Resisting and Re-making ‘Excellence’: Everyday Transcripts of Value and Meaning in Academic Work

In the context of league tables, national student surveys and increasing competition for students and resources, measurement and comparison is an ever present – and ever more significant – aspect of contemporary academic life (Gourlay & Stevenson 2017, Deem 1998)). Indicators of excellence drive action planning, with particular dimensions of academic work effectively reified as the drive for improve performance in areas that are measured and are therefore perceived to ‘matter’ and offer institutional and personal prestige(see. e.g. Blackmore & Kandiko 2011, Kandiko Howson et al 2017).

However, constant exposure to comparison and pressure to ‘be excellent’ results in academic staff having to consider which aspects of their role to prioritise or, indeed, perform. This interlinking of institutional definitions of success and individual sense of value, career-progression and everyday work activity takes many forms, from active engagement and championing of particular dominant visions of ‘excellence’, selective compliance, through to varying forms of resistance, both passive and active (e.g. Lucas 2014, Manathunga etal 2017, MacFarlane 2016).

This paper seeks to explore the contradictory, messy and refractory effects of the promotion of ‘excellence’ in higher education. Our approach draws on anthropological perspectives on development and ‘improvement ’initiatives, building on Scott’s (1990) work on ‘hidden transcripts’ , domination and resistance (see also Scott1998, 2010, Li 2005, Ferguson & Gupta 2002). This lens is used to explore the multiple interpretations of value and meaning in academic work, key points of resistance and challenge, and the impact these ‘hidden transcripts’ have on institutional and sectoral efforts to enhance university performance.

The empirical study explores how academics navigate ideas of ‘excellence’ as they transition through their careers, examining detailed personal narratives of 23 academics based at Scottish universities. Participants shared their CVs and identified – and shared the stories behind – three artefacts that were significant to their career journey. The resulting narratives offered detailed insight into how participants saw themselves in relation to ‘being an academic’ and how they re-framed ideas of excellence to create meaning and ‘happiness’ in their work. As one participant noted “It’s tough not to be appreciated by an institution. But there are other things and other routes that can appreciate you. You have to be honest about whether you are doing a good job by your own values or not.”

The insights reveal a complex intertwining of discourses of excellence, value and collegiality, with the latter seen both as a source of positive support and a ‘darker’ relationship associated with competition and compulsion. Giving voice to these everyday transcripts opens fresh space to understand how efforts to promote excellence and enhancement impact on practices within the measured university - how powerful discourses and resistance to them intertwine.