CRICOS Provider No 00025B Inviting stories of difference: An inquiry into the experiences of new international academic staff using narrative analysis Wendy Green & Paula Myatt & The University of Queensland (UQ) Australia

Research Questions Understanding the new IAS experience What is the professional/personal experience of new IAS? What are the challenges, and how do they deal with them? How do they conceptualise T&L, and their role as teachers? Does any/ all of this change over time? Implications for (our) practice What currently available support (if any) is helpful? What additional measures would they find helpful?

Narrative Methodology Why narrative methodology in this study? because we wanted to capture and analyse a complex, non-linear and necessarily contextual processes. What is narrative research? not concerned with the facts, but the meaningful shape emerging from the selected (re)telling of inner & outer experiences a complex, non-linear and necessarily contextual processes.

Methodology Data collection –story collection (from participants); –story analysis (by researchers); –member checking –proposed solutions (from participants and researchers). First analysis – reading across to stories –results in taxonomies of types of stories, characters, or settings (Polkinghorne, 1995, p.12), but –honours the overall shape of narrative (Chase, 2005, p.663)

First analysis: Making sense of commonalities Preparing - A time of excitement & uncertainty Arriving - A time of disorientation & survival Re-establishing - A time of new equilibrium Reflecting - A time of self-acceptance Generating - A time of action and change Time Green and Myatt, 2011

A second analysis But – the niggling question Despite similarities between the stories, why did one narrator seem happier and more successful than the others?

Making sense of difference CRICOS Provider No 00025B Paradigmatic case* an unusually positive case – an exemplar for good practice Annie-Kate US citizen, mid thirties, cross-cultural marriage, mother of young children, lived/worked in several countries Critical case* one that typifies the experiences of most participants Susie US citizen, mid thirties, cross-cultural marriage, mother of young child, lived/worked in several countries *Flyvbjerg, B (2001).

Making sense of difference Preparing - A time of excitement & uncertainty Arriving - A time of disorientation & survival Re-establishing - A time of new equilibrium Reflecting - A time of self-acceptance Generating - A time of action and change Time Green and Myatt, 2011

Making sense of difference Preparing - A time of excitement & uncertainty Time Susie moved for career naïve expectations of Australia Annie-Kate moved for life-style naïve expectations of Australia

Time Susie immediate start at work expectancy violation at work & in the community no induction (benign neglect) traditional academic (Smith 2010) self-doubt Annie-Kate time to settle before looking for work expectancy violation in community some administrative induction accidental academic (Smith 2010) no sense of self-doubt Arriving - A time of disorientation & survival Making sense of difference

Time Re-establishing - A time of new equilibrium Susie family transitional issues continuing benign neglect increasing sense of failure Annie-Kate familys transitional difficulties effective supervisor/mentor in-school induction, including reduced workload & training sense of success

Making sense of difference Time Reflecting - A time of self-acceptance Susie lessening expectancy violation sense of foreignness/ otherness focus on adaption to the Australian HE culture sense of failure Annie-Kate critical acceptance of new country composite identity focus on what she brings to the Australian HE culture sense of success

Making sense of difference Time Generating - A time of action and change

Making sense of difference CRICOS Provider No 00025B Susie Expectations – traditional academic (Smith 2010) Immediate start Benign neglect in the School (Lee & Williams 1999) Annie-Kate Expectations – accidental academic (Smith 2010) Time to settle Systematic induction

Implications for practice Implications for Heads of Schools support PD, especially re teaching ensure temporary reduction in workload make new IAS feel welcome clarify expectations provide mentor in workload Implications for Academic Developers support reflective practice importance of narrative for identity work (Sears, 2010)

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