The impact of workplace learning on academic career path development in tertiary education

This research addresses the situated learning experiences of academics in workplaces by gaining insights into how communities of practice influence career development of academics in Cypriot public universities. The study set out to explore academics’ lived experiences of community relations by taking into consideration the impact of power inequalities, access to resources, and their legitimate peripheral participation through the lens of Situated Learning Theory (Lave and Wenger 1991; Wenger 1998). To understand how academics develop their careers in Cypriot public universities, it was important to comprehend how they adapt to their disciplinary communities, engage with their peers, and perceive the existing support for learning and its outcomes. The research was informed by an interpretive paradigm. A single case study approach was used to bring to the fore academics’ narratives about their participatory practices. The data were generated through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with twenty academics chosen through a combination of convenience and snowball sampling strategies. The research has been conducted during five and a half months (December 2012-May 2013). Academics’ experiences in CoPs were thematically analysed. The findings revealed that academics’ career development cannot be properly understood without looking into social relations among scholars and the contextual factors within and across their CoPs. Even though this study challenged Lave and Wenger’s (1991) and Wenger’s (1998) theorisation, the research findings confirm the significance they placed on the mutual engagement of participants in practice, since task mastery on its own cannot be perceived as a prerequisite for academics’ full membership in CoPs. That is why the recommendations highlight the importance of an ongoing involvement of newcomers, who may face diverse forms of participation at the boundaries of CoPs, within the academic life of departmental communities. This is how they construct their academic identities and further develop their membership of the disciplinary CoPs.