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Dr Stuart McKie

@bigfridge224.bsky.social

Teaching Roman history, researching Roman magic and trying not to accidentally summon demons. Forever DM, Dad and Catholic.

451 Posts1433 Follower461 Folgt
Dr Kate Cook@katexe.bsky.social · last wk.

Does anyone happen to have access to the Whitaker's Almanac for 1914, specifically p945? Google Books no longer shows it, and it's not among those I have library access to - but might be accessible for US users of HathiTrust?

Dr Stuart McKie@bigfridge224.bsky.social · 2w ago

Increasingly clear to me that we're seeing the inevitable end point of casualisation in HE. Treating all academics as transferable or disposable is easy for management to follow because it's just an extension of how ECRs have been treated for years already.

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 2w ago

Every academic outside of a small inner core of universities should consider themselves permanently at risk of redundancy. The sector will operate a rolling redundancy wave from about this point on. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/nuclear...

Dr Stuart McKie@bigfridge224.bsky.social · 3w ago

These numbers are grim, but really just confirm what precarious academics have known all along. A 30% drop in Classics ECR numbers since 2012/13. At the same time, a 29% increase in professorships. Our discipline is eating its young.

Within the humanities, several subject areas have shown particularly marked long-term decline in early career staff numbers between 2012/13 and 2024/25: History -32% Classics -30% English Studies -19%. These declines at early career level have been accompanied by stable or slightly increasing numbers at mid career/established and senior levels, and substantial growth at professor level (23% for History, 29% for Classics, and 25% for English Studies), indicating a particularly concerning trend for the future talent pipeline in these disciplines.
The British Academy@britishacademy.bsky.social · 3w ago

What can we learn from data about the current trends in university staffing in the humanities, social sciences and arts subjects? 🧵 Read on for key insights or see the full analysis: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/policy-and-r...

A group of academic staff members, sitting on chairs and reading documents.
The British Academy@britishacademy.bsky.social · 3w ago

"This is a crisis for social mobility, young people’s careers, the skills our economy depends on and the opportunities available in communities across the UK" Our newest data covered by The Guardian this evening and dropping tomorrow morning to our SHAPE Observatory. shorturl.at/Qpa9Q

Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities

Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year

theguardian.com

Andrew Snow@asnoweplan87.bsky.social · 3w ago

I've been thinking about this a lot - it makes you feel really lonely. My redundancy was barely acknowledged by colleagues - I'd worked there for 10 years across different positions. Like you say Kate, to now have relative uproar when FTCs are quietly shifted out - compounds that sense of isolation.

Dr Robin Douglas@robincdouglas.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Ok - this is up now. If you want to read something about the SSPX situation from the perspective of a historian of religion - something which doesn't just tediously repeat the usual points - this is for you. Links below.

Dr Robin Douglas@robincdouglas.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Would anyone be interested in an article about the SSPX bishops affair which tries to be genuinely reflective, isn't apologetic in purpose, and explains what is going on for the benefit of people who aren't insiders?

Dr Ellie Mackin Roberts@elliemackinroberts.net · last mo.

Also: I’m not sure people realise how much work it is to be precarious academic as one is expected to do all the things our more securely employed colleagues do - in fact, often more - because we have to show excellence in every aspect of academic life in order to be noticed by hiring committees.

Dr Kate Cook@katexe.bsky.social · last mo.

I think this quote really demonstrates for me something that is quite weird and hard about watching reactions to sector redundancies while precarious - because I am expected to do exactly this next year. And no one seems to find it a problem. (1/2)

Andy Fox@acfox.bsky.social · last mo.

I am being made redundant this summer. Students want me to stay. Colleagues want me to stay. They are overworked with their fixed term colleagues, who are both going, or gone already. The university has said no. There are no petitions. Just quiet acceptance.

Dr Kate Cook@katexe.bsky.social · last mo.

I think this quote really demonstrates for me something that is quite weird and hard about watching reactions to sector redundancies while precarious - because I am expected to do exactly this next year. And no one seems to find it a problem. (1/2)

Dr Kate Cook@katexe.bsky.social · last mo.

My redundancy is not potential, it is not a threat, it is currently certain. As it was two years ago, and 3 years before that. And absolutely cuts to the sector are terrible, but there are hundreds of us in this situation, watching other threats of redundancies being widely decried. Just not ours.

Dr Kate Cook@katexe.bsky.social · last mo.

I think this quote really demonstrates for me something that is quite weird and hard about watching reactions to sector redundancies while precarious - because I am expected to do exactly this next year. And no one seems to find it a problem. (1/2)

Andy Brockman@andybrockman.bsky.social · last mo.

"The idea that people will be able to hold it together and deliver a term of teaching before they vanish off into the horizon, is bizarre, spiteful and naive as well.” The Times HE's punchy account of Exeter University's #BonfireOfTheHumanities & what one academic describes as "existential terror".