Non-academic staff aim for professional status

I think if you check history, you will find that universities in Australia have been leading this move to shift to the term ‘professional staff’ for some years now. It’s not a new movement and has become more visible now that a union has got involved. The shift is well overdue.

ATEM itself also endorsed this terminology in preference to the ‘non’ term some years ago now. The non-term, by its very nature, defines the largest group of staff in Australian universities by what they are not. Define academics against this largest group of staff and what have you got? Non-general staff — a term that would never gain traction, and nor should it.

Professional staff may not be the most accurate term, but it is the best term at the moment. It doesn’t mean that any other grouping of staff is less professional. It does infer, however, that undertaking a management role in universities is not for the amateur. Training, knowledge about academic work, learning, management and functional expertise are essential if our universities are to be managed well.

I suspect this story will generate some ‘managerialist’ comments but it’s time to move beyond this. Managers and academics are both essential to the future of universities, and it’s time we accepted this and focused energy on how to shape that future, rather than just let it happen to the sector.

And can we stop using that ‘non’ term from now on? I’m always surprised that professional staff, their associations and unions continue to use this term to define themselves and their occupational grouping. There has never been a rule that says this is the required term, but somehow it has become accepted and unquestioned, even when there is general agreement that it’s no longer appropriate. ‘Why?’ might be the question for those involved in this move to change terminology to ask as a starting point to their campaign.