The ‘failed researcher’ – perceptions of illegitimacy and the marginalisation of education focused academics in Australia

Abstract For many academics, appointment to an education focused (EF) role can trigger a sense of illegitimacy and professional marginalisation. This experience is not universal, but it is reported repeatedly in the literature. Whilst existing research has documented these experiences, less attention has been paid to how they are institutionally produced and sustained. This paper addresses this gap by examining the institutional construction of EF academics’ perceived illegitimacy within Australian universities. Drawing on interview data and neo-institutional theory, the study identifies a recurring conception of the EF academic as the ‘failed researcher’. Within this institutional identity category, the EF academic’s focus on teaching and students’ learning is framed not as specialisation, but as deviation from the idealised research-active norm. It shapes EF academics’ experiences in overt and covert ways, through workload practices, promotion processes, informal interactions, and organisational cultures, contributing to patterns of exclusion across many universities. These experiences are both context-bound and -agnostic – embedded in local organisational environments, yet recurrent across the sector. Importantly, EF academics’ diverse motivations and expertise challenge the validity of the ‘failed researcher’ conception. Rather than reflecting the realities of EF academic work, it functions as an influential institutional logic through which legitimacy is evaluated. By examining how perceptions of legitimacy may be institutionally constructed, this paper advances understanding of why formally differentiated academic roles may nevertheless remain hierarchically valued. The paper concludes that positioning EF academics as ‘failed researchers’ is not only unjust and unsupported by evidence, but also increasingly untenable within contemporary universities.