{"title":"The Third Space in Higher Education: A Scoping Review","authors":"Clare Thorpe, Helen Partridge","doi":"10.1057/s41307-024-00374-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The idea of a <i>third space,</i> positioned between academic and professional domains, has proven useful in examining the evolving nature of higher education work. The continuing disruptions in higher education worldwide highlight the importance of the <i>third space</i> and the need for further exploration. A scoping review of <i>third space</i> work in the higher education literature from 2000 to 2022 was conducted. More than 2870 articles retrieved from nine databases were screened based on title, abstract, and keywords, resulting in 54 papers for analysis. Data were extracted to summarise the literature, including method, participant characteristics, and theoretical framing, implications. The articles revealed that the <i>third space</i> is an emerging area of study which, while valuable, is yet to influence policy and practice at the institutional or national level. Thus, <i>third space</i> presents a fertile space for more analytical and empirical investigations that go beyond descriptive case studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":47327,"journal":{"name":"Higher Education Policy","volume":"106 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Higher Education Policy","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-024-00374-z","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The idea of a third space, positioned between academic and professional domains, has proven useful in examining the evolving nature of higher education work. The continuing disruptions in higher education worldwide highlight the importance of the third space and the need for further exploration. A scoping review of third space work in the higher education literature from 2000 to 2022 was conducted. More than 2870 articles retrieved from nine databases were screened based on title, abstract, and keywords, resulting in 54 papers for analysis. Data were extracted to summarise the literature, including method, participant characteristics, and theoretical framing, implications. The articles revealed that the third space is an emerging area of study which, while valuable, is yet to influence policy and practice at the institutional or national level. Thus, third space presents a fertile space for more analytical and empirical investigations that go beyond descriptive case studies.
期刊介绍:
Higher Education Policy is an international peer-reviewed and SSCI-indexed academic journal focusing on higher education policy in a broad sense. The journal considers submissions that discuss national and supra-national higher education policies and/or analyse their impacts on higher education institutions or the academic community: leadership, faculty, staff and students, but also considers papers that deal with governance and policy issues at the level of higher education institutions. Critical analyses, empirical investigations (either qualitative or quantitative), and theoretical-conceptual contributions are equally welcome, but for all submissions the requirement is that papers be embedded in the relevant academic literature and contribute to furthering our understanding of policy.
The journal has a preference for papers that are written from a disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective. In the past, contributors have relied on perspectives from public administration, political science, sociology, history, economics and law, but also from philosophy, psychology and anthropology. Articles devoted to systems of higher education that are less well-known or less often analysed are particularly welcome.
Given the international scope of the journal, articles should be written for and be understood by an international audience, consisting of researchers in higher education, disciplinary researchers, and policy-makers, administrators, managers and practitioners in higher education. Contributions should not normally exceed 7,000 words (excluding references). Peer reviewAll submissions to the journal will undergo rigorous peer review (anonymous referees) after an initial editorial screening on quality and fit with the journal''s aims.Special issues
The journal welcomes proposals for special issues. The journal archive contains several examples of special issues. Such proposals, to be sent to the editor, should set out the theme of the special issue and include the names of the (proposed) contributors and summaries of the envisaged contributions. Forum section
Occasionally, the journal publishes contributions – in its Forum section – based on personal viewpoints and/or experiences with the intent to stimulate discussion and reflection, or to challenge established thinking in the field of higher education.