Who cares in a crisis? Academic caregivers and inclusion in HE
I’m a full-time academic and carer of two teenage daughters, one neurotypical, the other neurodiverse who was diagnosed with autism aged 3. Two years ago, we won our 24-month tribunal case to ensure our daughter received access to the educational support required to enable her to reach her full potential. Workwise, I’m a course leader and research fellow, and over the years, as student numbers and workloads have increased, often been asked, “how do you do everything?” Last year I also became co-carer of my disabled and elderly mother. By March 2020 I was burnt out with exhaustion. Whilst chastising myself for getting to this point, feeling like a failure and letting everyone down - my family, students, colleagues and workplace, at a time of the Covid crisis - I came across the research of Professor Marie-Pierre Moreau into generating cultural change for a more inclusive HE sector, specifically academic staff with caring responsibilities. Since 2010 she has been studying this group and argues that whilst the flexibility of academia can facilitate the combination of care and academic work, this flexibility can also render the needs of caregivers invisible. The issues faced are vast and varied with many staff carers struggling to balance their caring responsibilities with their employment and often negatively affecting their wellbeing, physical and mental health, career progression and retention (Moreau, 2019). In academia there is often a divide between public and private life yet “we need to break through the reluctance to discuss the realities of caring responsibilities and be prepared to challenge the idea of the ‘unencumbered academic’” (Burford and Henderson, 2018, Conference Inference blog) if we really want to witness a cultural change towards inclusion for carers within HE. Research on academics with caring responsibilities is scarce (Moreau, 2019). It has been personally empowering to discover the work of Prof Moreau, to accept that I’m not a super-human robotic like “care-free” academic, and to network with her and others as they seek to raise awareness of “care-full” academia and to change practices and policies in High Education to improve the lives of staff with caring responsibilities.
If you’re an academic carer and would like to network please contact me.
For further information:
M.P. Moreau & M. Robertson. ‘Care-free at the top’? Exploring the experiences of senior academic staff who are caregivers. SRHE May 2019.
M.P. Moreau & M. Robertson. Carers and careers: Career development and access to leadership positions among academic staff with caring responsibilities. LFHE September 2017.
M.P. Moreau. Towards the family friendly university? Research evidence on student parents and implications for higher education policies. LFHE July 2014.
A short film was produced exploring similar issues:
M.P. Moreau & T. Bernard. Carers and Careers in Academia: What Works? LFHE November 2018