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POLICY & REFORM
The choices for each university will be critical to determining how they emerge from this period of accelerated change and new opportunities . But what choices do the staff of our universities have ? And how might they navigate them ? What clarity can any of them develop , at a time like this , of what they want to do next , and how they want to do it ?
It is a time when culture comes to the fore . University staff and student cultures are under more pressure than they have ever been . And the challenge of leadership has never been greater . “ Leaders have never had it so tough ,” is a report card headline that seems inarguable . As our sector leader John Dewar , who now chairs UA , recently said on the HEDx podcast , “ academic leadership is the most challenging job you can do ” and now it has just got harder .
The cultural context of the continued uncertainty and mounting pressure on leaders and staff have seen sexism , harassment and bullying issues rise even further . And we finish the semester , when things were meant to start getting easier , with even higher levels of cumulative tiredness , and stress that arises from continuing and deepening uncertainty .
The Chair of UA paid tribute to all staff in our universities for how they have responded to these issues . He did so in a similar way to how Jane den Hollander referred to them as the gold at the base of the pyramid , in an earlier episode of HEDx . John described the rate at which staff had learnt new skills and adapted , as being much faster than any of them could ever have imagined . It was certainly more than they would have wished for .
There is clearly much more change to come . With so much sector , institutional and personal uncertainty still ahead , gaining clarity on what we have learned , and what we do with that learning , is the end of term lesson for us all . It will be crucial in getting ready for the even bigger challenges ahead , in Semester 2 and beyond .
I don ’ t think anyone in the sector is ready for any grading , as exam results get published around the country . They might be like our students : just glad they have got through it . We wish all staff well , and urge them to find clarity on how to do their best in Semester 2 and beyond , or to do something different . Who knows , those new skills might be about to become very valuable . We might be about to enter a period of an abundance of opportunity rather than an abundance of caution .
After all , has there ever been a time of greater need for learning and new ways of doing things ? ■
Martin Betts is emeritus professor at Griffith University and co-founder of HEDx .
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