ERIC Number: EJ992885
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0729-4360
EISSN: N/A
Accountability and Professionalism: A Contradiction in Terms?
Cheng, Ming
Higher Education Research and Development, v31 n6 p785-795 2012
Declining trust in public services has led to increasing calls for higher education to be "accountable" for the quality of its teaching and learning provision. However, increasing levels of quality evaluation have led academics to feel that their professionalism is under attack. Reflecting on this history and various dimensions of accountability, this paper seeks to interpret accountability by addressing two questions: What is accountability in higher education? How can it be related to academic professionalism? The paper argues that professionalism and accountability appear to be contradictory terms, but can exist simultaneously. If academics' moral and social responsibility becomes requisite to an enhanced social accounting for the quality of university teaching and learning, there could be less perceived tension between academic professionalism and accountability.
Descriptors: Higher Education, Accountability, Social Responsibility, Professional Identity, Foreign Countries, College Instruction
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A