Dear readers,
You may have noticed the very little activity of the blog since December, for which I must apologise. In part, this is due to the challenges of balancing family and work live, and a reflection of the competing demands on one’s time that wanting to be an involved parent implies. So, in part, this is a matter of personal choice.
However, the blogging inactivity is mainly the result of the very demanding workloads imposed on academics working at UK universities, as well as the lack of formal recognition of the value of activities such as blogging, which are not really seen as a useful tool for research dissemination and, in some aspects, co-production. The amount of work academics are expected to do in relation to teaching, marking and administration has been spiralling over the last few years. Working ‘normal’ hours does not come even close to keeping ever-growing to do lists in check, specially during term time or when working under the sword of Damocles that marking deadlines have become.
Finding time and headspace for research (or even basic continuous professional development, such as keeping abreast with CJEU case law or new scholarly papers, which I used to comment int his blog) alongside teaching is a constant challenge, except during much needed periods of research leave. And, even then, research has to be seen as productive (no space for random or even exploratory approaches that could not lead to tangible outputs). In this context, blogging is not really within the scope of the expected or ‘valued’ research activities, except as a ‘marketing add-on’ to raise the profile of one’s ‘serious publications’—which must still serve the demands of the current ‘publish or perish’ environment, and come in thick and fast.
In my view, this system not only encroaches on academic freedom broadly understood, but also devalues the role and attractiveness of an academic career. Academics should be left to carry out the intellectual activities they find most valuable, some of which are difficult to translate into measurable results (or impacts), at least in the short term.
The system is also a straitjacket that constraints creativity and perpetuates models of dissemination of academic research that are not really in keeping with the times and with the potential of social networks and digital platforms. All in all, if academics do not have time to think, research and communicate in the way they see fit (and, for me, this would mainly be through blogging), then everyone loses.
I am not advocating an academic life free from teaching or administration duties, not only because that would not be reasonable, but because it would also be incomplete and impoverishing. Teaching and research are mutually reinforcing and there are plenty positive contributions to be made by competent academic administrators. I am just saying that the current imbalance and pressures are not acceptable and enough is enough.
The excesses of workload models and the constraints of extremely rigid and poorly justified research evaluation exercises (most notably, the upcoming REF2021) are two main contributors to a degradation of the working conditions for academics employed in the UK. Such conditions are also worsened due to inequality, pay gaps, casualisation and an attack on the existing level of pension benefits. This is not the academia I want to be part of, and this is not the academia I want for future generations of academics.
I know that I am one of the very lucky ones and my complaints about workload and the dismissal of the value of some of my preferred academic activities are certainly puerile and even risible when compared to the hardship of colleagues on insecure and very badly paid contracts. There are very many fundamental aspects of the management of academic HR that need to change, radically and fast. Workload and academic freedom are however not irrelevant and, if we are not ambitious in getting all of this fixed at the same time, then we all stand to lose even more.
That is why I am going on strike again. To learn more about the UCU ‘four fights’ strike, please follow this link.
Thank you in advance for your understanding and support.
All the best,
Albert