Professional identity shifts of academic teachers in response to recent (g)local critical incidents: Preliminary research results

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic, 2020-2022, has been defined as a turning point and possibly a critical incident (Tripp 1993) for the workstyle, professional well-being, and quality of work of thousands of academics worldwide. This type of uncontrolled, unexpected, and multifaceted event: political (procedural and administrative), biological (coronavirus inflicted deaths) and cultural (normative), has never before been experienced by the contemporary generation of professionally active academic teachers. As we assume in the presented research findings, two years of a global lockdown and the implementation of regulations which have had a destabilizing effect, must have affected the dynamics of identity shifts experienced by this professional community. Paradoxically, however, alongside this, endless possibilities have opened up for new research concerning the hardship experienced during the adaptation undertaken to deal with global and local (g/local) sociocultural changes in policy and work conditions in academia. One such study, led by two co-researchers at the University of Gdańsk, shall be introduced and partially described in the following text. Selected findings shall also be demonstrated and tentative conclusions drawn.