Rosemary Deem

Management as ideology: the case of ‘new managerialism’ in higher education

The paper explores ideological conceptions of management, especially ‘new managerialism’, with particular reference to their role in the reform of higher education. It is suggested that attempts to reform public services in general are political as well as technical, though there is no single unitary ideology of ‘new managerialism’. Whilst some argue that managers have become a class and have particular interests, this may not be so for all public services. The arguments presented are illustrated by data taken from a recent research project on the management of UK higher education. It is suggested that managers in public service organisations such as universities do not constitute a class. However, as in the case of manager‐academics, managing a contemporary public service such as higher education may involve taking on the ideologies and values of ‘new managerialism’, and for some, embracing these. So management ideologies do seem to serve the interests of manager‐academics and help cement relations of power and dominance, even in contexts like universities which were not traditionally associated with the dominance of management.

Doctoral Students' Access to Research Cultures-are some more unequal than others?

The article explores how different kinds of social science students from two universities, Woodside and Hillside, access and experience a variety of research cultures in those universities. Previous research on research students has noted considerable differences between science and non-science students, with the latter much more likely to work as lone scholars meeting regularly only with their supervisors. Though other researchers have examined academic cultures and their transmission, more generic peer cultures and research training cultures have not always formed part of these studies. The research involved interviews with 26 home and international students, studying both full- and part-time. Four focus group discussions were also conducted. The data suggest that international students and part-time students have the most difficulty in accessing peer cultures and academic cultures. However, international students are much more favourably disposed towards research training cultures than other students. Some evidence of gender differences affecting student experiences was found but was not as widespread as other differences. The article ends by suggesting some practical changes that could be made in universities to provide more equal access to research cultures by all research students.

Women, leisure and inequality

Women experience inequalities in gaining access to leisure ‘space’ and activities. Based on research in Milton Keynes, UK, this paper points towards a more satisfactory theory of womens leisure, and shows how aspects of womens gender-roles constrain their enjoyment and use of free time. Constraints include domestic labour, job attitudes, behaviour and working hours of male partners, child care, lack of independent income and absence of transport. Women with least leisure activities are married, have children under 16, left school at the minimum age and own no transport. The factors contributing to womens overall subordinate position in society thus contribute to their scant leisure.

Women, the city and holidays

This paper reports some preliminary research on women and holidays carried out in the summer of 1994 in Lancaster, a city in the north west of England. The research, which involved interviewing an opportunity sample of 54 women visitors and residents on the streets of Lancaster, attempted to explore holidays as an aspect of engendered leisure. The analysis makes use of theories about space, place and time as well as ideas about the tourist gaze and deindustrialized and restructured cities. It is suggested that the issue of women and holidays raises important questions about gender relations in households, but it is also argued that theories about tourism and places which ignore gender cannot offer a satisfactory account of how women consume places and regard time and space. In conclusion, the paper sketches ideas about how future research on women and holidays might be conducted.

Transforming post-compulsory education? femocrats at work in the academy

This article is based on interviews with 40 women academic managers in United Kingdom further and higher education institutions, all of whom described themselves as feminists or were strongly committed to equal opportunities. The article examines the potential for such manager-academics to act as change agents and engage in transformations of post-compulsory education, moving beyond both old-fashioned collegiality and ‘new managerialism’. Considerable differences seemed to exist in the organisational cultures, management strategies, labour processes and working conditions of institutions of further education (FE) as compared with higher education (HE). The two sectors have been differentially exposed to economic pressures, competition for students and permeation of management practices and values from the private sector, with all of these more intensely felt in FE. In addition, the project identified quite different degrees of exposure to feminisms and Womens Studies of women working in the two sectors. One of the consequences of these differences in the two sectors is that those working in FE are more hesitant about openly revealing and using their feminist or pro-equity values to shape and inform their managerial strategies and goals. This article considers the pressures on academic managers to adopt the values and practices of private sector in forms of ‘new managerialism’ and analyses what role feminists might play in resisting this. Some feminist academic managers, mainly those working in HE senior positions, do appear to have the potential to transform their institutions in feminist-inspired ways. More collaboration between feminists working in different sectors of post-compulsory higher education might facilitate this. Though based in the United Kingdom, the study has implications for feminist manager-academics working in other countries too.

Learning about research: exploring the learning and teaching/research relationship amongst educational practitioners studying in higher education

The paper examines aspects of the relationship between teaching and research in higher education in social science research methods, with particular reference to the subject area of Education. There are three main themes: reflections on how social science research methods should be (or are) taught; a review of current debates about the relationship between teaching and research, both in higher education and for school teachers; and finally, reporting how a group of educational practitioners (mainly school teachers) studying at Masters level experience learned about research methods. The paper is illustrated by qualitative data from a case study of student experiences of research methods teaching on a Masters degree in Education in a research-intensive UK university. It is suggested that studying the journey embarked upon by taught postgraduate students inexperienced in research is helpful in understanding how learning about research methods takes place, which in turn can assist future research methods teaching.

Talking to Manager-Academics Methodological Dilemmas and Feminist Research Strategies

The paper examines how qualitative feminist research can inform the study of engendered practices in organizational settings. It reviews current debates about feminist research, including Oakley’s (1998, 2000) critique of the ways in which qualitative methods and data are used by feminists. The work of Skeggs (2001) on feminist principles for undertaking qualitative research is also examined. The paper then considers two pieces of research on work and engendered organizations that used mixed methods and data. Finally the paper considers some of the methodological challenges faced by the author in two recent qualitative projects about manager-academics. Using qualitative data, it is argued, does not necessarily restrict the wider policy applicability of the project findings. However, working in teams with those not committed to feminist research can present other challenges, which may also throw light on the phenomena being researched.

Physical Activity, Life‐long Learning and Empowerment — Situating Sport in Women's Leisure

Abstract The paper examines the ways in which gender relations, gender identities, school physical education, and dominant ideas about the association of masculinities with sport, affect how women perceive sport and physical activity. It is suggested that since many women dislike competitive and team sports, using a wider concept of physical activity, examining its location within broader notions of womens leisure, exploring how physical activity relates to sexuality and the empowerment of individuals, and understanding how participation in such activity often needs to be negotiated with partners, may all be helpful in formulating strategies to encourage women to undertake physical activity. It is argued that if physical activity is to form a valid part of life‐long learning, it is essential that womens ideas about sport, and what makes them like or dislike it, as well as the conditions that facilitate or constrain their involvement in sport, are taken seriously by sports educators and by those working ...

Unleisured lives; Sport in the context of women's leisure

Abstract This article examines womens participation and non-participation in sport in the wider context of female leisure. It begins by setting out the reason why womens entitlement and access to leisure should be a major area of concern for feminists, comparable to employment and domestic labour. It then goes on, drawing partly on a study conducted by the author in the new city of Milton Keynes, to explore the dimensions of and constraints within which womens leisure operates, showing that for most women sport does not form a sizeable part of that leisure. Next some possible reasons why sport does not play a major role in womens leisure patterns and experiences are considered. Finally there is a brief discussion of some of the ways in which both sport and leisure could be made more accessible and responsive to the needs and interests of women, by changing not only aspects of sport and leisure, but also womens overall position in society.

Managing further education : is it still men's work too?

Further Education Colleges in the UK are involved in a continuing period of radical organisational, curricular and financial restructuring. In the midst of this the gendered character of management across the sector appears to be changing. This article explores the extent of demographic, social and cultural feminization of management following the post-1993 establishment of colleges as independent corporations. It addresses issues surrounding organizational cultures, women in professions, women as managers and theories about the spread of so-called new managerial ideologies, inspired by the private sector, to the public sector. For support the article draws on two studies of women managers in FE colleges, one focusing on women with a commitment to feminisms or equal opportunities, the other utilizing organizational data as well as data from male and female interviewees. It is suggested that whilst some social and cultural as well as demographic feminization of FE management is taking place, this is much more marked at the middle management level whilst senior management remains more mens work than womens, albeit tinged with changing notions of masculinities.