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Equality and Differentiation in Marketised Higher Education pp 171–194Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Measurement Imperatives and Their Impact: Academic Staff Narratives on Riding the Metric Tide

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Abstract

Higher education (HE) is in the grip of an unprecedented level of attention to quantitative performance indicators. Measurement imperatives are positioned in policy discourses as key to the generation of market competition and institutional differentiation. But beyond government policymakers, many are sceptical about their use and value, particularly in relation to enhancing knowledge, improving pedagogic relationships and developing learning communities. This chapter explores five academics’ narratives—each in different institutional roles—of their personal responses to measurement imperatives; and utilises C. Wright Mills’ (1959) notion of the sociological imagination to trace how individual narratives intersect with broader discourses of marketisation, equity and differentiation. These five staff narratives bring to the fore what matters to them as academics, in their relationships with students and colleagues, and how they navigate the performative discourses and practices which shape their working lives.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK

    Carol Taylor, Jean Harris-Evans, Iain Garner, Damien Fitzgerald & Manuel Madriaga

Authors
  1. Carol Taylor
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  2. Jean Harris-Evans
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  3. Iain Garner
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  4. Damien Fitzgerald
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  5. Manuel Madriaga
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carol Taylor .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Marion Bowl

  2. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Colin McCaig

  3. The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

    Jonathan Hughes

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Taylor, C., Harris-Evans, J., Garner, I., Fitzgerald, D., Madriaga, M. (2018). Measurement Imperatives and Their Impact: Academic Staff Narratives on Riding the Metric Tide. In: Bowl, M., McCaig, C., Hughes, J. (eds) Equality and Differentiation in Marketised Higher Education. Palgrave Studies in Excellence and Equity in Global Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78313-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78313-0_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78312-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78313-0

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