EdTech-mediated outsourcing and casualisation of academic labour

Toward a research agenda

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21189754
AutoresMariya Ivancheva (0000-0003-4066-4074, University of Strathclyde), Aline Courtois (0000-0003-0777-5100, University of Strathclyde)
Año2024
Volumen18
Número1
Fecha de publicación2024-02-27
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaWork Organisation Labour & Globalisation (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1745-641X • E-ISSN: 1745-6428
EditorialPluto Journals (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.13169/workorgalaboglob.18.1.0065
OpenAlexW4392196231
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas40

Located at the intersection of scholarship on critical higher education (HE), the casualisation of the academic workforce and studies of digitalisation and online platforms in Higher Education (HE), this article examines the impact of online programme management companies (OPMs) on academic labour. OPMs partner with universities to provide core teaching functions while relying on the labour of increasingly casualised, often outsourced academics. We use a composite case study to illustrate how OPMs work in partnerships with universities to reorganise academic work. We discuss this model vis-a-vis the theoretical concepts in the digital HE, platform labour and sociology of work literature, elaborating on how the new forms of casualised labour in HE undergo real subsumption by technology-mediated programmes operated by OPMs. On this foundation, we discuss the possible implications and draw out questions for future research and trade union activity, two arenas where, we argue, more attention needs to be paid urgently to casualisation and the outsourcing of teaching through digital platform-mediated programmes

Business · Economics · Labour economics · Outsourcing · Political science · Digital Economy and Work Transformation