Currere, Cups of Tea, and Curses

Navigating the Neoliberal Labyrinth of a Career in Higher Education

Abstract

This article utilises a currere-style approach to unpack a nearly quarter-century career within the UK higher education system (and specifically the Wales context). It seeks to demonstrate how a regular ‘habit’ of reflective practice is crucial to sense-making and self-preservation within a system that often seems at odds with itself. A boom-and-bust narrative arc is presented, along with additional commentary around the cumulative process of developing an understating of the system, to illustrate how the neoliberalisation of higher education has created levels of volatility and instability that impact on all those who work within it. Whilst it can often feel difficult to commit to and sustain an academic career as a result of various externally-fueled forces and pressures, a sense of equilibrium can be achieved through pausing to think about and recognise the patterns and rhythms within fast-moving cycles of change. Currere offers a useful framework in which to map and navigate the landscape of higher education and can help to safeguard well-being and inform decision-making. Ultimately, structured reflective practice can offer a sense of agency and ‘control’ within a challenging, contradictory and curse-inducing set of professional circumstances.