The right kind of ambition

Abstract

This chapter addresses a contradiction in conversations about academic life and career-building: deciding that not playing the game is what it takes to stay in the game. Our sector’s culture is highly competitive and increasingly metricised. Career ambition in higher education is often problematically valorised and narrowly defined as wanting to climb the promotion ladder.When academics cultivate a measure of work/life balance, which necessarily de-prioritises the dominance of time given to academic activity, they are disadvantaged. This chapter argues that this inability to recognise the range and depth of experience that academic staff bring to their roles impoverishes our work culture. In particular, I discuss how universities often only pay lip-service to being ‘family-friendly’ organisations that prioritise their staff wellbeing. While the policies and guidelines may accommodate better ways of juggling work and caring commitments, the surrounding culture of the workplace-indeed, the whole sector-may not. I was an outputs-driven fixed-term researcher for many years, and my life circumstances have altered enough that I no longer feel able or willing to work in such a way. I have worked to create a context where I sustain a good blend of work, personal life and activism. This directly compromises my academic career progression in different ways, including being seen to be lacking in the right kind of ambition, and not being able to compete in a hypercompetitive academic environment. This chapter examines the complexities of negotiating work/life balance and discusses what systematic cultural changes are necessary.