Finding quality in quality improvement: creativity and credibility in higher education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1258Keywords:
quality assurance, third space professionals, credibility, educational developersAbstract
This opinion piece explores the importance of credibility, reciprocity, and creativity in the quality assurance work of boundary-crossing third space professionals. As educational support professionals (ESPs), we believe that our multiple sources of knowledge and liminal positions are invaluable in guiding quality assurance processes. Our discussion is grounded in Little and Green’s (2022) credibility framework and emphasises the importance of creativity to ensure authentic continuous improvement within a mandatory provincial audit. We suggest that it is imperative, both individually and institutionally, to champion third space professionals in quality assurance roles and ensure they receive the resources they require to meaningfully engage in this work.
References
Grass, J. (2010) “A new council to oversee program quality assurance at Ontario universities,” Council of Ontario Universities, 16 July. Available at: https://cou.ca/articles/new-council-to-oversee-quality-assurance-at-on-universities/ (Accessed: 1 March 2024).
Graham, C. (2012) ‘Transforming spaces and identities: The contributions of professional staff to learning spaces in higher education,’ Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 34(4), pp.437–452. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2012.696326
Hall, J. (2022) ‘Understanding and Debating the Third Space,’ in E. McIntosh and D. Nutt (eds) The impact of the integrated practitioner in higher education: studies in third space professionalism. London: UK, Routledge, pp.26-32.
Henkin, A.B. and Persson, D. (1992) ‘Faculty as gatekeepers: non-academic staff participation in university governance,’ Journal of Educational Administration, 30(2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/09578239210014487
Kallenberg, T. (2016) ‘Interacting spheres revisited: academics and administrators between dualism and cooperation’, in R.M.O Pritchard, A. Pausits and J. Williams (eds) Positioning Higher Education Institutions, Rotterdam, NL: Sense Publishers, pp.177-197. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-660-6_10.
Kehm, B.M. (2015) ‘Academics and new higher education professionals: tensions, reciprocal influences and forms of professionalization’, in T. Fumasoli, G. Goastellec, and B.H. Kehm (eds) Academic work and careers in Europe: trends, challenges, perspectives, Springer International Publishing, pp. 177-200. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10720-2_9
Little, D. and Green D.A. (2022) ‘Credibility in educational development: trustworthiness, expertise, and identification’, Higher Education Research & Development, 41(3), pp.804-819. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1871325
McKay, F. and Robson, J. (2023) ‘‘Structured Agency’, normalising power, and third space workers: higher educational professional services staff as regulatory policy actors,’ Journal of Further and Higher Education, 47(5), pp.633-646. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2023.2177526
Smith, C., Holden, M., Yu, E. and Hanlon, P. (2021) ‘‘So what do you do?’: Third space professionals navigating a Canadian university context’, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 43(5), pp.501-519. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2021.1884513
Szekeres, J. (2011) ‘Professional staff carve out a new space,’ Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 33(6), pp.679–691. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2011.621193
Whitchurch, C. (2008) ‘Shifting identities and blurring boundaries: The emergence of third space professionals in UK higher education’, Higher Education Quarterly, 62(4), pp.377-396. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2008.00387.x
Whitchurch, C. (2012) Reconstructing Identities in Higher Education: The Rise of Third Space Professionals. London: Routledge.
Whitchurch, C. (2015) ‘The rise of third space professionals: paradoxes and dilemmas’, in U. Teichler and W.K Cummings (eds) Forming, recruiting and managing the academic profession. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, pp.1–328. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16080-1_5
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).