The Actual and Potential Impact of Accountability on Academic Professionalism

This paper seeks to consider the impact of increased accountability on the professional identity of academics in British Higher Education and consequently the implications for Academic Professionalism. It explores and interrogates how the context of professional practice and the conditions of academic work are affected and changing. The manuscript discusses in detail the main challenges facing professionals in higher education and how the notions of trust and of autonomy and academic freedom are contested and challenged. I argue that the widespread changes challenge the traditional notion of academic professionalism and result both in the de-professionalisation and the re-professionalisation of the academic. The concept of a new academic professionalism is examined, drawing upon perspectives from the relevant literature. I conclude by suggesting a twofold action, the rethinking and reshaping of accountability together with a redefinition of academic professionalism. The manuscript draws upon theoretical perspectives, the relevant literature and my own practical experience from my professional environment.