Early career researchers' identity: A qualitative review

Abstract

En las últimas décadas, la enseñanza superior ha sido testigo del desarrollo de una serie de políticas destinadas a mejorar su calidad. Para ello, se han promovido medidas de rendición de cuentas, que están teniendo un gran impacto en los académicos. Además, la precariedad laboral de este sector profesional está contribuyendo a acentuar sus consecuencias. En este contexto, los investigadores noveles se han con vertido en un grupo altamente vulnerable. Esta revisión sis temática de la literatura pretende recoger las aportaciones más relevantes sobre el impacto que esta situación tiene en la identidad profesional de los jóvenes académicos. Los resultados muestran cómo las medidas político-económicas que rodean actualmente a la educación superior están contribuyendo al desarrollo de un nuevo sujeto académico neoliberal caracterizado por una identidad profesional sometida inconscientemente a las exigencias del sistema.

In recent decades, higher education has witnessed the development of a series of policies aimed at improving its quality. To this end, accountability measures have been promoted, which are having a major impact on academics. In addition, the precariousness of work in this professional sector is contributing to emphasise its consequences. In this context, early career researchers have become a highly vulnerable group, as the pretence of wanting to be part of the academic world is becoming an increasingly challenging purpose. This systematic review of the literature aims to collect and systematise the most relevant contributions on the impact that this situation has on the professional identity of young academics. To this end, a bibliographic search was carried out in four different databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Education Resources Information Center, Google Scholar), which yielded a total of 24 articles published in international journals. The results show how the political-economic measures that currently surround higher education are contributing to the development of a new neoliberal academic subject characterised by a professional identity unconsciously subjected to the system's requirements. This identity is characterised by a prioritisation of research over teaching, by the development of unethical research practices and by their impact on health and social and family relations. Finally, the need for more studies in this line with other approaches (longitudinal) and with more general and varied samples is emphasised.