Legitimising quality work in higher education

Abstract

Quality work is a growing area of interest in higher education research, reflecting a broader political and scientific concern with how universities and colleges work with educational quality. However, the characteristics and theoretical underpinnings of the concept are understudied, and we have scarce knowledge about how different groups of staff in higher education work with quality. To address these gaps, this study explores how academic, administrative, and leadership staff at Norwegian higher education institutions approach and reason about quality work. This article draws on concepts of discretion and legitimacy to study how these staff groups engage in quality work, and the different ways in which they legitimise this work. The findings reveal commonalities and tensions in their approaches to and reasoning for quality work. The study contributes to the conceptual development of quality work, and the findings have notable implications for future policies and practices on quality work in higher education.