A Case Study Analysis of the Discursive and Institutional Complexities Underpinning Learning Development Professional Practice in Higher Education

Abstract

This Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) thesis examines how Learning Development’s (LD) professional identity is constructed in a selection of texts from two UK-based universities and how social structures shape these representations. Applying Fairclough’s dialectical-relational approach, the thesis explores the relationship between textual and discursive representations of LD work, the experiences of those enacting these roles, and the affordances and constraints these representations may create for practice in the target institutions. This research seeks to explore dominant representations of LD, consider alternative ways of conceptualising and articulating LD work, and account for the complexities of LD’s professional identity, and their implications for the field’s value and contribution to Higher Education (HE) practices.

The comparative analysis of the two institutional datasets identifies contrasting professional identity trajectories. In University 1, competing discourses create tensions between institutionally prescribed expectations and participants’ assumed features of professionalism, including integrated teaching and engagement with scholarship. In University 2, on the other hand, LD tends to be more consistently constructed as an academic endeavour, which is supported by more coherent institutional framings, contractual status and role titles, facilitating a closer alignment between demanded/prescribed and assumed features of professional work. Across the two cases, the findings suggest that alignment between institutional narratives and practitioners’ professional orientations can lead to greater confidence, professional satisfaction and the pursuit of collective goals (University 2), whereas misalignments may give rise to professional narratives of constraint, accommodation and reduced agency (University 1).

The study concludes that institutional texts, discourses and operational models play a substantial role in shaping how LD is understood, enacted and valued in particular settings. Where LD teams can influence their textual representations, more coherent and sustainable forms of professional discourse can emerge, creating conditions for the enactment, inculcation and materialisation of alternative practices. By drawing attention to the performative power of language and its relationship to structural dimensions, the study highlights both the constraints imposed by neoliberal HE practices and possible spaces for transformation and resistance. The thesis argues that shifts in discourse, structures and practices can contribute to fairer and more sustainable configurations of LD professional work, enabling learning developers – and, in turn, the students they serve – to flourish, as evidenced in one of the cases analysed.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Canterbury Christ Church University