Labelling in the academy: identity renegotiation among postgraduate teaching assistants

Abstract

In recent years, higher education has encountered a steep rise in the employment of postgraduate teaching assistants. While this has provided professional development opportunities to doctoral candidates, conflict around the perception of these early career colleagues has emerged. Notably, the role of the postgraduate teaching assistant is characterised by flexibility, by its existing between structures and recognised roles. This betweenness can be problematic, leading to regular identity renegotiation to gain a sense of stability. Employed at a research-intensive Russell Group university, the author of this autoethnographic article examines self-reported reflective journals to ascertain the adjustments encountered throughout their practice. The author considers a postgraduate teaching assistant as blended professional, based on their experience with merging cultures and identities while situated on the periphery. The discussion reveals how postgraduate teaching assistants are influenced and supported by their academic and social environments, determining who and how they are in relation to others. The author also considers encounters that have helped to develop their third space activity, closing with a reflection on renegotiation pointing to the ways postgraduate teaching assistants can be anchored in the institutional structure.