Identity formation and conflicting priorities of early career academics studying the Academic Professional Apprenticeship in England

The Academic Professional Apprenticeship (APA) has emerged in recent years as a new avenue for early career academic staff to develop into their roles. While much of the content may be similar, as an apprenticeship, the requirements and structure of the APA differ from other routes for supporting early career academic staff such as a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. The purpose of this paper is to explore the conflicting priorities of early career academics studying the Academic Professional Apprenticeship and to consider how this programme of study has influenced their identity formation. This article discusses qualitative interviews with 11 apprentices nearing the end of their studies, about their identity and experiences. A flexible inductive framework approach was taken to ana-lyse the data, with multiple coders deployed to increase the validity and reliability of the findings. Key findings suggest that the identity of the apprentice is a multifaceted one, with a reluctance to identify explicitly as an apprentice, often preferring the more discreet title of being a student or, simply, studying. Elements such as teaching pressures, intrusion into research productivity and historical perspectives of what an apprenticeship is, all contribute to the formation of personal identities