2020). The relationship between self-efficacy and instructional practice of in-service soft disciplines, hard disciplines and EFL teachers.Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 5(1), 1-20.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-020-0080-8
Mahuika, N. & Mahuika, R. (2020). Wānanga as a research methodology. AlterNative, 16(4), 369-377.
https://doi/org/10.1177/1177180120968580
Ong, L. T. (2022). Surviving a re-entry: second-career academics in business schools in Malaysia.Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 21, 109–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-021-09295-9
Rangiwai, B. (2021). It’s about me! My approach to autoethnography. Te Kaharoa, 14(1), 1-12.
https://www.tekaharoa.com/index.php/tekaharoa/article/view/355
Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples. Bloomsbury.
Smith, M. L., Rowe, K. E., Morales, C. R., & Homkes, R. L. (2000, June). New engineering faculty for the new millennium. Paper presented at ASEE 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO.
Wilson, L. (2022). Becoming university academics from professional practice: Finding, learning, playing[Doctoral thesis]. Coventry University. https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/becoming-university-academics-from-professional-practice-finding-
