Navigating uncertain times

Mentoring Roles and Dilemmas in the Contemporary University

Bibliographic Data

ID7750827
AuthorsAlan Cribb (0000-0002-7908-5195, King's College London, corresponding author), Sharon Gewirtz (0000-0002-5530-1121, King's College London)
Year2025
Volume46
Issue6
Pages1-14
Publication date2025-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0159-6306 • E-ISSN: 1469-3739
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01596306.2025.2483189
OpenAlexW4409122882
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited26

This paper explores a relatively neglected dimension of the changing culture of academic work: the implications of changing models of academic professionalism, and specifically the rise of ‘organisational professionalism’, for academic mentoring. In the paper, ‘organisational professionalism’ is used to signal a cluster of trends, including productivist currents and more progressive changes reflecting inclusion and identity concerns. After summarising the inherent complexities of mentoring and setting out the additional challenges posed by contemporary university conditions, we use illustrative dilemmas to explore questions about how individual mentoring relationships should respond to organisational professionalism and the balance between planning and ‘directing’ mentoring practices and letting them emerge in more organic ways. Our core argument is that, unless we take a more conscious, critically reflexive stance to the enactment and organisation of mentoring, we will neglect its value, the risks it is under, and its potential to respond to change

Aesthetics · Art · Pedagogy · Sociology · Higher Education Research Studies · Mentoring and Academic Development · Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies

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